This and that

• In case you missed it: Carson will start throwing again on Dec. 7, and they'll go from there. Good quotes from Carson about how he'd REALLY like to avoid surgery.

• I like that Mark Curnutte kept the Q&A session with Chad about his being deactivated as the back-and-forth Q&A for what he filed about Chad this afternoon ... it definitely worked well in this case. Especially the part where Chad's reminded that the biggest story of the season has been Carson's elbow.

• You've got to wonder whether Shaun Alexander will catch on anywhere else after he got cut by Washington.

And speaking of Cincinnati-area products, Ray Edwards (Woodward HS) sounded off about his $25,000 fine for two plays considered unnecessary roughness.

• Injury news: Stinks for UC that Mike Mickens is out for two weeks (games they should win anyway) and it really stinks for X that Terrell Holloway will miss 2-4 weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.

• UC press: Sporting News offers a 'party crashers' tale of the tape about UC and Oregon State.

And The News Record's Bo Jessee has a nice piece about Dominick Goodman. I've never been a UC fan, but I always pull for guys I got to see play in high school, like Goodman, Tony Pike, Terrill Byrd, et al. Anyway, I agree with the Kerry Coombs quote in this article: Goodman is good enough to play at the next level.

• Impressive recruiting effort by Xavier, based on everything I've heard, now that they've received a signed National Letter of Intent from 6-6 guard/forward Kevin Parrom of South Kent (Conn.) Prep.

"Kevin Parrom is a versatile wing player that can play a number of different positions in our program," said Miller. "With the impending departures of seniors C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond, finding this type of player was our top priority in the 2009 class. We are very excited about Kevin's ability to contribute to our program on the basketball court. We are equally excited about his ability as a student and who he is as a person. He is a great fit into our University and our basketball program."

Parrom was listed very high by all of the recruiting services. He was the number 16 small forward (number 74 overall and a four-star recruit) by scout.com, the number 19 small forward (number 84 overall and a four-star recruit) by rivals.com and the number 20 small forward (number 83 overall) by ESPN.com.

"Xavier only signed one player in the fall but they struck gold with Kevin," said Paul Biancardi, ESPN National Director of Recruiting for High School and College Basketball. "He will make an immediate impact and that’s quite a statement about Kevin because he is entering a high-level, top-notch college basketball program."

• Non-local link of interest: Great piece by Rivals.com's Bob McClellan about the futility of Northwestern basketball.

This and that

A few observations about Xavier's big 63-58 win against No. 13 Memphis in Puerto Rico:

• Terrell Holloway (Harmony Prep) was 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. After he was 10-10 against Mizzou on Thursday. And he's a freshman.

• What's scary about the fact that Xavier won is they only shot 36 percent from the field. They only got 2 points from their best player (Derrick Brown). And they were only 2-of-14 from 3-point range. They didn't hit a three (in nine attempts) in the entire second half.

• Jamel McLean had a great game, especially in the first half. Jason Love had 12 huge rebounds.

• I wasn't overly impressed with Memphis, and it's pretty clear they were ranked a little bit too high. They lost a lot with the departure of Rose, CDR and Dorsey. But Sean Miller has got to be pleased with Xavier's defensive effort when the Muskies hold a team like Memphis to 32.7 percent from the field.

Update: The 5-0 Musketeers are ranked No. 16 in the new AP Top 25.

• Peter King's Monday Morning QB includes several Bengals mentions if you have a half-hour to read it. The highlights: First few paragraphs about Big Ben, Quote of the Week III from T.J. (about how the Bengals are 1-8 with Chad and 0-1 without him), Factoids of the Week about Dick LeBeau and a couple of the 10 Things I think I think (one about Carson Palmer, the other about how the Bengals shouldn't in a million years bring Chad back for 2009).

• From ProFootballTalk.com: Joey Porter being Joey Porter. What a piece of work. As you know, news about a linebacker who plays for the Dolphins usually wouldn't appear on this blog (unless it was the non-local link of interest), but I get away with it in this instance because of the incident where Porter punched Bengals lineman Levi Jones at a Vegas casino.

And speaking of former Steelers, ProFootballTalk stands behind its report that the Browns are talking to Bill Cowher.

• My buddy Stewart Mandel (Sycamore HS) gives Brian Kelly some love in his Five Things We Learned This Weekend.

Mike DeCourcy also gives Kelly love in the Sporting News.

Speaking of UC, ranked No. 16 in the latest AP Top 25, the Bearcats are one of just two Big East teams who still have a shot at the BCS bid. UConn is eliminated from title contention after last night's 17-13 loss to South Florida. And the only way WVU can steal it away from UC is if the Mountaineers win out (at Pitt and home against South Florida) and the Bearcats lose to Syracuse. Highly unlikely. In fact, the Backyard Brawl (WVU-Pitt) is Friday night, so the Bearcats actually could clinch the Big East title with a Pitt win.

ESPN has revised its bowl projections. Now Mark Schlabach has Virginia Tech playing UC in the Orange Bowl, and Bruce Feldman has the Bearcats facing Florida State (also in the Orange Bowl). Both experts have Georgia and Ohio State meeting in the Capital One bowl.

SI.com (Stewart) has the same Capital One matchup, but he predicts a Boston College-UC Orange Bowl.

• RedReporter.com just posted a nice analysis of what happened to Aaron Harang and what's in store for him.

And A name from the really-not-too-distant Reds' past: the Phillies have hired Pete Mackanin as their new bench coach.

• Boston Globe's Chad Finn writes about how the Red Sox actually might be shopping David Ortiz to avoid having to cram four high-quality everyday players - Ortiz, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis (Sycamore HS) and Mike Lowell - into third base, first base and DH.

I think they'd be much more likely to deal Lowell, while he's still got some value, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Reds pursued a guy like Lowell if they decide they're looking to replace and/or move Edwin Encarnacion.

• Non-local link of interest: Deadspin has an item called When Blogs Go Too Far?: Yahoo! NBA Writer Calls Blogger After Perceived Threat that's pretty disturbing about a Cleveland Cavaliers blogger who says he wants to go "American History X" (the scene with the mouth on the curb if you're familiar with the movie) on Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. I linked to Deadspin instead of this Cavs blog because I'm hoping you'll read the offensive comments on Deadspin (to get the gist) without giving this character a page view he doesn't deserve. I'm all for freedom of speech but I think Amir Panchmatia is out of line on this one.

This and that

• Xavier does it again: For the second consecutive day in Puerto Rico, the Musketeers were down by seven late in the second half and managed to come from behind for an overtime win. Pretty impressive. Today they did it in very exciting fashion, with Dante Jackson hitting a desperation 3-pointer to beat the buzzer in overtime!

They haven't done it against slouches either. They did it yesterday against a talented Missouri squad, mostly by hitting free throws, and they pulled it off this afternoon against Virginia Tech by hitting some big shots down the stretch in regulation and in overtime.

In today's game, they trailed by as many as eight and were down seven with about four minutes left. Took a couple of huge charges late in regulation. Big shots in overtime from Derrick Brown on a monster dunk (to get the scoring started in the extra period) and Terrell Holloway to give Xavier a 59-58 lead with 37 seconds left. Holloway also drew a big foul with 13 seconds left and knocked down a free throw (but also missed a big one that could've given X the lead). Not that it mattered. Xavier got the ball with 1.9 seconds remaining, down 62-60, and Jackson banked in the desperation heave.

Hopefully they'll avoid digging themselves a hole in Sunday night's final against Memphis or Seton Hall (who play Friday night). No doubt they'll be ranked next week if they win that. I'm guessing they'll be ranked even if they lose Sunday.

Gotta love Holloway (Harmony Prep) and the Muskies getting some love from ESPN in this piece by Dana O'Neil. There will be more where that came from as long as the freshman keeps coming up huge for Xavier late in ballgames.

If you didn't get to watch the game (I listened to it), be sure to watch highlights ... unbelievable shot by Dante Jackson for the game-winner!

• Thoughts on Bengals' loss: Listening to Eric Thomas and Alan Cutler on sports talk on my way in, I agreed with some of the things they were saying about the Bengals' loss in Pittsburgh and disagreed with a couple of others. Here's what I think they were right about ...

- Marvin has GOT to go for it on fourth down, down 13 with 6:50 left in the game. No-brainer. There's absolutely no way I kick the field goal in that situation in Pittsburgh. You're still down two scores!

What I sort of think they were right about ...

- You've got to applaud Anthony Collins and Nate Livings for their tremendous effort. Everyone thought the Steelers' defense was just going to eat these guys alive, and they really held their own. ET and Cutler were ready to pencil them in as starters for 2009. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far just yet. I'd still like to see the Bengals get a big offensive tackle in the first round of the draft. And another lineman in the second.

What I disagreed with ...

- ET was talking about how this could've been a 45-3 game and the Bengals really did play extraordinarily well. He was very impressed with the overall effort. I think they played well for the first quarter. I'm not going to give them an "A" when they went an entire quarter-and-a-half of the second half without a first down. The Bengals didn't sack Ben Roethlisberger - the most-sacked quarterback in the league - once. He had all day to throw. The Bengals had 43 net yards rushing. Limas Sweed tried to gift the Bengals a chance to take the lead or at least tie the game with his bonehead error on the punt return at the end of the first half. They squandered the opportunity. They played pretty well for a quarter. I say leave it at that.

My last thought ...

- How many people were wishing and would have given anything for Santonio Holmes to be Hines Ward when Crocker absolutely destroyed him early in the third quarter. I'm pretty sure I didn't see Holmes the rest of the game.

• Marvin Lewis said Chad will be fined in addition to being deactivated. Not sure how much ... should be a game check, right?

"I don't foresee any more," Lewis said when asked if there would be any more discipline for Chad. "It is behind us. He sees how it had to be rectified."

"Any time a player has something like that occur, he lets his team down," Lewis added. "Everybody (players) understands what I did. Any time you have to sit a player down, it sends a message."

• CBS' Dennis Dodd says Brian Kelly to Tennessee is about to happen.

They're probably going to hire someone soon before they lose any other big time recruits to fellow SEC schools.

• The Arizona Republic reports that Dick Vitale stirred the pot by saying the University of Arizona should have hired former Hoosiers head coach Bob Knight as its interim head coach.

• I may be wrong, but is Trever Miller at least the third player who has been acquired by another team this offseason who Walt Jocketty has said - after the fact - the Reds pursued and almost required? He said it about Coco Crisp (also mentioned in this link from Mark Sheldon) and maybe Matt Holliday? Seems like there was someone else.

• Non-local link of interest: My buddy Luke Winn wrote a strong piece after hanging out with Southern Illinois in advance of the Salukis' showdown with Duke last night in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic at Madison Square Garden.

This and that

• If it wasn't bad enough that the Bengals will be without starting offensive linemen, the team has announced that Chad won't play against the Steelers because he violated an undisclosed team rule. Spokesman Jack Brennan said the team would have no additional comment about Chad until after the game.

NFL.com's Adam Schefter reports that Chad got into a fight with someone in the Bengals' organization Wednesday night and left a team function.

Bengals play-by-play announcer Brad Johansen said Chad told him he overslept for an 8:30 p.m. meeting.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Chad was 45 minutes late to the meeting and, according to a story on ESPN.com, "He and coach Marvin Lewis then got into a verbal disagreement," and Chad was sent home.

Anyway, if Chris Henry moves into Chad's spot, who's their No. 3 receiver? Chatman is out for the year. Jerome Simpson is still hurt. Which leaves Andre Caldwell, who's nursing a foot injury, and Glenn Holt.

Overall, five starters are among nine players listed as 'out'. Make that six with Chad out. Could be ugly.

• All that being said, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Steelers covered the spread tonight. Not that I'm in any hurry to put a bet on a Steelers' game as the fallout from Sunday's debacle continues (to some extent ... nothing brand new just people still cursing referee Scott Green).

And Big Ben apparently is not afraid to heave it deep.

• Walt Jocketty apparently had a few interesting things to say Wednesday. Said we were close to acquiring Coco Crisp (who was traded to the Royals). Said he was a little surprised that Affeldt was so quick to sign with the Giants. Said we're still talking to Weathers, Lincoln and Hairston. And he acknowledged that adding bullpen help is a new focus with Affeldt's departure and the possibility that Weathers and/or Lincoln won't return.

Nothing too stunning, aside from getting us thinking about how Coco Crisp would've looked in an outfield with Jay Bruce and Dickerson/Freel/Hopper.

• Speaking of Jocketty, DDN's Hal McCoy writes about how good he and Castellini were to Special Assistant to the General Manager Squeaky Parker.

• Mike Griffith of GoVolsXtra and the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that Brian Kelly is the leading candidate for Tennessee's head coaching job, according to a source within the program.

• ESPN.com's Brian Bennett has a UC-Pitt preview from the Pitt perspective. Turns out their players are pretty excited about the possibility of playing in a BCS bowl too, even if a lot of their fans aren't (Pitt returned 1,700 of the 3,000 tickets UC sent).

• Non-local link of interest: I don't follow golf very closely, but I have to admit I'm pretty fascinated by this J.P. Hayes story. If you're not familiar, Hayes disqualified himself from the second stage of a PGA Tour qualifying tournament after inadvertently playing with a nonconforming golf ball. ESPN's Jason Sobel points out that self-imposed penalities aren't that uncommon in golf.

This and that

Pretty Steelers-heavy, I realize, but it is Steelers' (short) week ...

• Nate Livings and Anthony Collins likely will form the left side of the Bengals' line tomorrow night against the No. 1 ranked defense in the league. Yikes. Livings is a free agent who's been on the practice squad for three years and has never been active for a game. He's confident though. Good quote from him in Geoff Hobson's article on Bengals.com.

• The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Scott Brown talked to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who said he "cut down on the mileage that we put on the wheels as we prepare" because of the short week, pointed out that "both teams are dealing with the short week," and agreed that his defense can be considered great.

• Hines Ward links: ProFootballTalk.com's Mike Florio points out that just because Hines Ward's hits are clean doesn't mean he's not an ass. Ward remains unapologetic, insists it's football and you've got to keep your head on a swivel, and says he's not worried about the possibility of revenge. The DDN's Chick Ludwig offers a Q&A with Ward as well as a blog post where he suggests that "you've gotta admire the dude for doing everything in his power to win football games." So with the Florio post and the Ludwig post, you've basically got a point/counterpoint. If you've got any Bengals fan in you and/or you feel bad for Keith Rivers and others Ward has blown up, it's tough to agree with Chick on this one.

• To recognize the anniversary of Sean Taylor's murder, ESPN.com has a package about NFL Security and how safe players are. Big Ben is among those to offer his point of view.

• On SI.com, Baseball Prospectus offers its Hot Stove Preview of the NL Central. Nothing too earth-shattering about the Reds. Needs are shortstop and centerfield. Agree, more so about shortstop (like I said before, Dickerson might be serviceable in center). What are they likely to do? Shop Arroyo, it says, which I think makes some sense. You're still selling high on him after the great second half he had. What should they do? Acquire Milton Bradley (interesting) and try to get Alcides Escobar and whatever else from the Brewers for Arroyo. Which is funny, because my fellow OMGReds contributors who were tired of me shooting down every rumor made me come forward with a player I thought the Reds SHOULD pursue and I said J.J. Hardy, who the Brewers might be more willing to part with BECAUSE they have Escobar.

• Little known fact about new Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu: He was an 11th round pick of the Cincinnati Reds in the 1985 draft. The Reds released him in 1989. Talk about the definition of a career minor-leaguer. He caught 18 games for the White Sox in 1991 and that's it as far as MLB experience.

• Non-local link of the day: Milan Simon Tuttle, a 5-year-old girl, puts on a dribbling exhibition that makes a pro jealous. Crazy video.

This and that

• Kevin Youkilis (Sycamore HS, UC) finished third in American League MVP voting. Which is unbelievable. He even (deservedly) got a couple of first-place votes. To think that this kid was just the younger son/brother of my Knothole coach/teammate who used to hang around at practice and ask if he could take a few cuts after we all had hit.

• On the Lot D, C. Trent has some great quotes from Hines Ward, who claims, among other things, that he wasn't able to get a hold of Keith Rivers.

• Speaking of this week's Bengals opponent: The NFL won't acknowledge what a disaster the end of the Steelers-Chargers game Sunday (with the Polamalu touchdown that was ruled not a touchdown before the league admitted it should've counted) has become because it didn't affect the actual outcome, but it really is pretty messed up that the Steelers would've covered and all of those people lost all that money. The New York Post's Steve Serby adds insult to injury by pointing out that the blown call may lead to tiebreaker issues, which would be pretty outstanding. And the Washington Post's Mark Maske has a story about how the league may modify rules on instant replay as a result. By the way, the Steelers apparently weren't happy about the officiating in general.

• Last week's Bengals opponent: CBS' Pete Prisco rips the Eagles for tying the Bengals in his Prisco Grades: Week 11. A Rumors and Rants contributor points out that Philly's love-hate relationship with Donovan McNabb is just annoying. I'd have to agree. Some of his throws on Sunday were ugly, but he's still one of the 10 or 12 best quarterbacks in the league.

• The Giants are pretty excited and getting serious praise (from ESPN, et al.) for signing Jeremy Affeldt to a two-year, $8 million deal.

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal also has a couple of items in a notebook about Ken Griffey Jr.: one about Junior's wife telling him he can sign anywhere he wants to and the other about Junior's knee (with quotes from Tim Kremcheck).

And speaking of former Reds, Sports Illustrated's Pablo S. Torre makes a case for Josh Hamilton as Sportsman of the Year.

• Thought it was cool that Toledo native B.J. Raymond had a great game against the Rockets in Xavier's 81-65 win. Unbelievable second half from Tyrone Kent, BTW ... it's not every day you see a guy drop 32 points in a half.

• Non-local link of the day: ESPN has a very interesting story about Jonestown founder/leader Jim Jones' grandson, Rob, who is the best high school basketball player in the Bay Area. The mass suicide at Jonestown happened on this date in 1978.

Pick 'em up

I know I'm looking for every edge I can find to push my hovering-right-around-.500-fantasy-squads into the playoffs and I'm sure some of you are too. So here's an abbreviated pick 'em up: players (currently owned by 30% or less in Yahoo! leagues) you should consider plugging and playing Week 12 (if they're still available).

TE Dustin Keller, Jets (owned by 30%): I have to start a tight end in three out of four leagues, and this guy has been as good as any for the past two weeks. I know, I know, what about the first nine weeks of the season where he didn't do anything? Keep in mind he's a rookie, and it's taken a few weeks for him to establish himself as Favre's favorite target. But look at his thrown-to numbers for the past five weeks: 3, 5, 5, 7, 10. Steady improvement. 6-107 in Week 10, 8-87 in Week 11. That's better production than you're getting out of Dallas Clark, Antonio Gates, Owen Daniels, Jason Witten, et al.

WR Justin Gage, Titans (owned by 28%): He's very inconsistent, but how many other receivers that are available in 72 percent of leagues have three touchdown catches in the past two weeks. Kerry Collins appears to be targeting his receivers more over the past couple of weeks.

RB Peyton Hillis, Broncos (owned by 21%): I guess people are still shying away because he's a converted fullback, they've been through so many other guys to get to him, they picked up Tatum Bell and/or he hasn't been piling up huge rushing totals. But over the past three weeks, only 11 players in the league have earned more fantasy points than Hillis. He's obviously not going to get the 116 receiving yards he had Week 9 in every game, but he'll keep getting touchdowns until Bell possibly takes over and/or Selvin Young returns (which won't be anytime soon, believe me, I own him, and I've been waiting). And Denver plays Oakland this weekend.

QB Shaun Hill, 49ers (owned by 9%): 201 yards per game, 5 touchdowns (plus a rushing TD), 2 interceptions in three games. And he actually posted very similar numbers in three games last season. Hey, he's better than Daunte Culpepper.

RB Antonio Pittman, Rams (owned by 7%): 14 carries, 95 yards last week. And Stephen Jackson is out again this week.

RB Pierre Thomas, Saints (owned by 15%): Same deal. Big week last week (16-88 with a TD, 4-56 receiving) and Reggie Bush sounds like he's still out. Only difference with Thomas is Deuce McAllister is going to steal some carries.

This and that

• Six takes on the Bengals' climbing/falling to 1-8-1 for the season:

Paul Daugherty: Here's to, uhhh, not losing. This is as close to a "Why on earth did they stop throwing it to T.J.?" take as I was hoping to find first thing this morning.

DDN's Chick Ludwig: Defense dominates in first tie since '02. Includes the quote from Donovan McNabb about how he didn't know a game could end in a tie. Wow. Really?

philly.com's Rich Hofmann: NFL overtime rules? Don't ask McNabb. Teaser on the front of philly.com reads as follows:

The fact that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb turned over the ball four times in a game for the first time since 2003 will be slowly forgotten. This will always be remembered, though, as the day McNabb admitted to not knowing that an NFL game could end in a tie.

Exactly.

Philly Inquirer's Ashley Fox: McNabb's reign likely is over. Ouch. McNabb really didn't play well. You couldn't even tell who he was throwing to on some of those. But isn't he having a pretty good year? I have a feeling that as disappointed as Bengals fans are over Sunday's outcome, they're taking it much harder in Philadelphia.

Ludwig: Crocker comes up big at the safety spot. Yeah, the defense, despite allowing a ton of passing yardage, really did play so well that it's a shame they didn't win.

Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson: Offensive woes persist. Indeed.

• Did anyone hear (ESPN play-by-play guy) Sean McDonough absolutely ripping Brian Kelly at the end of the UC-Louisville game Saturday? Wow. Apparently there was a pre-game dispute between Kelly and Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe over a prayer the Bearcats gathered for at midfield where they joined hands in a circle around the Cardinal emblem (which they evidently do before every game and even invited Louisville players to participate).

Kragthorpe claimed the Bearcats were disrespecting Louisville by surrounding the emblem. So he came out and started arguing with Kelly. Maybe to fire his team up, as Chris Spielman suggested.

After the game, Kelly headed over to shake Kragthorpe's hand and saw that Kragthorpe had turned and trotted off the field in the other direction (not seen on TV). Kelly gestured at Kragthorpe in disgust - which was seen by the television audience - and McDonough ripped Kelly. Kragthorpe did meet with Kelly to shake his hand at the post-game press conference.

• You've got to love Kelly's quote - from the UC-Louisville post-game conference - about the upcoming UC-Pitt game.

"I think it (Saturday-Pitt) is the biggest game in school history," Kelly said. "There's no question about that. If that place doesn't have 500,000 people in it, I'm going to be pissed. I'm going to be pissed because we've done everything to elevate this football program. If you can't support us next week, there's nothing else we can do. We've won, we've been consistent. It's now time for our fans to show up. They've been good, but it should be the hardest ticket to get in Cincinnati."

• Kelly gets some serious love from the New York Times.

• And finally: FOX Sports considers dream matchups and nightmare matchups for each of the BCS bowls. Their nightmare matchup for the Orange Bowl: Any 8-4 ACC team vs. Cincinnati or Ball State.

My buddy Stewart Mandel (Sycamore HS) has Maryland-UC as his projected Orange Bowl. He just doesn't call it a nightmare.

ESPN has a couple of different projections: Mark Schlabach says Maryland-UC; Bruce Feldman says Miami (FL)-UC.

• Nice feature in the Boston Globe about Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph, who was a backup to Rob Schoenhoft at St. X.

Non-local link of interest: None. Instead, I'll provide a little bit of the unsolicited fantasy football advice I've been promising. See next post.

This and that

• Jason Whitlock names his 10 best and 10 worst NFL coaches of the 2008 season so far, and Marvin appears on the bad list. Whitlock blames Marvin for creating the Chad Johnson situation and for allowing Chad and T.J. Houshmandzadeh to take over the Bengals the way Randy Moss and Cris Carter once did the Vikings.

• In case you missed it, WhoDeyRevolution's Project Mayhem Task No. 3 is a complete boycott of Bengals merchandise and concessions.

As far as this Sunday, ProFootballTalk.com reports that the Eagles are getting healthy. Not good for the Bengals. You at least want Brian Westbrook to say he's banged up, as usual, right?

• Hot Stove: In Jayson Stark's Time to check the shopping lists, he has Mark Mulder as the free agent who could top the Reds' list. He says a veteran starting pitcher is what they need.

All I know is he would have to accept a lot less money than he made in 2008 ($7 million). The Reds don't need to be paying that much money for a guy who pitched less than 2 innings last season.

Also, in ESPN Insider-only content (not linked), Stark said the Reds are investigating whether there's a market for Bronson Arroyo and says Texas might be interested.

I actually could see Arroyo getting shipped to the Rangers as part of a deal to bring a catcher here.

Sounds like J.J. Hardy is available, according to Ken Rosenthal. Wouldn't mind seeing the Reds pursue him.

• Most Baseball Prospectus stuff also is for subscribers' only, but they do reveal the Reds Top 11 Prospects, with Yonder Alonso topping the list as a five-star prospect and Todd Frazier and Drew Stubbs rated as four-star prospects.

• Herb Sendek, who was a head coach at Miami University and an assistant under Rick Pitino at Kentucky, got a national letter of intent from guard Trent Lockett, who says he'll attend Arizona State and he's also expected to land Ruslan Pateev, a 7-foot, 240-pound center at Montverde Academy in Florida.

Herb's former team, by the way, had a very strong effort against a stacked UCLA team last night.

• I gave my buddy Stewart a hard time for picking Louisville to beat UC tonight. I don't see it ... Cardinals have been downright lousy the past two weeks. Check out Eric Wood if you tune into tonight's game though. Louisville's center is a Cincinnati native who attended Elder High School, and he might be the best center in the country and the first drafted. Think about whether you'd like to see the Bengals take him near the top of the second round.

• Non-local link of the day: Not sports-related, in fact. An old summer camp friend, Joel Levinson, was on Jay Leno the other night, and The New York Times wrote a feature about him last month. Give it a read, and tell me it doesn't make you think about doing the same thing Joel did and just start entering these contests.

This and that

• Hot stove: Freep.com's Agent: Tigers looking at Darren Oliver mentions that Detroit also has contacted representatives for David Weathers, among others. Weathers told MLB.com Wednesday he's flipped the page and doesn't expect to return to Cincinnati.

Jerry Hairston, on the other hand, is grateful the Reds gave him a chance, and MLB.com reports Hairston will see what he's worth but is open to returning to Cincinnati.

MLB.com reports that Ned Colletti is not trying to deal Russell Martin, a catcher many fans would love to see the Reds pursue.

As a note at the conclusion of World Series champ Manuel finishes behind Cubs' Piniella for NL Manager of Year, philly.com's David Murphy mentions that former Reds GM Wayne Krivsky is interviewing with the Phillies. He'd be an assistant to GM Ruben Amaro, who fired his assistant last week.

And Ken Griffey, Jr. Named New Spokesperson for Power Ice.

• Also, redsminorleagues.com offers a Yonder Alonso update, about how he's impressing in the Hawaiian Winter League and hit a walk-off in the 10th Wednesday night.

• More from philly.com?: That's right. Believed to be the first Pick 6 post with two different links from your favorite site about all things Philadelphia. Ashley Fox writes about how Chad Johnson credits Donovan McNabb for his attitude adjustment, just in time for the upcoming Bengals-Eagles showdown.

• Chick Ludwig's notebook is again worth reading, with good quotes from Marvin on Carson Palmer and Antwan Odom on having no regrets about leaving the Titans (9-0) for the Bengals (1-8).

Odom's probably going to miss Sunday's game against the Eagles, BTW.

• Good story from ProFootballTalk.com about how former Bengal Gus Frerotte is disputing a report by FOX's Pam Oliver that Frerotte's teammates were tuning him out as he tried to encourage them during Sunday's Packers-Vikings game.

• Brian Kelly said Wednesday night that Dustin Grutza will not be the No. 2 quarterback Friday night against Louisville because he's not ready. Chazz Anderson will be the backup to Tony Pike.

Also, I've noticed ESPN.com's Brian Bennett likes to blog about the Bearcats (he does live in Louisville). Check out his latest, Cincinnati inching toward 'big-time' status. And he also offers a primer on how UC and others could win the Big East title.

• Non-local link of the day: Luke Winn's Hoops Ideology Report on SI.com is pretty fascinating and definitely worth reading, though I didn't see any specific references to Xavier, Miami or UC (though Andy Kennedy and Herb Sendek are mentioned), which is why it's the non-local link.

This and that

• Rockies trade rumors: FoxSports.com reported that the Reds are interested in three Colorado Rockies: center fielder Willy Taveras, catcher Yorvit Torrealba and third baseman Garrett Atkins.

Walt Jocketty confirmed the two clubs had talked.

"We've let clubs know our position. We're looking for catching, center field, shortstop and a right-handed RBI guy," Jocketty said.

So you could see how the rumor started if it's not true.

The Rocky Mountain News says the Reds are not at all interested in Taveras or Torrealba, only inquiring about Atkins.

If that's the case, that would be a huge relief. Willy Taveras' on-base percentage was .308 and his slugging percentage was .296, lowest among players who qualified for the batting title. I really don't think we want to replace Corey Patterson - one of the worst centerfielders in Reds' history (based on his stats last season) - with someone who doesn't get on much more often. Taveras had 68 stolen bases last year, but you can't steal first.

I don't think Torrealba is the answer at catcher. He's a backup. And the Rocky Mountain News points out that the Reds would prefer a left-handed-hitting catcher (also one who's not arbitration eligible) to complement Ryan Hanigan.

I also explained yesterday that I'd hate to see them give up a lot for Atkins, for that matter. I'm not too worried, though, considering three other teams (Phillies, Angels and Twins) reportedly are pursuing Atkins.

By the way, have you seen how pathetic the free-agent centerfielder market is this offseason? Wow. Put it this way: Corey Patterson is mentioned among the cream of the crop. Barring a blockbuster trade, I really wouldn't have a problem with running Chris Dickerson out there in the spring. He was impressive enough in 2008 that he deserves a shot.

• Also from Denver, NFL.com was right: The Broncos brought back Tatum Bell. You'll recall Bell was accused of stealing Rudi Johnson's bags when Rudi replaced him on the Lions' roster earlier this season.

• Good piece from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about what exactly is wrong with Big Ben. Not local, you say? Come on, he went to Miami and the Steelers are in the AFC North. Roethlisberger stories are fair game.

• More love for MU: Feature from the Dayton Daily News about Tyler Dierkers, a local kid (Moeller) entering his senior year as a RedHawk.

• More love for the DDN: In his notebook, Chick Ludwig's got a good item about Bengals rookie Jerome Simpson. I think even though the Bengals have had a lot of really lousy draft picks in the past and we've come to expect even first- and second-round picks to not amount to anything, it's important to continue to keep track of these guys and not just let them disappear and steal paychecks.

• ESPN's Sports Guy ranks the Bengals 27th and mention Ryan Fitzpatrick, Gus Johnson's call of the win against Jacksonville and former Bengal Gus Frerotte (make sure you read the Minnesota Vikings' entry ... great take). Anyway, Bill Simmons' powerful glimpse into the future and ranking of all 32 NFL teams is so much more entertaining than National NFL writer's weekly Power Rankings.

• Non-local link of the day: For some clown to omit Lea Thompson from "All the Right Moves" from his Hottest Ladies in Sports Movies (That Actually Had Legit Roles) list is more than just a minor oversight. Pretty egregious, don't you think?

This and that

• With Matt Holliday reportedly off the table and headed to Oakland, Paul Daugherty seems to think they should get Garrett Atkins. But he seems to me too similar to the types of guys the Reds have acquired in the past. Had a great season three years ago and maybe he can recapture that. Atkins has had more than 600 at-bats for the past three seasons, so his health hasn't been an issue. His production has fallen off from .329-29-120 in 2006 to .301-25-111 in 2007 to .286-21-99 this past year, but .286 is still respectable, right? Better than Encarnacion's .251. But look at what Atkins' walk and strikeout numbers have done. In his outstanding 2006, he walked (79) more than he struck out (76). 67 walks and 96 strikeouts in 2007. 40 walks and 100 strikeouts last year. That's a big difference in two years. You have to wonder what's going on to cause that, especially for a guy who in theory is supposed to be hitting his stride at 28. I'm not sure the Reds can justify spending a ton of money on a guy who might not be that much of an upgrade. And who knows, as Daugherty mentions, how inflated his numbers are because of Coors.

• Joey Votto finishes second in NLROY voting. No surprise ... a couple of things did strike me. I saw a couple of comments - including one in particular on CBS Sportsline that stirred debate - about how Votto's rookie campaign can't even be compared to Soto's because Soto is a catcher who proved much more valuable to his team, and the commentor suggested that the "complete idiot" who did cast his first-place vote for Votto instead of Soto should have credentials revoked. Good statistical comparison in ccman2007's reply to the comment, which shows Votto actually posted better numbers, including 12 points higher in batting average. I think it's more than a little absurd to call the guy who gave Votto the first-place vote a complete idiot. I don't see it.

Also, I find it hilarious in a sad way that Edinson Volquez - who wasn't eligible - finished better than Jay Bruce in voting. Do your homework! SI.com's Gennaro Filice had a good blog post about it.

• NFL.com's Adam Schefter reports that the Broncos are so desperate at running back that they're considering signing Tatum Bell after watching him work out on Tuesday. Relation to Cincinnati: That's right, Bell was accused of stealing former Bengal Rudi Johnson's bags when Rudi replaced him on the Lions' roster.

• Marvin Lewis is named worst NFL coach in ProFootballTalk.com's mid-season (sort of) awards. No Bengals on the squad, either.

• WhoDeyRevolution's Project Mayhem Task #2: Support 'Hire a General Manger' Billboards apparently starts today. Have a look. Pretty comical.

• Ohio State at No. 8 and UC at No. 23 in Stewart Mandel's (Sycamore HS) College Football Power Rankings this week. And in the introduction leading up to the rankings, he explains why he's got the Buckeyes ranked higher than Utah. He's pretty excited about the Bearcats, by the way. He was asking me yesterday how many fans would make the trip to the Orange Bowl if they do manage to win out.

• Non-local link of the day: R.I.P., Herb Score.

Youk

I can't imagine he'll win, but at least my buddy John Donovan will be voting for Kevin Youkilis (Sycamore HS, University of Cincinati) for American League MVP. And John actually gets to vote now too, as he was among the first small wave of Internet writers to be admitted as a member of the BBWAA in 2008. With no head-and-shoulders candidate, Youk would get my vote too ... he had an outstanding season. And he did win the Hank Aaron award.

This and that

• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Chuck Finder wrote a must-read feature about Mardy Gilyard and Garrett Monroe (my 7-year-old next-door neighbor who Gilyard hugged after steamrolling him during the South Florida game last Thursday). Finder got some great quotes from Gilyard about what went down.

• Latest on Brian Kelly: ESPN.com's Chris Low says Kelly is among four candidates on Tennessee's preliminary list. Interestingly, Michigan State head coach (former UC head coach) Mark Dantonio and former Ohio coordinator Troy Calhoun are among "some of the other names that could end up on the Vols' list."

• Newsy blog post from John Fay about what Walt Jocketty told him at the General Managers Meetings. Apparently the Reds won't be pursuing Khalil Greene.

• NEW YORK - The NFL fined Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle John Henderson and Cincinnati Bengals guard Andrew Whitworth on Friday for fighting during Sunday's game.

Henderson and Whitworth exchanged punches after Henderson knocked off Whitworth's helmet, then appeared to try to gouge his eyes. Both players were penalized and ejected Sunday. They were fined $10,000 apiece on Friday.

"I just pushed him past the quarterback, and he fell to the ground," Whitworth said. "But he held onto my facemask and ripped my helmet off. I turned to go back to the play, and the next thing I knew, I felt him grabbing at my eyeballs. I really didn't know what to do when someone's fingers are trying to dig into my eyes."

• Non-local links of the day: Facebook proves to be problematic for Texas backup center Buck Burnette as well as New England Patriots cheerleader Caitlin Davis.

This and that

• Congrats to Brandon Phillips, the Reds' first Gold Glove winner since 2000. Reds.com has a story about Dusty Baker shooting down any speculation that Phillips will be moved from second base to shortstop.

• If you watched Ball State-Northern Illinois last night on ESPN2, you got to see Dante Love - the Cardinals' leading receiver (at the time) who suffered a spinal injury in a game earlier this season against Indiana - walk to midfield with teammates for the coin toss. Great stuff. Having seen and talked to Love when he was a quarterback at Withrow, I got a little choked up in a good way. Rece Davis also interviewed him at halftime. Mike Lopresti wrote a nice column about Love.

• Sporting News had a head-to-head about who should replace Phil Fulmer at Tennessee. Matt Hayes' pick is Brian Kelly. A popular UT site listed Kelly among its Top 10 candidates to replace Fulmer (though I can't find the list on the site anymore, which is why it's not linked). Kelly, of course, continues to insist that he's not leaving UC, but I think there are plenty of UC fans who realize it would be tough for him to turn down a Tennessee if they decide that Kelly is their guy.

• Check out ESPN.com's Survey says - ding! - Bengals fans fed up. Before you skip this one because of the no-duh headline, there are some fairly surprising results (even if they only asked 100 fans) as far as who is most to blame and who should be traded and/or re-signed.

• Jack Del Rio has been on quite a rampage since the Jaguars fell to 3-5 with Sunday's loss to the Bengals. ESPN.com has the latest about linebacker Mike Peterson getting called out during a meeting and sent home, allegedly for responding. Sources say Del Rio criticized Peterson for celebrating a sack of Ryan Fitzpatrick with the Jaguars trailing 21-3 in the third quarter. Peterson defended himself, Del Rio didn't like what he heard and didn't want to engage in a back-and-forth and he either sent Peterson on his way or Peterson left (depending on who you ask).

Anyway, the point is things are pretty ugly all of a sudden for the Jaguars and Del Rio. This is the type of thing that could snowball for Del Rio, especially if the Jags fall out of playoff contention. And it a lot of it apparently has to do with a disappointing loss to the black and orange.

• From DDN's Chick Ludwig: Andrew Whitworth is expected to learn Friday how much he'll be fined for his fight with John Henderson.

• Non-local link of the day: Great piece from ESPN.com about Bryan Pata's murder. A must-read if you have a few minutes.

This and that

• Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson has a newsy first item in his notebook, entitled Palmer, Lewis think 8-8, that reveals that a) a decision on whether Carson Palmer will return this year is getting closer and b) some of the Bengals are talking about the possibility of ending up 8-8. Which, by the way, is not going to happen with their schedule. But Carson hasn't been ruled out of the Eagles game yet, which is fairly encouraging.

• From MLB.com's Hot Stove Report, Padres put Green on trade block. Mentions that the Reds, Orioles and Tigers are among those who have reportedly inquired about Greene. And I'm hearing a lot of discussion about Greene on sports talk. Part of the reason they might be trying to unload him is because they've filed a grievance seeking to reclaim part of his 2008 salary because his injury was self-inflicted (he punched a storage chest at PETCO Park).

He is a former first-round pick, and he's strong defensively. He does have pop (27 home runs in 2007), but so does Alex Gonzalez. I just don't know how badly you can want a guy who hit .213 last year in 389 at-bats and has never hit better than .254. He doesn't walk much either, so his on-base percentage is never good. Doesn't steal bases. I don't know, I'd just hate to see the Reds give much up for him.

• SI.com's Jon Heyman brings up the Reds again in his Texas has glut of catchers, looking to trade post.

• MLB's Hot Stove blog mentions a report that Walt Jocketty chatted with Yankees GM Brian Cashman Monday morning for about a half-hour on the back porch of the golf resort site where the GM meetings are being held in Dana Point, Calif.

• Also, would anyone be surprised if Jim Bowden went after Adam Dunn?

• CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish is reporting that sophomore guard Jai Lucas is leaving Florida. Kentucky fans will recall that Lucas almost went to UK instead of Florida in the first place and he's tight with Patrick Patterson. He might be thinking about heading to Lexington, especially if Patterson is considering sticking around after this year.

• UC's Mike Mickens and OSU's Malcolm Jenkins are both among semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award.

• Non-local link of the day: Real Sports segment (from YouTube) about Barack Obama's love for basketball.

This and that

• Local coaching legend resigns: After 36 years as a varsity head basketball coach, Lakota West's Mike Mueller announced he's stepping down, effective immediately.

You won't get it in the release on Lakota's Web site, but you'll see some of it in the comments field of Tom Groeschen's blog post. Some will question the timing of Mueller's resignation, because the school didn't have time (practice begins Monday) to find a replacement other than Mueller's son, Scott, who was named interim head coach. Not that Scott's not deserving ... you just wonder if it went down this way so that Mueller would pretty much guarantee that his son would get a shot at becoming the school's head coach. Surprising news, nonetheless.

• Good info too from Groeschen about a potential Elder-Colerain showdown if both schools win their regional semifinal games this Saturday. That'll happen, by the way, barring a fairly stunning upset, and it sounds like it would be played at Nippert.

• Haven't seen much of interest as far as the Bengals, probably because it's their bye week. Chick Ludwig's got a decent notebook, including Houshmandzadeh not-at-all surprisingly defending Andrew Whitworth's actions.

• CBS' Lesley Visser is the latest to write a column about Sam Wyche's pursuit of a County Council set in South Carolina.

• Big games for ex-Bearcats: Among former UC players who had big-time efforts in the NFL's Week 9: The Eagles' Brent Celek had six catches for 131 yards in a 26-7 win against Seattle; the Colts' Tyjuan Hagler had 9 tackles in Indianapolis' 18-15 win against New England (the link is to a feature last week in the Indy Star about Hagler) and the Steelers' Andre Frazier had a huge blocked punt during Monday night's win at Washington (buried undeservedly in the story ... it was a game-changing play).

• Following Miami RedHawk football has been pretty painful this year, but for those who haven't given up hope, here's the Dayton Daily News' preview of tonight's game against Buffalo (on ESPN2).

• Non-local link of the day: Written by a local guy, but otherwise not very local (aside from Ohio State appearance, and they're not even in his Top 10). Stewart Mandel's College Football Power Rankings. Stewart's alma mater, Northwestern, cracks the rankings, by the way ... and guess who they host on Saturday? A loss in Evanston would certainly end any hope of the Buckeyes getting a BCS bowl.