GOOD BYE, JIMBO!

Don't forget to pack your Leatherpants and don't let the door hit your Segway on the way out.

Marty Brennaman said, "There are some days you remember all your life. I remember where I was the day JFK was assassinated...and I will always remember March 1, 2009."

Naturally, Leatherpants blames everyone but himself. I hope that man never gets another job in baseball again.

Karma's the B word

Leatherpants is under federal investigation. Hey, Jimbo, Better get yourself together darling. Join the human race. Who the hell do you think you are? A super star? Well, right you are. A star shining bright for the FBI.

Seems like Bowden might have been skimming signing bonuses for Latin American players since way back in his Reds days. I guess innocent until proven guilty, right? (Well, not in the USA anymore, but that's another topic for another time.)

Every time I think of old Jimbo, I can't believe the Reds had good teams under him. I wonder how much of his sleaze was responsible for the losing of 2000-2003. Maybe his extracurricular activities interfered with his ability to put a team together. Of course, I don't know him personally, so I shouldn't make judgments, but so many people have talked about what a slimeball he is, so, you know, it's hard to be impartial.

There are a lot of Nationals fans who don't get the slimeballness and take offense to criticisms of him. All I have to say about that is you're seeing him at his best right now. Under FBI investigation. Us Reds fans know. And it has nothing to do with Gary Majewski.

Bummer about Jose's possible involvement, though. I sure am glad Barry got out of that organization.

We'll see. Could be this Wilder guy is the only culprit.

Take that, Leatherpants! Ha ha!

The Bank President posted this link about a Nationals prospect being 23 rather than 19. Jose Rijo was involved.

Rob Dibble will be the Nationals' color man

"I'm excited to join MASN in covering one of the great new franchises in baseball, and I'm honored to be part of the MASN and Nationals' families. I will try to bring my experience as a pitcher, a ballplayer, and a broadcaster to the booth and bring fans a deeper understanding of what's happening on the field," said Dibble. "I've never been shy about sharing my opinion, so fans will know where I'm coming from."

It seems old Leatherpants is bound and determined to continue his stint as GM of the Cincinnati Reds. His Reds love has gone beyond the ridiculous.

My guess is that he signs Dunner by the end of next week.
___

The geezer has a burst of energy

I remember the first year. He was about as far away from Southwest Ohio that you could get while still being in the United States, back before teh internets, when newspapers were still the way people got their news. The time difference made all but highlights nearly impossible to watch, but I always checked to see what he had done.

In a way, the distance already made him a legend in my mind. He was this guy I never saw who was supposed to be the greatest baseball player since Willie Mays and whose hometown was Cincinnati - was he real? I had a poster of him over my bed (that was stolen when my sister had a party when everyone was out of town) and pages of his baseball cards. I often thought about how great it'd be for him to come to the Reds - we hadn't had a true superstar in my lifetime, the kind of player that would draw national attention to the team.

And then it happened. It was a holiday, an unbelievable feat accomplished by Leatherpants Vampire. Ken Griffey, Jr. was a Red. He was going to break Hank Aaron's record in the hallowed uniform. He was going to bring our team some championships after narrowly missing the year before. He was going to walk on water, turn the Ohio River into beer, and take us during the Rapture.

Of course, we all know what happened next. Still, Junior moved into the top ten all time while donning the wishbone C. This was a fun win, but damnit, it reinstilled that illogical sense of hope in me. Cardinals lost again. Reds 3.5 games back with six games to play.

Cheesesteak (with Cardinals for Bun)

I think summer vacations as a kid were a curse. I mean, now, at this time of year, I find myself filled with a sense of dread, kind of like the Sunday Dread when you can already feel the grogginess of waking up on Monday at 5pm on a Sunday evening, only the August Dread is much stronger. I always liked school as a kid, and summers often seemed too long, but when school was about to start, there was a part of me that remembered how long the academic year was, how dreary the Midwestern winter skies were, and how many months I would have to go without baseball.

Today is a beautiful day, cool not like August, but I feel like we're so close to the Monday of winter. I have to look at the trees in all their verdant fullness to believe summer is still raging in the Northern Hemisphere. The colors are very much alive around me, my skin still bronze like a person with Irish/English/German ancestry should never get, but I have the sensation that summer, that cookouts and shorts and warmth and light into the evenings and baseball are about to end.

Happy Birthday to my sister, Sandy, who is 27 today. She's in Indianapolis and is as big of a Reds fan as my whole family.

With those thoughts, I am off to Philly to see the still-contending Reds take on the challenging Phillies, a series that is no less important than those games against the Deadbirds we just played or those that we will play immediately after. I'm bringing a bag full of offense in case the Reds forget theirs or their luggage is lost in the chaos of color-coded paranoia. I sure hope what I bring is the right size, though. Adam Dunn is a big man.

Oh, one more thing. I'm starting a Google bomb. Leatherpants vampire. I encourage other bloggers to join in the fun. (He doesn't have an online bio, only a short wiki entry and a bunch of articles on his bloodlust.)

Auuuustin, I am your faaather...

Just to add to the discussion about the Majewski injury, I thought I'd provide an illustration of the battle at hand.

Those who may think I have it reversed didn't spend ten years rooting for a team GM'd by the dark one, watching him operate as a man with no conscience, no soul. The guy screws people left and right. Federal Baseball has more on the issue.

The phone call - someone is lying about the phone call! Did Krivsky call like he said he did, or did Bowden lie when he said he didn't call? Ten years of lies, deception, and being an all-around jackass earns Krivsky the benefit of the doubt.

This is going to hurt

Ok, which one of you Reds or Nats fans threw it? It wasn't me, I swear.