It's Time

Although I do love the Bengals, I need a time-out. When you preach on Sunday nights, spending the afternoon watching futility affects your attitude. I'm sometimes angry because the home team looked horrible. And this franchise is nowhere near being close to being a winner. That's why I think I'm done watching the Bengals this year. Yes, friends, I would say that such a fast would actually be chicken soup for my soul.

Read my thoughts in the Enquirer about the rest of this football season. Since it's in print, I suppose I must abide by it.

p.s. Perhaps most painful about this is, at the beginning of the season, I went to the Bengals Pro-Shop and bought Kelly and Kaelyn their first Bengals shirts. And then I taught Kaelyn to say "WHO-DEY" in a really funny voice. And when she sees the tiger stripes or that letter "B" she says, "Daddy, Cincinnati Bengals, Rrrrrrr." It was going to be so cool. And now . . .

UPDATE: I changed the link to the morning edition that made the front page. Also quoted was friend and Echo-ite Larry Budde who invested much more into the franchise than I ever have.

Our Festivities

This past Saturday our little church got a lot done.

We'd been planning on being involved in the Walnut Hills Festival since last year. Echo even signed on as an official sponsor for this year's event. In this planning, we didn't realize that our new commitment to the Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen would require our involvement on the same day. But instead of trying to find someone to cover for us at the Soup Kitchen, (heeding Kelly's suggestion) we decided to try and do them both.

So from 9am-5pm last Saturday, we interacted with our community in two different locations. One crew manned our booth, playing games and making crafts with almost 100 kids. The other crew prepared dinner for about 125 people. Both events went off without a hitch.

I was so proud of our people, I've still not gotten over it.

A few special shout-outs here.

First, to Larry, who once again submitted to his higher calling as a stage manager and helped keep the main-stage acts moving in and out with ease. He's become a staple there; I'm sure some people think he's part of the production crew. And he kept at it all day. That's our Larry.

Second, to my wife Kelly, who worked her tail off to organize the operations of both the soup kitchen and the booth. Even when I had no idea what was happening, she did. And it allowed me the opportunity to be incredibly flexible throughout the day. Because of her role, I never doubted that things were running smoothly in both locations.

Third, to the in-laws as well as Ed and Sheryl, who kept Kaelyn occupied throughout the day so we could devote our full attention to the task at hand.

And finally, to my friends at Echo, who are committed to this community, catching a vision that will help transform our city.

Good work, y'all.

Blackout

I haven't really posted since last week. We had a busy Saturday with the Walnut Hills festival [more on that later] and then came the first hurricane I've ever experienced in Cincinnati.

I'll admit, I was a little oblivious to the whole thing until Sunday night. In the afternoon, as 70mph winds started to hit the city, the only thing we lost here was the cable [a blessings in disguise, as the Bengals were not worth watching]. One of the great things being on the downtown grid is that power never goes out. I talked to a neighbor the other day who said she's lived here almost twelve years and the power has never gone out. I'm guessing if it didn't go out Sunday, we're good to go for anything. Ah, the benfits of downtown living.

So while there are many in our area who have struggled to have a normal way of life this week, we were lucky. And when compared to the plight of those who have to recover from actual hurricanes, I'm thinking we're all fortunate.

Walnut Hills Festival

Good news: I know what you can do this weekend.

The 2nd [or 3rd?] annual Walnut Hills Festival takes place this weekend on East McMillan Street at Peebles Corner.* This year, Echo is a sponsor and we're going to have a booth set up with kids games and crafts. We could always use some extra hands if you want some booth time. But more than that, come on out and see our neighborhood on its best day. Plus, the extended forcast is calling for good weather— no rain in sight.

I usually joke with people that the festival is when you'll see more white folk at Peebles corner than any other day of the year . . . except for the Flying Pig marathon . . . when they're running like hell to get through there. Too many people only see this section of our community by car. There's some great architecture in the business district, and they'll be a stage with plenty of entertainment. Seriously, what more could you ask for?

So block out some time between 11:00am and 6:00pm and join us. Fun times for all.

*You can park in the Krogers parking lot, entering at Gilbert just past McMillan.

Understand Buffoonery

OK, so once again the Bengals will be a object of ridicule tomorrow when they announce the [re]signing of Chris Henry. Since the most recent charges on Henry were dismissed he's allowed back in the league, but will still face a four week suspension to start the season.

I'm not going to lie: I'm lit up about this right now. This is, perhaps, the worst roster move in the history of Cincinnati sports.

Before people start talking all sort of crap about Marvin Lewis, recognize what this is: this is entirely a Mike Brown decision.

Marvin Lewis categorically stated that he was done with Henry. But a couple of weeks ago, Mike Brown was quoted as saying,

"I happen to be a redeemer. I think people can be made better and right. If that's a fault, so be it. These guys misstepped, they made mistakes, they paid prices for it that have been verging on ruinous, but that doesn't mean I dislike them personally."

That is such crap. That's not redemption, that's buying loyalty with the hopes that it will eventually pay dividends. True redemption would be giving Chris Henry a job as a ballboy. You're just buying low with the hopes of selling high.

The move to resign Henry is all Mike Brown's doing and Marvin Lewis will be forced to go along with it— especially since, in any other town, Marvin would be on the hotseat for the lack of playoff appearances. So since Marvin has no leverage (with no opportunity to jump ship for another coaching job), he's going to have to eat crow and look like an idiot, struggling to explain why he changed his mind. And, of course, he didn't change his mind. Mikey wants it, so he gets it.

Understand what you've done here, Mike: you've cut your head coach off at the knees so you could be the hero. You brought in another receiver that you really didn't need, neutering your head coach in the process. And you wonder why Chad Johnson acts out the way he does. How is Marvin supposed to control a locker room that understands that his word isn't the final authority. I now wonder: was Marvin fully willing to take those first-round picks from Washington and rebuffed by you? Your micromanaging continually harms this franchise and sullies your reputation as well as that of your employees. It's beyond embarrassing.

This is a textbook case of poor leadership— right in my own backyard. Sure, a Super Bowl victory would help everyone forget how stupid this seems now, but Chris Henry ain't getting us there.

Around Town

How about a quick recap of Cincy stories that caught my eye this week?

1) Some ridiculous marketing:the Cincinnati Museum Center uses the controversial Bodies Exhibition as a means to promote a fitness camp. I mean, if you really want a body like those in the exhibition, shouldn't you offend the Chinese government?

2) A landlord in our community was so frustrated that he couldn't rent out his apartments on a crime-ridden street, that he decided to hang a sign and advertise . . . the crime, that is. John Wallen spent a few hundred to print a sign stating, "Drugs & Sex For Sale 24/7." I'll be interested to see if people are talking about it at next week's community council meeting.

3) We don't have much of a commute to church, so I don't get to bothered by the traffic. But the preacher at the First Commandment Church of the Living God here in Walnut Hills lives up north of the city and drives in on Sunday mornings. When 71-year-old pastor Thomas Howell was driving in one morning in June, a woman cut him off. He preceded to follow her, waving a firearm at her. She decided to follow him to his desitination, called the police, and they confronted him at church. Howell said he never waved a gun at the woman, but admitted to carrying a concealed firearm on his person. Yep, he was found guilty. It should be noted that this incident is helping my position in the Walnut Hills minister of the year standings.

4) Cincinnati was ranked in the top 10 of America's hardest drinking cities. Who knew?

That Sucking Sound . . .

. . . is the sound of a superstar being wooshed away from the city. It looks like Ken Griffey Junior has approved a trade to the Chicago White Sox and the experiment is over.

We were moving into our second apartment in Bridgetown when his trade from Seattle was announced over eight years ago. This was following up an unbelievable 1999 season where the Reds [under Jack McKeon] made it to a one-game playoff to win the Wild Card. It seemed like the pieces were in place and, with a new stadium under construction, I honestly believed that a World Series was in our future.

But it wasn't.

Junior was often injured. His conspiring with Barry Larkin led to Jack Mack's ousting. The owner of the franchise went cheap, until he gave Larken a ridiculous contract extension that hand-cuffed this team.

It's been eight miseable years. I really didn't have too many problems with what Griffey did on the field. He was injured: not much you can do about that. But I would offer that in his time here in Cincinnati, he held back the franchise to the extent that his absence will be better for everyone.

While I appreciate the athletic brilliance of Griffey [mostly displayed before he arrived in Cincinnati], he was not worth the price. Griffey is an amazing ballplayer, but he is not a leader. In fact, in my opinion, he is a leadership vacuum. Barry Larken deferred in his leadership after Griffey showed-up, almost expecting the superstar to take the lead. But he didn't; that's not his style. Even though Sean Casey didn't produce enough on the field to warrant his [at the time] large salary, he should have been retained for his leadership abilities alone. Who's the leader on this team? Griffey's presence trumped everything: he can't lead and he really can't be a follower. But as a superstar, he was always the center of attention.

As the Reds continued to bring in young players who needed someone to guide them, management brought in managers that could not overcome the leadership vacuum created by Griffey. Jerry Narron benched Edwin Encarnacion for not running out a flyball last year. That's why Griffey wasn't too keen Griffey did the same thing on multiple occasions last year and nothing happened to him. McKeon demanded that out of Griffey and he was run out of town [to Florida . . . where he won a World Series]. When you have a system with two sets of rules, there can be no unity. And the ballclub has suffered.

Depending on what happens to Dunn, I think that Brandon Phillips is primed to emerge as the on-field leader of this team. No way this would've been possible with Junior here. And, perhaps, this will allow Dusty Baker to be a little more harsh with this club. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I have no ill-feelings for Griffey. In Chicago he'll have a more demanding manager who is the undisputed leader of that team. It'll probably be good for him.

It's the end of a Reds era. And I'm ready to move on.

UPDATE:

With Adam Dunn traded to the Diamondbacks, this truly is the end of an era in Reds baseball. I would just suggest that this makes it even more important that Edinson Volquez pan out to be a perennial All-Star pitcher. Otherwise, the Josh Hamilton trade is even more of a disaster with the state of the Reds' outfield.

Must Read Cincy

If you're like me and continue to wonder how Cincinnati ended up like this, an article in yesterday's Enquirer is a good read; it discusses the presence of the African American community in the city. Most interesting observation (and one that I tell people consistently) is made by Henry Louis Taylor Jr.:

"The city leaders created a money map that sifted and sorted people into communities based on the amount of money that they had," Taylor said. "Race itself doesn't become a factor of any consequence until homeownership enters the equation."

So the racial segregation of Cincinnati was actually economic segregation which impacted the African American community the most. Of course, when blacks who could afford to live in communities like Hyde Park or Mount Lookout inquired about living there, they were refused until courts showed it was illegal.

I'm not saying there is no race problem in our city, but the economic diversity is really the issue.

This Old House

Scott and Robyn Duebber are awesome. I declare it.

They are expecting child number two any day now [hopefully not before Scott leads worship at Echo on Sunday], but their awesomeness is not limited to feats of procreation. They moved to Price Hill last year, rehabbing an old house near St Lawrence Catholic Church, and, like us, are committed to raising their family in the city.

Scott also is a witty blogger, whose musings you should be reading. It is his blog, more specifically his using the blog to chart his house rehab, that got him featured in a City Beat article this week. To catch it, click here and scroll down to page 15 [note: fear not, Scott's inclusion in the magazine has nothing to do with pending lawsuits concerning prostitution advertisements].

I'm proud of Scott and Robyn. I'm particularly proud to have them in public view as solid Christians who love their city and live it out loud.

Brush With Greatness

Last Sunday morning, I had a great experience . . . at Speedway nonetheless.

As I was headed out to the little church in New Richmond I stopped at the gas station for my morning Diet Coke. While I'm usually a UDF guy, Speedway wins my summer loyalty with their slashed fountain drink prices. Plus, they have the Speedy Rewards Card which you can scan and get points to get free stuff. Never redeemed the points, but they're there if I need them.

So as I'm paying and putting change in my wallet, I hear someone stand in the door and ask if they can use their Speedy Rewards even if they're paying at the pump. The cashier told him that he could leave his card and she could scan it inside. I'm out the door and decide to hold open the door for the guy and then notice he's substantially taller than I am. Then I look at his face and realize that I'm in the presence of [arguably] the greatest basketball player who ever lived:

Oscar Robertson.

Here's some info if you're unfamiliar with him. The Big O played college ball at Cincinnati* and played in the NBA for the Cincinnati Royals [now the Sacramento Kings]. Professionally he AVERAGED a triple-double.

Back to my story: as I realized who it was, he exited the Speedway and said thanks to me for holding open the door. I replied, "Have a good morning, Mr Robertson" making sure to pronounce it properly and not "Robinson."

I took two thoughts away from my encounter:

1. I keep running into local celebrities while holding open doors at gas stations. During my ministry in Madeira, I held open the door for Marge Schott. She went in bought a pack of cigs and two lottery tickets. I remember asking the cashier if she came in much and he replied, "Everyday. And she always buys a pack of Marlboro's and a couple lotto tickets." I found it strange that a woman living in an Indian Hill mansion was still trying to strike it rich.

2. Can you imagine Michael Jordan pulling into a gas station and going inside to use his Speedy Rewards card? I wonder if Jordan has even pumped his own gas in decades. It just goes to show that guys like the Big O paved the way so that today's athletes could live large and the younger generations couldn't care less. Some have said that Oscar is bitter because he didn't make the big bucks that today's players make. Honestly, I'd be bitter too. But he is still an incredible guy. Later, on that day when I saw him, he was in Indianapolis to receive a reward for his benevolence work. It's that humanness in old pros like Robertson that makes me proud to have the opportunity to hold open a door for him.

In a somewhat related note, I'm heading over the Deveroes League tomorrow night [Tuesday] to watch the local college players if anyone's interested.

*Although the Big O was by far the most dominant college player of his time, UC didn't win their back-to-back national championships until Oscar left school.

He Speaks The Truth

Not sure if you caught Chad Johnson's interview on ESPN this weekend. As is expected, CJ spewed out his normal amount of crazy. At the very least, interest in this Bengals season will be heightened here at Beit Carr as I'm fascinated to see how fans will react to him.

Still, in trying to make up with the locals for a tumultuous of season, Chad did offer up this quote:

I love Cincinnati— the city, the fans. I love everything about it; [it's] the perfect city.

Keep working it, Chad. I just might buy back in . . . to tolerate you, at least.

Messing With A Good Thing

Despite my desire to be different and carefree, I'm a creature of habit. One of my routines is my morning web reading schedule. I have a specific Firefox bookmark labeled "morning" which opens up all the sites with which I start my day. I check sports, my fantasy baseball stats, my RSS feeds, and finally the local paper— the Enquirer.

Although I've had my issues with it in the past, I've really started to enjoy reading that paper. As a minister in the city, I feel it's my responsibility to know what's going on here. The Enquirer is the best local source of finding this information out. So I make sure to read it daily [online, of course] to see what's happening.

Unfortunately, the parent company of the Enquirer decided to force redesigns of all their papers' websites. There's a brand new website up and it is absolutely horrible. And it's not just opinion— see for yourself. Now the old Enquirer page was not attractive at all, but it was highly functional; I could maneuver the pages within minutes to get the info I was looking for. The new site, however, is a mess, with actual articles mixed in with readers' blogs and forums. And this site is even uglier than the last. I tried last night to devise an organized way to get through the site, and was frustrated that I couldn't. I told myself I would try again one more time this morning. And all I got was frustration.

Some might say that the ease of which I could maneuver the site made it necessary for the redesign. As papers continue to lose money in daily circulation they are reliant on web advertising. And if a reader can get in and out without having to peruse the ads, then it defeats the purpose of posting the content online in the first place. I would counter that many other papers have succeeded in offering all of their content online, getting advertisers to commit, and keeping their websites easy to use. Check out papers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, who put all of their content online and yet have workable websites. Instead of keeping it clean, organized and simple, the Enquirer is now unreadable.

So now I'm considering options. Fortunately, I subscribe to quite a few local blogs that display local news stories, so I'm not left out in the cold. And there's a Google News option for local news that I might have to take advantage of. Regardless, unless the Enquirer can get things cleaned up and presentable, I might not read it that much anymore.

Say Nothing At All

I've almost come around on Adam Dunn. Sure, he's as frustrating a baseball player as you can find: strikes out a lot, not a good fielder, doesn't do the little things to help his team. But, at the end of the day, he can change a game with one swing, and he forces a pitcher to tread lightly through the line-up. I'm at the point where I think if Bob Castellini can lock him up at reasonable rate for the next five years, he should do it. This guys is going to hit 600 home runs in his career. He'd probably be a better DH in the American League, but the Reds aren't in the American League, and they can't play him at first base, do you work with what you got.

The realization that I'm feeling better about Dunner came last night when I read that one baseball GM ripped into him. The guy was answering questions on a radio talk show and a person called in to suggest that the team acquire Adam Dunn. The GM's response:

“Do you know the guy doesn’t really like baseball that much? Do you know the guy doesn’t have a passion to play the game that much? How much do you know about the player? There’s a reason why you’re attracted to some players and there’s a reason why you’re not attracted to some players. I don’t think you’d be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here . . . We’ve done our homework on guys like Adam Dunn and there’s a reason why we don’t want Adam Dunn. I don’t want to get into specifics.”

You'll never here a GM go out of his way to disparage another player. Adding insult to injury is the fact that he's the GM of a Canadian franchise. This is total bush league.

Look, I get frustrated about Dunn a lot, but it's just because he sometimes fails to connect his brain to his physical abilities. I don't question his desire to play at all. I think it's the opposite: he tries too hard sometimes when he should play more naturally.

These ridiculous comments probably show why this guy won't be a GM much longer. And even better, the Reds are playing at Toronto next week. Something tells me that Dunn will explode.

Looking for Redlegs

I'm not quite sure when it started. Perhaps it was empathy stemmed over from the year of my birth.

I was born in the midst of the Big Red Machine, in December 1975, between back-to-back World Championships. Just two months before I was born, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games.

But it probably started with those Saturday baseball games on television when I was a kid. It was the only time I had the opportunity to see this bizarre phenomenon known as the American League— teams like the Yankees, Tigers, White Sox, and Royals. But the one I enjoyed the most played in a stadium with a big green wall in left field. That was the team I liked the best. So in the mid-eighties, I chose my American league team: the Boston Red Sox.

The recent futility of my hometown club led me to live and die with the Sox. I remember Buckner losing the ball in the five-hole. I remember Clemens getting ejected from the ALCS in 1990. I remember when Mo Vaughn was mashing and Pedro Martinez was menacing. I remember staying up to watch the 11th inning of game 7 of the ALCS when former-Red Aaron Boone took Tim Wakefield yard.

But watching the Red Sox win to championships in four years has been enjoyable. True, not as enjoyable as it would be if the Reds would win another, but fun nevertheless. But the recent run of championships has taken a little bit off of my relationship with the team. They used to be underdogs. Now they're poised to become a dynasty. It's just different.

So as the Red Sox come to town for the first time since the year of my birth, you'd think I'd be lined up to get tickets [ironically, even though the Reds sold these tickets like it was the greatest sporting event in Cincinnati history, you can walk up and purchase them for any game this weekend]. But, as of now, I'm not going to any of the three games. Sure, it's the match-up of my two favorite teams, but it's not worth the premium price to me. The Reds are reeling and the Red Sox are cruising. Plus, the games will be on television, so I won't have to miss a play

Here's to hoping that a little love will come the Reds way so that the next time these teams face-off it'll be in a World Series [which the Reds will win].

UPDATE

Two more things:

1) I forgot to mention that the first manager of the Red Sox came from the RedLegs. I believe that they weren't the Red Sox until that manager renamed the team the American League Red Stockings, later the Red Sox. Additionally, I thing the Reds later dropped the "Stockings" because it had German connotations,

2) Of course, wouldn't you know it that I received a call an hour after originally posting this offering me a ticket to tonight's game. I ended up going and was proud that the crowd, while filled with Sox fans, was mostly for the Reds. And they ending up winning to boot. Thanks, Tye and Andrea.

New View

Earlier this week I was online checking Google maps and saw that the Google street view has finally come to Cincinnati. This is an effort by Google to get 360 views of [I think] every street in America. I could tell by the view that they took these pictures last year when our street was under construction.

I feel particularly honored that the Explorer was front and center for the picture.

Go ahead and Google an address and see what happens.

I'm A Jerk [Again]

Continuing to offer opinions to which some will object . . . Let's wrap up celebrating Joe Nuxhall.

Look, he was a great guy who was loved by the masses. He meant a lot to many Reds fans. And, as a result of his wonderful life, he has been thoroughly honored: he has a quote permanently affixed to the facade of Great American Ballpark [while Marty, because the county commissioners were ridiculous, has nothing], he has a statue in front of the stadium, the team wore his jersey number on Opening Day and is still wearing a "Nuxy" patch on their sleeves.

So did we really have to rename a street to make sure he was even more honored?

Personally, I liked Joe. But as much as I wanted him to get the Frick award and make it into the Hall of Fame [which I imagine he someday will] we all have to admit that he really wasn't a great broadcaster; I tended to avoid innings when he did the play-by-play. He was more of a personality than a professional, very similar to Harry Caray. Joe was a good man, without a doubt. But were his contributions to our community so important that we need to continue to come up with ideas by which to remember him ?

Perhaps my dismay is fueled by the idea that our city has produced many influential people who have helped change the world who never received this kind of honor. For example, Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine, something that we who never lived during the height of the polio scare, will never fully appreciate. The city showed their appreciation of Sabin by naming the convention center after him, the selling out the name to a power company [in a related note, just last week I encountered someone at the convention center who went there to pay their energy bill]. Further more, we have one of our native sons who served as President of the United States yet still doesn't even a statue of his own in the city!

Again, this obviously isn't an attempt to put down Joe. He will be remembered by many for years to come. But 100 years from now, I imagine it will be difficult for someone to explain how his contributions were more significant than many other sons and daughters from our city who had been long forgotten.

The Bruce Is Loose!

Couldn't make it out to the ballpark tonight, but I was excited tonight as Reds phenom Jay Bruce was called up and played in his first major league game. He went 3-3, 2 walks and 2 RBIs, and received a face full of shaving cream during the post-game interview. Here's hoping that we were able to watch the premier of the next great Cincinnati Red. FYI, I believed in this guy so much I picked him up in my fantasy baseball league LAST YEAR. I spent a keeper spot on a guy who didn't play a game until tonight. Thanks, Jay, for making me look smart.

3 Doors Down + Cincinnati = Crazy Delicious

Not really a huge 3 Doors Down fan but I might become one if they start filming all of their music videos around here. Take a look at their music video filmed all around the city, from downtown to OTR, and what I believe is the Eighth Street Viaduct in Price Hill.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Pander Bears

I can accept valid criticism. Without sincere critique it's virtually impossible to improve. But the past week or so I observed two local media outlets cross the line from objective critique to subjective sensationalism and they need to be called out.

The first instance was with the Cincinnati Enquirer. They published a front page story this week exposing the merger of two of the more economically challenged schools in the Cincinnati Public School District. Apparently the district rushed the merger, moving it up from mid-school year to this past August, which led to a bit of chaos as the new school opened. And, as could be predicted, the decision led to a slew of disciplinary problems, many of which were overlooked. Within a few months the principal had resigned and it seems that, by the beginning of the new year, things had finally begun to settle down. But apparently the Enquirer felt it was a front page story that the public needed to know.

Now I'm not going to defend CPD's ill-advised planning here, as it was indeed a hastily decision that created a disordered environment. But the Enquirer took a non-story and ran with it. Notice the headline screams, "Chaos" and "Violence." They also claim that parents feared for their children's safety. Understand that this is the typical media formula to elicit a response from suburban folk who think inner-city folk are savages [witness: the next day letter from Shana in Green Township].

There's no doubt that these are some of the roughest schools in the city. Absentee parentism and poverty abound and disciplinary problems will always be a challenge in these schools. But nowhere in the story is there a quote from any of the concerned parents referenced. Additionally, the Enquirer cites three incidents that very well could have happened in any school in America and, therefore, feel justified with using the term "violence." To bolster the argument, they include a student dropping an F-bomb to a teacher. Again, I highly doubt that such behavior is only found in the ghetto. The only "eyewitness" quoted is someone who said they never witnessed the horrible behavior described in the article.

This story is doing nothing more than pandering to the suburban newspaper-purchasing public who want to feel like their community is safer and more civilized than the city. Unless suburban schools are held to the same scrutiny, this is irresponsible reporting.

But the Enquirer isn't the only local media outlet dumping on Cincinnati Public. Channel 5 News decided that sweeps would be a convenient time to engage viewers by encouraging even more animosity towards the city. They reported that while the Cincinnati Public School District continually asks for tax dollars, they're actually holding a $6million art collection. News 5 proceeded to produce an entire segment to ask why they haven't sold the art to help make up the budget. Again, this is a non-story that made it on air. The art has been donated to the district for over 100 years by the students and citizens of Cincinnati so that future generations can be exposed to pieces of fine art. These donations weren't intended to be pawned off when budgets get a little bad. But I guess News 5 doesn't think kids in city schools should be allowed to experience culture.

Additionally, if News 5 really wants to probe funding issues, why don't they investigate state governments to see why they don't sell state parks to housing developers to balance their budgets? And while they're at it, maybe News 5 can ask why the US Government doesn't sell Florida to the Cubans so they can balance the federal budget. The premise behind the story is moronic and it can never escape it, so it's a waste— end of discussion.

But if that isn't enough, the same News 5 reporter did another sweeps story about how safe the downtown really is— or isn't. He spent an entire night on the streets of downtown on a Friday night with a camera to do some in-depth research on the topic. Even while citing statistics that prove downtown is much safer than it's been in decades, the reporter gets excited because he finds someone who will sell him crack [he says he chose not to purchase]. Additionally, he's aiming for a Murrow award when he actually films a drug deal going down and observes that there is no police around. Forget to note that he's on Court Street at 3am on a Friday night. There is no residential or restaurant for blocks around that area. Do you think CPD can be everywhere all the time? I'd love to see him do the same thing in Newport, Covington, even Blue Ash on a Friday night and see what he came up with. I'm sure downtown is the only place in the city where drugs are dealt.

But the reporter doesn't give a rip because the fact-ignoring story does the job: pandering to the suburban television watching public who want to feel like their community is safer and more civilized than the city.

Like I said, if there is legitimate criticism that needs to be levied, it's the responsibility of the local media to do so. But if they're going to continue to produce this biased crap without holding suburban areas to the same standards, than they're no more credible than the Onion. Actually, I'll go as far as saying as News 5 should be avoided at all cost. It's junior-high journalism at its finest. And my apologies to those junior-highers I've offended.

I should note that, in the midst of my bitterness, I was pleasantly surprised to see Channel 9 do a story citing What's Good In Cincinnati. It wasn't amazing, but it definitely a positive presentation about our area— much more impressive than the news items referenced earlier in this post. The media should report the news, not create it to sell papers or attract cheap ratings.

Fun Run [Part Two]

The nice thing about running the Flying Pig was my home-field advantage. I'm fortunate to live so close to downtown because I was totally familiar with the marathon course. Plus, I was able to see my family twice without too much work for them. Nothing necessarily surprised me during the run, except the totally different sensation of running with thousands of people in the road as opposed to solitary runs on the sidewalk. As I left the fam and proceeded up the second half of the killer hill, I began to have some conversations with other runners. I continually heard people mention how beautiful park and the area was. I'd respond by bragging that I live here and see it everyday. The irony of the conversations was that these same people lusting after our park could probably live her themselves if they really wanted. So in those brief conversations burning up the hill, I felt it was my duty to work public relations for Walnut Hills.

At the top of the hill, I was about 7 miles in so I decided I would get my first drink at the water station. I had absolutely no desire for Gatorade so I tried to avoid it all-together. Of course, unbeknownst to me, I ended up getting some Gatorade and drank it without realizing it. This killed me because, although usually enjoying the beverage, I wasn't used to drinking that stuff while running.

Then came the split were the half-marathoners departed from the full-marathoners at DeSales Corner. That's where the race began to open up and I felt I could actually breathe. Unfortunately, as there were fewer runners, I never found a good pace person to track down. I think I actually ended up slowing down a little on this stretch. I probably lost some time there.

But then I started the descent down Gilbert Avenue. It was here that my knee started acting up a little, but at least I knew that I'd be passing in front of our condo soon. I saw Kaelyn at the distance. She was having fun running up and down the sidewalk [something we don't let her do regularly because of the traffic flying by on the street]. I picked her up, got a kiss, said a few words and went down the hill for the last couple miles.

As I hit Central Parkway I finally started to feel a little tired. There's a section of Central were you basically have to backtrack, meaning that you run past the turn you'll eventually have to take. And, my knee started to throb, but I knew I only had about a mile to go so I sucked it up.

Running down Eggleston I decided I would push it as hard as I could. I started passing people pretty well. The last turn onto Pete Rose Way [I was doing it all for him] I knew the end was near so I was chugging it pretty hard. As I approached the finish line I could've passed this father and his college-age daughter, but they were having a touching moment so I figured it was well enough and finished a tad slower than I wanted.

As I walked through the masses of finishers I got my free junk and felt pretty good about what I had done. I finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes. I would've like to finish under 2 hours, but I really hadn't set it as a goal or anything. I just wanted to finish and not suck. There were about 350 men in my age group [age 30-34] that ran the half-marathon. I finished at around 200 among them. All-in-all, pretty average. And that was cool.

As I started to walk back to my car, I realized that my day didn't quite work out like I had planned. When I parked the car in the early morning, I had locked my keys and wallet in the car so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping them with me. At that stop in front of our condo, Kelly was going to hand me the key on a rubberband and I would keep it on my wrist to the finish. Of course, the exchange never took place, so I was stuck down by the river with no car key. I happened to see an old college buddy down there who lent me his cellphone. I called Kelly and told her I would just walk the 2.5 miles home.

It was weird to pass people still running the course. I was going the other way, having already finished, and they had a few more miles to go. And for the second time that morning, I was climbing up the hill at Gilbert. I made it to the front door about forty minutes later, went in, and sat down, knowing that I had traversed around almost 17 miles this morning. Another 9 miles, and I would've gone a full marathon.

Oh, and we had church tonight, but I wussed out and decided to sit while I was preaching. My knee is really hurting, but it'll be fine by tomorrow.

Ending thoughts here:

First, I love my city. Cincinnati is awesome. The crowds of people who came out and shout encouragement to people for hours just speaks to the kind of people in our town. That, plus the beauty it possesses, [both natural and man-made structures] are among many things that make me proud to call this place home.

And finally, sitting here typing up these thoughts, I can't help but think if I'll do this again. I'm just not sure. As I admitted before, I really don't like running too much. The accompishment will be fun to reflect on, but I'm still not convinced it's worth the boredom of training.

I mean, if I run the half-marathon again, it would just be to shave off minutes. And, for me, running the full-marathon is still a major time commitment, one I'm not sure I can do while pastoring a church, finishing grad school, and still trying to have some kind of family time. I imagine that I'll wait about ten years, hit a point in my 40's where I'm looking for a new challenge, and give it a go then.

But at the end of the day, I had a blast. And even if I don't run, I'm already looking forward to the Flying Pig next year.