Bleacher Report - Articles by aaron ruther

Top Ten On-Air Personalities of Cincinnati

aaron ruther — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:10:05 -0400

Cincinnati is a city rich in contemporary sports history. From 'The Big Red Machine' in the '70s, to some of the less prominent sports such as the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey team winning last years' ECHL Kelly Cup.

Many Cincinnati sports figures from this era are currently prominent on the National sports broadcasting scene: Former Bengals Chris Collinsworth, Solomon Wilcots, and Boomer Esiason are currently covering NFL for major networks. Tom Jackson also covers the NFL and resides in Cincinnati. Joe Morgan is a color analyst for ESPN baseball.

What about the on-air personalities covering the local Cincinnati market? With sports being such a large part of life in the Cincinnati area, these personalities are a significant part of our lives. Below is a brief run down of some of the top on-air personalities covering Cincinnati sports.

Best of Cincinnati

Marty Brennaman (Reds play-by-play-700 WLW)

Brennaman is an inductee in to the Broadcasting Hall-of-Fame. The only MLB announcer that can be considered in the same conversation with Vin Scully; called NCAA Final Fours; called Aaron's 714th home run in his first broadcast as Cincinnati Reds play-by-play announcer;

He is someone the people in Cincinnati cannot wait to turn on the radio to listen to. His tell-it-like-it-is style is equal in praise and criticism of both Reds and opponents alike; locks in each win with the phrase "this one belongs to the Reds!"

Mo Egger (Talk-show host—1530 WCKY)

Talks all local sports. His opinions are common sense based and down to earth. His understanding of the intricacies of sports far surpasses his colleagues; he truly loves Cincinnati sports but keeps a subjective grasp on teams' successes, not giving biased praise; voices opinions on various aspects of sports and creates a great call in show.

Thom Brennaman (Reds play-by-play-700 WLW/FSN Ohio)

Son of Marty; has taken on several play-by-play assignments in recent years including FOX Saturday baseball and BCS football games. He has a powerful voice that projects excitement on important and exciting plays; has been calling baseball across the country for several years. I feel he overestimates his baseball knowledge at times and makes unnecessary and boisterous criticisms.

Hal McCoy (Reds beat writer-Dayton Daily News)

National Baseball Hall-of-Fame inductee; has a strong understanding of the Reds as well as the MLB in general; his analysis of the meaning of moves is typically dead on; gives a good, in-depth analysis without being overanalyitcal; does a weekly in-game segment with Marty Brennaman.

C. Trent Rosecrans (ClearChannel Cincinnati reporter and blogger)

Simple, realistic, and strait-forward analysis of the team he's covering; maintains his simplistic approach by not inferring situations that aren't there. His blog is entertaining, often humorous, and informative.

"Wild Man" Walker (On-air personality—102.7 WEBN/Cincinnati Cyclones PA announcer)

One of the best voices around; incredible delivery, incredible excitement; offers humor to his radio bits; informed and strong supporter of all local teams.

Lance McAllister (talk show host—1530 WCKY)

Creates a good afternoon talk show covering all local sports; shows a undeniable love for his work and the local teams; seems to lack knowledge of some of the intricacies of sports.

George Grande (Reds play-by-play/FSN Ohio)

Anchored first Sportscenter broadcast; a former college player has a decent understanding of the game; does not overstate his knowledge, as he does well to deflect intricate baseball questions to partner Chris Welsh. His knowledge creates a very good baseball watching experience.

Brad Johansen (Bengals play-by-play/700 WLW, 92.5 WOFX)

Creates a great broadcast for radio; a good voice and great inflection; many of his calls have made it on SportsCenter highlight reels. I feel he should be more prominent in the city but very few people miss the Bengals on TV.

Chris Welsh (Reds Color Analyst/FSN Ohio)

Former MLB pitcher; offers insightful knowledge about the game of baseball and the Reds team during a broadcast; broadcasting delivery has room for improvement but offers a positive experience overall.

Worst of Cincinnati

Paul Dougherty

Minuscule understanding of intricacies of sports; a miserable radio show. He is a phenomenal columnist, however, for the Cincinnati Enquirer—his radio show was just cut on Thursday.

Alan Cutler

Unbelievably inflated ego; most people accomplish something more than a six a.m. time slot before thinking they have rose scented feces; utter lack of sports knowledge and closed to caller opinion—his show has also been cut in a wave of ClearChannel budget cuts.

Geoff Hobson (Bengals.com)

Seems to be knowledgeable about the Bengals and the NFL; I just have a problem with a guy with a Boston accent covering the Bengals.

Let the debate begin.

A Good National Anthem

aaron ruther — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:35:21 -0500

After several debacles that music artists refer to as a "rendition of the National Anthem," I am happy to see somebody sing it as it should be. It sickens me that these famous, or worse, wannabe famous, artists use the national anthem as a time to showcase their diverse voice, and throw added elements into a song that is dear to this country.

This song is this country's, not some pop star's to be ad-libbed and taken apart. "The bombs bursting in air" took place over 200 years ago so that we would have the freedom to do things such as watch our favorite sports teams.

For the purpose of sticking to a simple point and keeping this brief, I want to personally send out a thank you to Chris Kirkpatrick for singing the national anthem as it is meant to be.

He opened the Thursday night NFL game between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh; he did it with feeling, and he did it selflessly. No, I have never been an N' Sync fan, but I certainly have a new found respect for one of its members.

Baker Names Reds' Rotation?

aaron ruther — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:45:40 -0400

A lackluster staff last season will likely have a different look come April in Cincinnati. There was very little doubt that Harang would remain number one in the rotation and Arroyo was an essential lock to be in the rotation somewhere. The other three spots were up for grabs.

This past off-season Cincinnati resigned Matt Belisle, the teams number three last year; and signed free agents Josh Fogg and Jeremy Affeldt. All three were to be given a chance to make the rotation. Three young prospects were also in the fight: Reds prospects Homer Bailey, and Johnny Cueto; and Edinson Volquez—acquired in an off-season trade from Texas for Josh Hamilton.

The spring training battle was on.

Last season's superprospect, Homer Bailey, just hasn't quite become big league ready yet. Affeldt has gotten beat up, not near strong enough to be promoted from the bullpen, where he had been very solid in Colorado. Belisle is simply too inconsistent, great at times and wild at times. Fogg has been Fogg for the most part, not special but steady. But, the story out of the Reds camp this spring has been that of Dominican prospects Johhny Cueto and Edinson Vlquez.

Johnny Cueto looks like the real deal. A minor league teammate of Cueto's last season who is also at the Reds camp, was asked about a stellar performance Cueto had in a spring training outing, his response, "That's what he does." Cueto has struck out 12 in 13 innings and has a 2.08 spring ERA. One scout has said he is the Reds best pitcher right now, including Harang. Voquez has been almost as impressive. His changeup, paired with a mid-90s fastball, is nothing short of sensational.

Not only are the change of speed and arm action unbelievably deceptive, but the pitch has incredile movement, diving down and in to a right-hander. In an outting against the Yankees he struck out eight in four innings; including Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Hideki Matsui in the same inning. He has 19 total K's in 13 innings.

Manager Dusty Baker was asked if the two would be in the rotation if the season started today. He said everything but yes. He then let out of the bag that Fogg would be the fifth starter. This seemingly is a big improvement over last season. The top two starters are back in the rotation, but the number three starter from a season ago is being beat out by three other pitchers. Will a rotation that looks like Harang, Arroyo, Cueto, Volquez, Fogg be enough to put the Reds in contention. With young arms there is some uncertainty, but their stuff is undeniable. The month of April will begin to tell this hopefully lengthly tale in Cincinnati.

Ohio State Football: Buckeyes Snake Out of Road Game

aaron ruther — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:52:10 -0400

Two seasons ago the Ohio State Buckeyes, who so many inexplicably adore, marched through an extremely weak non-conference schedule and a weak Big Ten schedule to finish the regular season #1...Ask Florida how that ended up?

This past season they started off with a Y-A-W-N of schedule once more. (Youngstown, Akron, Washington, Northwestern) After beating exactly zero teams that finished in the top 15 of either poll and only 2 in the top 25 they somehow again are awarded a #1 ranking at the end of the regular season. Ask LSU how that ended up.

Ohio State has perpetually scheduled weak Ohio schools to play: Miami(oh) in'05, Cincinnati and Bowling Green in '06, Youngstown State, Akron, and Kent State in '07.

To put it simply...They recently have not played or beaten any top tier teams. In fact, Ohio State has only beaten 3 top 20 teams in the final AP rankings in the past two years combined: Michigan(#8) and Texas(#13) in '06, and Michigan(#18) in '07

In 2003 Ohio State entered an agreement with the Universtiy of Cincinnati to play a two game series beginning with a 2012 showdown at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati and ending with a 2014 game at the Horseshoe in Columbus.

In 2003 Cincinnati was coached by Rick Minter and didn't really frighten many top teams. However; Cincinnati has been on the rise ever since: They entered the Big East, went thru Mark Dantonio as head coach, landed Brian Kelly as the current head coach, won 10 games last season including the Papa Johns.com bowl, and finished with a #17 national ranking.

Now the Ohio State Wuss-Wahs are up to it again.

Recently, Ohio State opted to take a buyout of the 2012 road game. Boldly, Cincinnati AD Mike Thomas and Head Coach Brian Kelly negotiated to keep the game, but Ohio State will now pay the Bearcats $1 million to play the game in Columbus. Kelly said of the situation, "You know how I feel, I'll play anybody, anywhere, anyplace. My philosophy has always been that we need to play Ohio State. If they don't want to play here, I'll play them in a parking lot in Xenia."

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who follows Ohio State or college football. Yes they are being pansies, but as long as the voters are going to keep rewarding them for mediocrity, why do they need to schedule tough road games, or tough games period? This past season BCS teams were paid $19 million(enough to pay Cincy back its $1M), if OSU has a chance to risk little and still play in a BCS game then why should they play anyone.

Wake up voters! This team has not proved a thing in 3 years. Champions of the state of Ohio maybe, but National Championship caliber? They have proven otherwise.