Andrew Warner

After turning the Lakers into "his team" by exerting pressure to get rid of Shaq, followed by a few years of sub-par Laker basketball, Kobe Bryan wants out of LA.

Kobe made his bed, but like a baby, he doesn't want to sleep in it. As someone who has stood up for him in the past, it's a little sad to see it go this way.

Labels: Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

A sunny cool day yesterday meant a perfect day to get down to the ballpark (for some reason only 10,000 people showed up). To top off the perfect weather, the game was neck and neck until the Reds blew it open in the bottom of the seventh.

And yes, the Reds are first in our division now.

I love sports and I love the Reds, but something keeps getting me down at the games: Our fans are complete assholes.

Milwaukee centerfielder Bill Hall suffered the worst of it last night. One drunken, pot-bellied man in right center field couldn't control himself being in earshot Hall. He continued to harass Hall (who made a few mistakes in the field but pummeled the ball at the plate) until the last out. Every stinging comment was a huge victory in what was obviously a very small life.

That wasn't the worst of it, though.

Ken Griffey Jr., our own superstar, got an earful throughout the game from "Reds faithful" in right field. "Why didn't you dive for it Griffey?" "Ryan Freel would have dove for that!" "You're overpaid!" Nothing better than a group of might-be little league coaches harassing a 10 time Gold Glove winner about his fielding decisions. It only sweetens the hypocrisy that these are the same fans who get on Griffey for hurting himself too frequently (diving for balls and jumping into walls, of course).

Fans need to clean up their act here in the Nati. And if you're thinking about taking kids to the game, make sure you explain that the people on the field are winners and the people heckling them are losers. That way the kids will grow up emulating the successful people and not the small ones.

Labels: Cincinnati, Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments

Cincinnati's crown prince of sleaziness Bob Huggins has proved once again he's a man without class. After one year of Huggins mediocrity at Kansas State, he is bolting to West Virginia.

Huggins was out of coaching for a year before he was hired by Kansas State. Had the school known he would be departing so soon, Wefald said, Huggins would not have been hired to coach the Wildcats.

"If Bob had indicated to us about a year ago this time that he needed something in his contract about (being allowed to leave Kansas State to coach) his alma mater, then we would have gone on," Wefald said. "We would have looked at somebody else."

There you have it. If Huggins had told the truth, he wouldn't have gotten the job. Now a bunch of young athletes are screwed (stuck in Kansas) and K-State is left holding the bag while Huggins makes his getaway.

Maybe Cincinnati will let him go a little more now that he has proved, again and again, that he is a world-class douche.

Update: Paul Daugherty chimes in with a similar sentiment.

Labels: Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

University of Cincinnati sports are getting attention for all the wrong reasons.

Read my take HERE.

Labels: Cincinnati, Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:09 AM | Permalink

It wasn't designed specifically for the Super Bowl. At least I assume it wasn't since I've seen it in the movie theaters for a few weeks now.

Regardless, marketing wise, Coca-Cola has achieved greatness again. The new commercial, which is modeled after the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto, takes something violent and brutal and turns it into something uplifting. Nice touch for a dreary February.

Here it is:



E-mail me your favorites. I'm sure it won't be hard to find them on You Tube.

P.S. The Bears are struggling right now, but I hope they find a way to put to put down these Colts.

Update: The K-Fed Nationwide spot gives it a run for its money.

Labels: media, Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:48 PM | Permalink

This year the NBA replaced their traditional leather basketball with a more sophisticated microfiber composite ball. The big, overpaid babies that NBA players are, they cried until David Stern gave them the old leather ball back.

"Although testing performed by (manufacturer) Spalding and the NBA demonstrated that the new composite basketball was more consistent than leather, and statistically there has been an improvement in shooting, scoring, and ball-related turnovers, the most important statistic is the view of our players," Stern added.

The players' view on the new ball has been overwhelmingly negative, with big names like LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal publicly criticising it.

The players said the ball bounced differently and cut their hands in some cases. It was the first ball change in the league for 35 years and the players union filed two unfair labor practice charges against the league on December 1, one of them citing the lack of player input about the new ball.

Aww, they got boo-boos on their hands. Animal rights fact (I know how some people can't stand animal rights for some reason, but I love going there any way): It takes an entire cow to make 4 leather basketballs. Tough guys like LeBron and Shaq care more about the occasional cut on their hands than they do about improving their stats and the lives of cows.

Heck, if the new ball improves free throw shooting percentage, Shaq should be begging to keep it.

Labels: Sports, Vegan

Posted by Andrew Warner at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Hamilton County taxpayers are getting ready to pay the Bengals $900,000 for the turf at Paul Brown Stadium.

The team installed the synthetic turf before the 2004 season after complaints about the grass the stadium had since its 2000 opening.

Hamilton County owns the stadium but leases it to the team. A clause in the lease calls for the government to pay for stadium upgrades - technology, turf and others - if they are done in other stadiums home to National Football League teams.

I'm not sure who wrote the lease, or if the lease is standard for the NFL (it seems NFL teams hold local governments hostage pretty regularly), but it sure does stick it to the taxpayer. Team owners rake in all the profits while taxpayers pay for stadium upgrades? That's just crazy.

With how much the taxpayer has thrown in on this deal, tickets should be free to residents of Hamilton County.

That's not how it works, unfortunately. But good thing Phil Heimlich is there to save the day:

"This is another example of how unfair this (lease) is to the taxpayers of Hamilton County," said Commissioner Phil Heimlich, who supported a county lawsuit against the team and league seeking to get hundreds of millions of dollars returned to the government.

"There's no limit to the number of gadgets they can buy and charge to the taxpayer."

Let's see if Phil Heimlich can actually do something about it in the dwindling few weeks of his final term.

Labels: Cincinnati, Downtown, Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

I was under the impression the most embarrassing thing about the Bengals is the fact that the whole city loses a coherent vocabulary and yells "WHO-DEY" every Sunday – and yes, that is an embarrassment to our city.

But the rap sheet for this year's Bengals team is giving the stupid slogan/cheer a run for its money. Cornerback Deltha O'Neal became the 8th player of the year to have a run-in with the law after being arrested for DUI.

Please stop getting arrested Bengals. You're grossly overpaid and can afford cabs, bus rides, or private helicopters when you are too drunk to drive.

And fans, please let "WHO-DEY" go.

Labels: Cincinnati, Sports

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments