I'mmmmmm baaaaccckkk baby!!!!

Wait .. who is this guy finally returning to the blogosphere with drops of Jupiter in his hair? I thought I pulled a JD Salinger and disappeared like a fart in the wind with Andy Dufresne. No blogs since ..... June??? Now I resurface like Dr. Livingstone from the jungle and I expect you, my loyal readers, to genuflect and worship at the alter of my daily musings. Why yes ... yes I do. But in the true fashion of a degenerate, downtrodden gambler who suddenly hits a hot streak, I'm back with a fistfull of ideas which are sure to lower my blood pressure from hypertensive to merely pre-hypertensive. So on the advice of my therapist, here I go!!

Since we chatted last, I had a great summer, enjoyed the natural beauty of Skeleton Lake, invested several thousand dollars in my now 10 year old Jet, turned 40, watched my sons enter the 8th and 5th grades respectively, cursed as gas prices spiked from a hurricane and listened to politicians speak repeatedly with the forked tongue. All the while I was venting to my friends - or the squirrel who likes to hang out near my back patio and chat with me - about a myriad of topics and ideas I saw as frustrating on a daily basis. Had I blogged my personal dialogues and summer soliloquies, War and Peace would have seemed a short essay by comparison. Finding a starting point after such a long lay-off is challenging, so I'll start where I left off ....

The Reds are all but assured to win the National League Central Division, which means it's time to turn my attentions toward a Red October!! The most amazing revelation of the Reds summer run was the teams ability to withstand Joey Votto's horribly diagnosed and treated injury. Missing Vottomatic about as much as I miss a hot fudge sundae, the Reds threw out a 31-15 record while Joey was recovering from Doc Hollywood's latest medical mishap (Ryan Madson's elbow was sound when he passed a physical before signing in the spring, Nick Masset's shoulder has only been sore all season, Scott Rolen's shoulder was fully healed coming out of spring training ... all examples of  Doc Hollywood's expert Mayan medical opinions from 2012). The Reds have gone 1-3 since Votto returned ... coincidence?? It's natural for the guys who have carried the team (Smokin' Todd Frazier, Ryan Ludwick, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce) to have a little mental letdown when the main man returns. Forty-six games is a long time for the complementary parts to chip in a little extra to compensate for the best hitter in the National League's absence from the line-up. But let's look to the future with Carnac the Magnificent and assess the Reds postseason chances. Optimists will point to Votto's slowly returning health, the bullpen's overall effectiveness and veteran leadership. Me? I point to Smokin' Todd Frazier. Dude is a winner, plain and simple. He should be the Rookie of the Year, just reached base in 30 consecutive games (26 of which Votto missed), filled in admirably at first base, has played in three different positions without complaint and basically only been stopped by the Dustrator refusing to put him in the line-up unless Votto or Rolen is injured. Luckily for Smokin' Todd, those two guys have been injured a lot!! Lest you think all is rosy in Redland, there are several problems pessimists can point out as the fatal flaw in the World Series sugarplum dreams of Cincinnatians. I'll sum them up as succinctly as I can: the starting rotation, average with RISP and the Dustrator and Drew Stubbs. The Reds starters are good, but not overwhelming. Many of you might point to Johnny Be Good Cueto, but over his career Johnny has been anything but good over the second half of the season. Since the beginning of August he is 4-3 with a no decision, and in his last four starts he is sporting a 4.32 ERA ... not exactly comforting from the ace of the staff. Dr. Bronson/Mr. Arroyo has been mostly Dr. Bronson this season (which means he's been pretty good for those of you not following the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde comparison). But Mr. Arroyo can show up at any time ... scary!! Mat Latos has been good without dominating. He also throws as many pitches as his wife tweets .. one of those items is a good thing - you decide!! I have my opinion. I think the Reds starting pitching is good enough to go six innings and turn it over the 'pen for some W's. Hitting with RISP is another season long issue. My biggest concern is with the Dustrator and his stubborn use of Drew Stubbs. Stubbs, the Reds erstwhile speedy centerfielder, is currently swinging (and missing) at a .219 clip with 144 whiffs while continuing to find his way into the lineup daily. The Dustrator sees nothing wrong with this citing Stubbs defensive prowess (although all advance metrics fail to back his Dustiness up on this idea and rate Stubbs as an average centerfielder. The Dustrator does not need advanced metrics to make decisions!! He sees what he sees and knows what he knows .. the Dustrator doesn't use numbers!!). There is also the Dustrator's playoff record since Steve Bartman touched a foul ball in the 8th inning of game 6 of the National League Championship Series ... it's 0-5 including a no-hitter. Sometimes the stench of the sCrUBS just never wears off.

Of course all of the aforementioned ideas represent my opinions and are not endorsed by any political candidate or party. In our current climate of educated discourse, any person who disagrees with your personal opinion is labeled as a "know nothing" who is automatically "wrong". What used to be a cornerstone of our country - debating opinions - is now seen as a zero sum game where one person must be right and the other must be wrong. Black and white are the colors of our culture, while gray areas are as bad as commie pinkos from days gone by. Nuanced discussions where opposing viewpoints are allowed to acknowledge positives from the other side are as common as the dodo bird and passenger pigeon (Cincinnati History Fact: the last known example of the passenger pigeon died at the Cincinnati Zoo!). Can you imagine Mitt Romney in one of the forthcoming Presidential Debates and saying, "Mr. Obama, I really like your Obamacare plan since it is virtually identical to the highly successful Romneycare plan I instituted in Massachusetts while governor."? The Bengal's will win a Super Bowl before Mitt utters complimentary words toward the policies of our incumbent President and vice versa. Unfortunately this tone of discussion has trickled down to the most mundane of conversations concerning personal opinions. I express an opinion which another person may disagree with and the reflexive response is as predictable as the sun rising in the east each morning - "You don't know what you're talking about! You don't know anything about (insert topic here)! I, however, am an authority and can invalidate your opinion just by yelling the loudest while offering zero facts to rebut your opinion!" The bully pulpit no longer applies. Today it's the bully mentality as epitomized by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, James Carville and Alan Colmes. The ability to think critically while examining difficult issues without a Jerry Springer Show breaking out has been replaced by Jerry Springer shows breaking out on so-called news channels. Somewhere Josef Goebbels is slowly nodding his head ... so is P.T. Barnum when he hears people parrot the words of biased talking TV heads. There is still a sucker born every minute!!

Whoa ... that's enough for today. So many topics, so little time. I'll be back tomorrow .. hopefully!!

Open gym number two tonight for the Clark Cougars. We have a lot of work to do and a short time to do it!! Winning ain't easy!!