Anyway, longtime friend Andy Loth joins the program. Andy and I called the 2000 Ohio State-Purdue game together at Purdue. That’s the one that included a great drive at the end of the game for what looked like an Ohio State win, only to be disrupted when some guy named Drew Brees threw a 65-yard TD pass to Seth Morales.

But today we’re talking Rose Bowl, and what OSU needs to do to get the job done. I’m on the record, in print, as saying Ohio State will win 27-24, but after talking to Andy I’m convinced the Ducks will fail to score over 20 points. Mark it down!

NFL Picks

Just a few weeks remain in the NFL picks and things are still up for grabs, although one guy has a decent enough lead.

Three pickers had 13 games correct, but The Trashman came closest to the overall score of 34, with 44 — Chjm70 had 45 and JMB 48.

Week Fourteen

The Trashman 13 (plus 1) = 14
Chjm70 13
JMB 13
Seth 12
Miles 12
Fulch 12
Jeff 12
MIKO 12
Brian T. 11
Will Will 11
Brian I. 11
Adman 11
Another CPA 11
Jack Ten 11
Big Game 10
GatorBuckeye 10
Grandpa 10
Crazed Wolverine 10
The CPA 10
Jeremiah 10
tgm 9
Mary the Nurse 9
Nora Peanut 7
tgd 7
Teddy 6
Kara 1 (picked Browns over Steelers and that was it)

Overall Standings

1. Miles 148
2. Fulch 147
3. Chjm70 146
4. Seth 144
4. Brian T. 144*
4. The Trashman 144*
7. Will Will 143**
8. Big Game 142
8. Brian I. 142*
10. Adman 141*
11. GatorBuckeye 140
11. Grandpa 140*
11. Jeff 140*
14. Crazed Wolverine 139*
14. The CPA 139
14. JMB 139
17. Another CPA 138
17. MIKO 138
19. Jack Ten 136
20. tgm 134***
21. Kara 131*
22. Patrick F. 126
23. Mary the Nurse 126
24. Nora Peanut 118
25. tgd 117
26. Jena 114
26. Jeremiah 114
28. Jessica 107
29. Teddy 89
30. cliffwilt 73
31. Richard S. 65
32. B-Mac 61*
33. buckeye in pa 35
34. JeffMcC 20
35. Strikes 20
36. the oh, funk 14

NFL Week Fifteen

Indianapolis (13-0) at Jacksonville (7-6) THURSDAY
Dallas (8-5) at New Orleans (13-0) SATURDAY
New England (8-5) at Buffalo (5-8)
Arizona (8-5) at Detroit (2-11)
Miami (7-6) at Tennessee (6-7)
Cleveland (2-11) at Kansas City (3-10)
Houston (6-7) at St. Louis (1-12)
Atlanta (6-7) at NY Jets (7-6)
San Francisco (6-7) at Philadelphia (9-4)
Chicago (5-8) at Baltimore (7-6)
Oakland (4-9) at Denver (8-5)
Cincinnati (9-4) at San Diego (10-3)
Green Bay (9-4) at Pittsburgh (6-7)
Tampa Bay (1-12) at Seattle (5-8)
Minnesota (11-2) at Carolina (5-8)
NY Giants (7-6) at Washington (4-9) Pts. ____

Make your picks by using the “Comments” section under the headline.

We’re joined by Neil Sika to talk about the Cleveland Indians, who, prior to the taping of the show, were 1-7, but managed to win as we were recording the show. No, we won’t be taping an episode every time the Tribe plays, Neil! We know how superstitious baseball fans and players are, but we just can’t do it!

I also catch up with the traveling Brian Inglis, fresh off a trip to sunny Florida.

Send any comments or suggestions about the podcast by clicking on the “Comments” section under the headline.

It didn’t have much affect on the sports world when the news came across the board Sunday, but I sat up and took notice.

Sean Casey, a Cincinnati Red for eight years, retired over the weekend at just 33-years of age. Casey hit .322 in limited duty for the Boston Red Sox last season, proving, in my opinion, that he would’ve been better served playing every day for a Kansas City or Toronto.

Casey is known throughout baseball as “The Mayor” and it’s not an act. Sometimes when folks refer to Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel as “Senator Tressel” I wonder how sincere they’re being, but anybody who even got to watch Casey interact with others on the field knew “The Mayor” was apt.

Sean Casey

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be around Casey a few times during his time with the Reds.

In the late summer of 1998, the season he was traded to Cincinnati from Cleveland, my grandparents and I traveled to Chicago to attend a game at Wrigley Field. Casey and other young Reds like Aaron Boone took some time to talk to a few fans gathered near the dugout, and Casey signed a baseball and chatted me up for a few minutes.

That Christmas, my grandpa presented me with a great gift, a blown up version of a picture he took of Casey as he stood near the dugout railing talking to me. The shot was framed and you could see the backdrop of Wrigley beyond the young Casey.

That was my sophomore year of college at Ohio State, and when the Reds Caravan came through town, I had an opportunity to meet up with my new favorite player again — as mentioned, Casey came from the Indians, but he’d only played in 10 big league games in ‘97. He suffered an injury to his eye early in the season when a thrown ball during batting practice struck him in the face, but Reds fans quickly gravitated to him.

The Reds were guests at a luncheon at the Columbus Rotary Club, and it was announced in the paper and on the internet where they’d be, but it turned out the event was for members and “guests” only. A kind member quickly sponsored me and there I was, in a room of dignitaries looking up to a dais that featured a few other players, announcer Marty Brennaman and Casey.

Casey talked about his first season with the team and how he looked forward to being the everyday first sacker in the future. Afterward I showed him the picture, removed it from the frame and he graciously signed it. He was genuinely impressed with the shot, knowing immediately it wasn’t just some cheap picture you could find in a card shop. Other guests at the luncheon inquired as to whether I was selling copies of the picture, which no doubt impressed my grandpa when I told him about it later.

What was most memorable, though, wasn’t the fact he signed the picture, but that he took a genuine interest in me. He asked about college — he played for the University of Richmond — and about the football team, girls, etc. He even imparted a story about his laundry piling up at school while he waited on his mom to be around to help him out.

He walked with me out of the building and toward the tour bus, but didn’t at all seem like he was in a hurry to get going. In fact, Brennaman had to hurry him along from the step of the bus.

I interviewed him a few years later as a member of the media, and while I’m sure he didn’t remember me from that day, he treated me like he did everyone else, with class and as if he had known me for years.

He didn’t turn into the batting champ former Reds manager Jack McKeon predicted he’d be, and he never hit for the power a lot of people in Cincinnati would’ve liked a first baseman to hit, but he was consistent and if you needed any kind of hit, he could get it for you.

His best year had to be ‘99, when he and the Reds took us fans on a magic ride that included everything but the exclamation point. That season he hit .332, with 25 home runs, 99 RBI and 100 runs. He clubbed 197 hits, the most any Reds player has in years.

A close second had to be 2004, when he hit .324, with 24 home runs and 99 RBI. In an era when hitters strike out all the time, he only went down swinging 36 times in ‘04, and had an on base average of .381.

Casey played in a World Series for Detroit in ‘06, but the Tigers fell to St. Louis.

As mentioned, that ‘99 season was amazing all the way around, and he was the centerpiece of the younger faction of that team.

Barry Larkin was the captain, and Greg Vaughn was a huge clubhouse leader, but Casey, Pokey Reese, Aaron Boone, Dmitri Young, Mike Cameron, Danny Graves and Scott Williamson made up a nucleus of young talent that was really ahead of schedule.

Despite loving very minute of the ‘90 World Series team, I was only 11-years old that year, and I followed the ‘95 squad every day, but going to games wasn’t as big an option as I was still in high school.

The ‘99 season included a lot of shared experiences with a lot of people, including my Grandpa, but also my roommate Randy, who also loved the team, and eventually, the CPA, whom I started dating just as the pennant race heated up.

We attended a game in late September that was pivotal in the race with the Astros for the division, one which the Reds won over the Cardinals in 11 innings on a Reese home run. I twirled the CPA around and we were dancing in the aisles!

That season ended in a one-game playoff against the Mets, and as history says, the Reds couldn’t harness the magic of that year, when they won 96 games and didn’t make the playoffs — the ‘90 team won only 91 — in the coming seasons.

Casey will be seen on the newly formed MLB Network, alongside Larkin, this season, but I’m hoping he’ll eventually become a fixture in the Reds front office.

The Super Bowl

Conference Championship Results

Seth 2-0
Kara 2-0
Crazed Wolverine 2-0
The CPA 1-1
JMB 1-1
Big Game 1-1
Grandpa 1-1
Brian 1-1
Adman 1-1

Overall Playoff Standings

Crazed Wolverine 5-5
Adman 5-5
JMB 5-5
Kara 4-6
Brian 3-3
Big Game 3-3
Seth 3-7
The CPA 3-7
Grandpa 3-7
Jeremiah 2-6
Randy 1-3

Super Bowl

Make your pick, with the overall points and we’ll determine a winner. Looks like only a handful of people are capable of getting it done.

For parity-sake please don’t let Adman win!

Arizona vs. Pittsburgh Pts.______

Make your picks by using the “Comments” section under the headline.

Actually, that first step off the plane was rough!

tgd was on fire this week, maybe because tgm, his better half, was a guest picker. Let’s hope she doesn’t keep picking!

The Trashman AKA Howard, or is it the other way around, is the 1993 San Francisco Giants — those of you who don’t know, the Giants won 103 games that year, normally that’s as good as it gets, but not this time, as the Atlanta Braves won 104, and the Braves were in the NL West. Figure that one out — anyway, Howard won 13, but gets nothing.

tgd 14-2 (plus 1 for winning the week)
Howard 13-3
Brian 12-4
Crazed Wolverine 12-4
Kara 12-4
Seth 11-5
Adman 11-5
Grandpa 11-5
gatorbuckeye 11-5
Jessica 11-5
Jeremiah 10-6
Big Game 10-6
The CPA 10-6
tgm 10-6
Jack 10 10-6
bermuda funk 9-7
nora peanut 9-7
mary the nurse 8-8

Overall standings

Adman 137-70 (plus 1)
The CPA 134-73
Brian 134-73
Howard 133-74 (plus 1)
Seth 131-76
gatorbuckeye 130-77 (plus 1)
Kara 129-78 (plus 2)
Big Game 128-79 (plus 1)
Jessica 125-82
bermuda funk 124-83
Crazed Wolverine 119-88 (plus 1)
Jack 10 119-88 (plus 1)
JMB 118-56 (plus 2)
mary the nurse 114-93
Grandpa 110-66 (plus 1)
tom s 110-67 (plus 1)
nora peanut 110-97
Jeremiah 101-62 (plus 1)
tgd 94-56
Steve-o 76-69
Nick 47-39
tgm 10-6
Randy 9-7

NFL Week Fifteen

New Orleans (7-6) at Chicago (7-6)
Tampa Bay (9-4) at Atlanta (8-5)
Washington (7-6) at Cincinnati (1-11-1)
Seattle (2-11) at St. Louis (2-11)
San Francisco (5-8) at Miami (8-5)
Buffalo (6-7) at NY Jets (8-5)
Detroit (0-13) at Indianapolis (9-4)
San Diego (5-8) at Kansas City (2-11)
Green Bay (5-8) at Jacksonville (4-9)
Tennessee (12-1) at Houston (6-7)
Minnesota (8-5) at Arizona (8-5)
Denver (8-5) at Carolina (10-3)
Pittsburgh (10-3) at Baltimore (9-4)
New England (8-5) at Oakland (3-10)
NY Giants (11-2) at Dallas (8-5)
Cleveland (4-9) at Philadelphia (7-5-1) Pts. _____

Make your picks by using the “Comments” section under the headline.

My first reaction is that it’s crazy to start a quarterback for the first time in his career in a week that will only include one practice. I’d at least think you’d want to give him an entire week with the first team to get ready, but that’s just me.

I’ve heard the argument that Denver has one of the worst pass defenses in the league and maybe it could be a confidence booster for the young Dublin native. Maybe, but maybe the Broncos secondary is licking its chops in anticipation of facing what amounts to a rookie signal caller getting the start.

Who Dey?

I’m finding it increasingly disturbing after all these years of struggling by the Bengals that a franchise founded by the most innovative mind in the game’s history, and still run by his son, can be the most resistant to change and improving in the entire league.

Paul Brown is credited with having taken the game of football into what we know as the modern era of football, yet the Bengals routinely have the fewest number of scouts in the league and Mike Brown, Paul’s son, won’t hire a general manager.

A lot of angst has been aimed at Marvin Lewis, and rightfully so, but if it weren’t for him the Bengals wouldn’t even have official practice jerseys, an updated weight room or any number of other amenities found in every other NFL locker room.

I think Lewis’ days are numbered, but will Mike Brown hire someone worthy of an NFL position? Or if he wanted to, will that person come to a franchise long known for operational shenanigans that routinely hold the team back?

NFL picks

Kara becomes the first two-time winner of the picks in a given week. I blame Jabar Gaffney for dropping a would-be touchdown pass as I picked New England…could’ve turned the whole week around!

Get your picks in early this week as there is a game Thursday night.

Kara 11-3 (plus 1 for winning the week)
Seth 10-4
Howard 10-4
Adman 10-4
Crazed Wolverine 10-4
Grandpa 9-5
JMB 9-5
Brian 9-5
Jessica 8-6
The CPA 8-6
mary the nurse 8-6
gatorbuckeye 8-6
Jack 10 8-6
Big Game 7-7
tgd 7-7
bermuda funk 7-7
Jeremiah 6-8
nora peanut 6-8

Overall standings

Adman 83-47
Big Game 82-48 (plus 1)
Seth 82-48
Howard 81-49 (plus 1)
Brian 81-49
The CPA 80-50
gatorbuckeye 77-53 (plus 1)
Kara 76-54 (plus 2)
bermuda funk 75-55
JMB 73-41 (plus 1)
Crazed Wolverine 72-58 (plus 1)
nora peanut 71-59
Jessica 70-60
mary the nurse 69-61
tom s 67-49 (plus 1)
Jack 10 64-66
Steve-o 58-58
Grandpa 55-44 (plus 1)
Jeremiah 50-36
Nick 47-39
tgd 46-37
Randy 9-7

NFL Week Ten

Denver (4-4) at Cleveland (3-5)
New Orleans (4-4) at Atlanta (5-3)
Tennessee (8-0) at Chicago (5-3)
Jacksonville (3-5) at Detroit (0-8)
Seattle (2-6) at Miami (4-4)
Green Bay (4-4) at Minnesota (4-4)
Buffalo (5-3) at New England (5-3)
St. Louis (2-6) at NY Jets (5-3)
Baltimore (5-3) at Houston (3-5)
Carolina (6-2) at Oakland (2-6)
Indianapolis (4-4) at Pittsburgh (6-2)
Kansas City (1-7) at San Diego (3-5)
NY Giants (7-1) at Philadelphia (5-3)
San Francisco (2-6) at Arizona (5-3) Pts._____ (Really, this is a MNF game?)

Make your picks by using the “Comments” section under the headline.

The trade that sent Ken Griffey Jr. to the Reds between the 1999 and 2000 seasons was a no-brainer when it happened.

Junior’s arrival in Cincinnati was a coronation more than it was a baseball trade, as owner Carl Lindner sent his Rolls Royce to the airport to pick him up.

General Manager Jim Bowden could’ve become injured from all the pats on his back, and those were just the ones he gave himself!

But even before the injuries started to pile up — Junior played most of the 2000 season healthy before missing significant time in ‘01, ‘02, ‘03 and ‘04 — it could be argued having him on the team hurt the Reds.

Money was a very big issue in Cincinnati at the turn of the century, and even mid-level pitchers started leaving for more money than the Reds could give. The team traded Denny Neagle in July of ‘00 when it was only five games out of the division lead!

Giving Barry Larkin a $9 million per year deal for three years made the Reds’ payroll so slanted toward just those two players that it was nearly impossible to build a competitive team!

Then the injuries. Junior got hurt diving for a ball, running around third base and countless other ways. He ripped a hamstring off the bone and was told that if the injury had happened just five years earlier it would’ve ended his career. Luckily a surgery had been perfected and he came back to hit 35 homers in 2005.

The injuries had Reds nation in a tizzy, arguing on talk radio airwaves over whether Junior was lazy, indifferent or whatever. The fact was the fans of Cincinnati were expecting a guy who would challenge for Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs in a Reds uniform, which would’ve meant hitting home runs at the pace he had set while in Seattle.

People were upset and their venom was aimed straight at Junior. It was a tough time to be a supporter of the future hall of famer because you couldn’t deny the fact that you felt cheated by not being able to see him in his prime, which should’ve been the three or four years after he arrived.

Good Junior memories

Now that he’s been traded to the White Sox though, I have a list of memories about Griffey that I’ll carry forever. From the time I started building my prototypical Reds lineup in high school to include Cincy natives Junior and David Justice, I dreamed of seeing the Kid in a hometown uniform.

Here are a few highlights:

The day he was acquired
I had recently started dating my future wife, the CPA, and we had witnessed a magical ‘99 season come up just short of the postseason. The thought was that adding the best player of the 90s would only help things! While the truth ended up being the team couldn’t sign key players (Greg Vaughn left after a 45-homer season for one), the euphoria of the moment didn’t allow those fears to materialize at first.

I was at Ohio State at the time and the CPA and I spent the evening after the announcement with her sister and brother-in-law. I was on top of the world!

Opening day 2000
A chilling rain couldn’t dampen our mood as we watched Junior take his position in center field at Cinergy er…Riverfront Stadium. My grandpa and I watched as the Reds tied, yes tied, the Milwaukee Brewers as rain ended the game.

Junior went 0-for-2 in the game, and despite a slow start — one that reportedly included a plea to someone in the clubhouse to call hall of famer Tony Perez and ask if he would relinquish his retired No. 24 to Griffey. It never happened and Junior went on to hit a team-high 40 homers.

Griffey’s inside the park homer
I was working at 610 WTVN radio in part as a board operator for Reds games in ‘01 when Junior touched them all to beat the Cardinals 5-4 in 11 innings on Aug. 20. I was watching on a small TV in the break room and I skipped all the way back to the studio just after he touched home plate.

The lasting image appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer the next day. First baseman Sean Casey and second baseman Pokey Reese were shown hoisting Junior in the air with that smile plastered on his face that made him so likable as a younger player.

HR No. 500
It took a while for Junior to hit the milestone bomb. The week leading up to his Father’s Day homer in St. Louis on June 20, 2004 was a busy one for me, as well. The CPA and I were married June 19. I went to a Reds home game on the 16th in hopes of seeing his 500th. He almost granted my wish with a shot to the wall, but it wasn’t to be.

During our rehearsal dinner I had the waiter giving me constant updates about the game and my friend Matt even had an earpiece in his ear during our reception on our wedding night in case he hit it.

It worked out in the end, though, as during a brunch at the CPA’s parents’ house I wandered in from the back yard just as he strode to the plate. Glued to the TV, I watched as he hit a shot to right field. Only TV announcer George Grande could dampen the event with his call of, “Junior’s not junior anymore, is he?” Yuck! But no, it was a magical moment.

A walk off the last time I saw him in person as a Red
With my family and friends all together for the game on June 30 of this year, Junior came off the bench in the ninth inning with a runner on and the team down a run.

We questioned manager Dusty Baker’s decision not to pinch him in the eighth inning, feeling it was an optimal time. But with a runner on in the ninth, Junior sent all of us home happy with a titanic blast to just right of center field.

Twelve of us were together that night and we all jumped up in unison. I reacted so violently that I ended up with a 10-inch long bruise on the outisde of my left leg from the arm rest of the seat I was in.

To my credit, I didn’t let the injury hamper my celebrating as I hugged and gave fives to everyone around me!

Junior didn’t do what I thought he would with the Reds, as an individual or the team as a whole. I’d much rather be talking about a player still playing at a high level, about to pass Barry Bonds on the alltime home run list.

But the lack of health and therefore more long balls won’t hamper the thrills he did give me and other Reds fans over the years.

I’ll be wearing my Reds hat backwards tonight.

Email me about this or other topics by clicking the “Contact” button at the top of this page.

A chance to speak out about injustice so that the world, or the three or four people who get on the site, can know the real truth!

I was perusing the internet last night when I came across a story on my alma mater’s school newspaper website. The Lantern is read daily by Ohio State students, faculty and staff.

The story I stumbled upon was written last November and it referenced me, a graduate of the school in 2001, as being one of the pioneers of OSU student radio. That part is true, but the disturbing “left me holding the bag” part wasn’t.

I guess to tell the whole story I should give a little bit of the back story.

I joined the student radio station in the winter months of my freshman year, 1998. At the time The Underground, as it is known, broadcast OSU football, men’s basketball and had just begun calling hockey games. We also had a Monday night show called Bux on Bux, in which we basically just ranted about sports for an hour.

In those first few months I was brought along slowly while a few seniors and a junior ran the show.

In the fall of 1998 I, along with another sophomore, we’ll call him Bro Mro, took over the sports department and began a three-year odyssey that would take the department from its one-microphone beginnings to what it’s become today, a staff that broadcasts almost every OSU sport and has a three-hour talk show instead of the one-hour we filled.

Bro Mro and I worked together, had some tedious times, but mostly got along because we both wanted to continue our work as future journalists. Possibly the one story I can tell affected our lives as much as it did the fate of the station, sports-wise.

It was the fall of 1999. We were suffering through the worst football season of the decade and we were there for nearly all the games. We went to New Jersey for the first game against Miami, Fla. but we had to tape the broadcast and air it when we got home.

We called all the home games live, as we had the season before, and we got to some road games to call them on tape delay. The station had next to no money and we were mostly traveling at our own expense at that point — some monetary help would come later, and after we left it wasn’t an issue at all as even the athletic department pitched in, but at that time we were mostly self-supported — but we scheduled a trip to Ann Arbor to attend our first OSU/Michigan contest on the road.

Bro Mro and I called the action, while James, track star from Philly and Richard both came along to help on the pregame and keep stats.

This is where the story begins, and where I was wronged in the aforementioned Lantern article!

Richard and I drove across campus to Riverwatch Tower, where Bro Mro and James, track star from Philly lived, in my car to pick them up. We pulled around the parking lot to Bro Mro’s car, where the radio equipment was. Bro Mro and James brought their personal bags out to the car and put them in my trunk, while Richard and I grabbed various pieces of equipment from his trunk.

One of us had the crate with microphones and cables while the other had the phone interface which also allowed us to use two microphones on the broadcast. James grabbed something, too and we were on our way.

We stay in a hotel in Ann Arbor and as we’re settling down for a short night’s sleep — we were to get to the stadium by 9 a.m. to prepare for the noon kick — I shot straight up in bed, “(Bro Mro), did we get the tape recorder?” I asked. Bro Mro’s reaction was immediate, basically saying that no, we hadn’t.

It instantly, and apparently to this day, turned into an argument about how I was supposed to take the recorder from his car and put it in mine. Never mind the fact I had grabbed a piece of equipment myself, and each of us except him had done the same! In the Lantern story Bro Mro is quoted as saying that, “about 1 a.m. early Saturday, Seth Shaner, who I did games back with at the time says to me, ‘We have the tape recorder right?’ I said, ‘Well, you packed it Seth. Well he didn’t, and I don’t think we would have been able to drive through the night and back and still do the game, so we thought at that point, we better try to find a phone line in the Michigan press box to do the game live or we won’t be able to do the game at all,”

Amazing!

That’s not the end of the story, however.

We went to the stadium, minus the recorder, with no real hope of getting on the air. We wanted to try to broadcast the game over the phone live, but hadn’t ordered a phone line and didn’t know how our “friends” up north would handle our situation.

Bro Mro made the worst of it by accosting the Michigan Sports Information Director, almost demanding that we be given a line. He was one of these guys who certainly meant well, but couldn’t control himself in pressure situations. I was able to get Bro Mro away from the SID and calmly set up the deal for the phone line.

It turned out, as is usually the case in these situations, there was already a phone line set up atop the press box where we’d be calling the game. We had simply not ordered it ahead of time, which you have to do so the phone companies can gouge media outlets for phone line rentals. But the SID assured me that if we promised not to make a long distance call he’d give us the phone number and our producer back at the station could call us from home and get us on the air.

In the Lantern story, Bro Mro left this part out saying that “we” got them to give us the phone line and our first road broadcast was born.

I emailed Richard and even some of the other guys we lived with, or worked with, at the time just to gain confirmation.

Here was part of Richard’s response: “Brian forgot the tape recorder. I cant believe his pompous #$% blamed Seth. I was there, did stats that game on top of the press box. Seth set up the phone with UM Athletics.”

The point of the story is that we were able to get the game on the air and from that point we came up with ways to set up live broadcasts from the road. We went on to call several football, hockey and basketball games live that we never would’ve before.

I had a lot of good experiences with the student radio station. Some were great, some were interesting and some were just hillarious, sometimes in a bad way!

Either way they’re stories that’ll last a lifetime, even if they’re told in different ways by some of us!

I’m going to the Final Four in Atlanta to see the Buckeyes Saturday and I’m going to come back to Ohio for Opening Day in Cincinnati Monday.

It’ll be hard to leave Atlanta, especially if OSU beats Georgetown Saturday, but Opening Day is a tradition unlike any other, to borrow a phrase from Jim Nantz, and I’m going to enjoy two of my favorite teams in one weekend, so that’s that.

I’ll keep a running commentary on my experiences and will hopefully be able to share that with you.

E-mail me by going to the “Contact” tab at the top of this page. Feel free to discuss any and all topics with me and I’ll put the best e-mails in a mailbag from time to time.