Reds 2018 Season Outlook

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone previews the 2018 season of the Cincinnati Reds.

Soccer Stadium Sickness

Despite the end of March drawing closer and the fact that both the MLS and USL seasons have started, FC Cincinnati soccer fans are still waiting to know if the franchise will move up to the top tier soccer league in America. Everybody knows by now that the hold up is the stadium site. On March 16, FC Cincinnati reviewed the Cincinnati Public Schools land swap counter offer and conceded the West End. In a nutshell, the franchise said they are not going to build the stadium in the West End and instead focus on sites in Oakley in Newport. The West End debate that raged on for what seemingly felt like an eternity had finally ended. Or so we thought…

As I type this post, apparently CPS voted to approve a potential land swap with FCC should the franchise agree to their terms. Not long after, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune said that FCC general manager Jeff Bearding told him that there is still interest in the West End. I do have my doubts on how factual Portune’s statement is considering how he is the same guy who could not understand why Nippert Stadium and Paul Brown Stadium would not be accepted by MLS. He even reiterated that Nippert and Paul Brown Stadium are viable solutions this past weekend. If it is true and FCC is still pursing the West End, I only have one thing to say. You have got to be joking me.

The residents of the West End have made it very clear that they do not want the stadium. The debates were nonstop. I understand that the site is very suitable for an MLS soccer stadium as it is close to an urban core. However when the residents constantly say they do not want it and CPS makes a counter offer that FCC already said they cannot afford, I see no reasonable explanation as to why the franchise is still pursuing this site. I am sick of it, and I just want the entire stadium situation to end.

FCC needs to focus on either Oakley or Newport. The West End had its chance. Bearding himself has said they will not build the stadium there if is not wanted. The entire city has known for about a month that the West End does not want the stadium. In Oakley, FCC has said that a stadium can be built on old the Cast-Fab site. The preliminary results of the traffic study show that a stadium can be built there but there will definitely need to be adjustments and improvements to the roads in Oakley to accommodate the added traffic. The reception in Oakley however has been lukewarm at best. Newport has the Ovation site which has been described as shovel ready. FCC has a memorandum of understanding with the site owner to build the stadium. The reception in Newport seemingly has the full support of Northern Kentucky as the area is practically begging FCC to build the stadium on Kentucky’s shores of the Ohio River.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. I love FC Cincinnati. I want them to get into MLS. To do that, they need to lock down a stadium site. It has been a straight up fiasco to this point, and the possibility that the West End site may not be dead after all absolutely drives me crazy. I prefer Newport, but I am also fine with Oakley. Please just pick a site, FC Cincinnati. The March 31 deadline is quickly approaching. The MLS expansion clock is ticking. Fans are sick and tired of the stadium arguments and of waiting for an announcement. I am begging you. Pick a site, finalize the MLS bid, and net the biggest win that Cincinnati has had in a long time.

TMNT Cincinnati Cyclones Bobblehead Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cincinnati Cyclones bobblehead.

2017 Cincinnati Reds Bobblehead Review

2017 marked a bountiful year in terms of Cincinnati Reds bobbleheads. The team gave out a good number of both special ticket package bobbleheads and regular stadium giveaway bobbleheads. Being an avid bobblehead collector, I attended quite a few games to add some new bobbleheads to my collection. In this post, I will showcase the bobbleheads that I picked up at Cincinnati Reds games during the 2017 season.

First up is Rocket Raccoon. Known as the wisecracking member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, this bobblehead was given to fans who bought a special ticket package as part of a cross promotion between Marvel and the Cincinnati Reds. 

Second was Adam Duvall. This was the first regular stadium giveaway bobblehead that the team gave out during the 2017 season. Duvall had a breakout season in 2016 and he was an obvious choice to be featured as a bobblehead in 2017.

The third bobblehead I received from the Reds was of Marvel’s metallic mega hero, Iron Man. This was the second cross promotional bobblehead between Marvel and the Reds. Like Rocket, this was given out to fans who bought a special ticket package.

The same day I received Iron Man, I also received an Anthony DeSclafani bobblehead. This was a stadium giveaway bobblehead and it featured one of the better Reds starting pitches. It was also the only time Reds fans saw DeSclafani as he did not take to the mound once due to an injury.

The next bobblehead I received from a Reds game was of Raisel Iglesias. He is by far the best relief pitcher the Reds have and cemented himself as the team’s closer. His dominance on the mound was incredible, and he was definitely worthy of being immortalized as a bobblehead.

Next was the past and present triple bobblehead that featured three generations of Cincinnati Reds first basemen. Tony Perez, Sean Casey, and Joey Votto were featured on this bobblehead and it is one of the coolest bobbles the Reds have ever made. 

The final bobblehead of the year was of Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart. 2017 proved to be a breakout year for Barnhart as he not only won a Gold Glove, but he also had his first bobblehead giveaway game. Barnhart won a fan vote during the beginning of the season to be featured as the final bobblehead of 2017.

Those are the bobbleheads I obtained during the 2017 season from Reds games. I think it is a pretty solid lineup of bobbles that feature some super heros, modern Reds stars, and Reds legends of the past. Hopefully the 2018 bobblehead lineup is just as good if not better.

Go Redlegs!

Erasing the Past

As a result of its multiple violations, the NCAA denied the University of Louisville’s appeal and vacated numerous men’s college basketball victories from 2011-2015. Among those vacated victories are Louisville’s 2012 Final Four appearance and their 2013 NCAA Championship. In essence, the Louisville Cardinals basketball team was nonexistent.

I find the NCAA’s ruling completely ridiculous. Vacating wins is one of the stupidest sanctions in collegiate sports. Despite the NCAA’s best efforts, everybody knows who won the games and who was one of the better teams in the nation during that span of time. I am in no way defending the actions of the university. They were in blatant violation of the NCAA’s rules and had to face the music as a result. Vacating wins was not the right way of going about the situation though.

I feel like the NCAA should have banned the Cardinals from postseason play for a long time, fine them, and take away multiple scholarships. That would hurt the university financially and from a recruiting standpoint. Vacating wins, however, does nothing. In my opinion, it does more harm than good. It punishes the fans who support the team. It punishes the players, coaches, and team officials who had nothing to do with the scandal. It also makes the NCAA look ignorant by ignoring what is on record.

The university had to take down its 2012 Final Four banner and its 2013 National Championship banner as well as return the 2013 National Championship trophy. The players will still have their rings. Rick Pitino will still have his championship tattoo (unless he decides to get it removed.) Fans will still have championship memorabilia from that season. Despite the NCAA’s best efforts, everybody who does not live under a rock will always know that the University of Louisville won those basketball games, made it to the Final Four in 2012, and had their one shining moment in 2013. As I write this post, a new NCAA scandal is on the verge of taking down some of the biggest names in college basketball. What will the NCAA do? If I had to guess, it’ll try to rewrite history.

Fastlane 2018 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE Fastlane 2018.

NKU Norse Regular Season Conference Championship Shirt Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a Northern Kentucky University Horizon League regular season conference championship shirt. 

No End in Sight

 I knew that waiting for an announcement from Major League Soccer would take some time, but I did not think it would be this excruciatingly long. What was supposed to be announced before Christmas spilled into January. MLS Commissioner Don Garber said an announcement would be made before the start of the 2018 MLS season, and FC Cincinnati general manager Jeff Berding said he expected an announcement by the end of February. The waiting game was seemingly almost finished. The end was in sight. Then FC Cincinnati as well as the other two expansion cities of Detroit and Sacramento were hit with some news in the form of a Sports Illustrated article by Brian Straus.

In the article, MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott said, “We don’t have, and don’t need to have, a fixed deadline, and we will wait until all of the necessary elements are in place before selecting the next club.” In other words, keep waiting. As a diehard FC Cincinnati fan who wants to see this team compete in MLS, this quote was like a dagger to the heart. After months of waiting and scouring the internet for any piece of MLS expansion news, I was told to sit tight. In my opinion, MLS has botched this entire expansion process. It makes the league look bad, and it is also making my beloved soccer team look bad as well.

FC Cincinnati is currently trying to finalize its stadium situation. The club continually says that Oakley, the West End, and Newport are all still in play. At the time that this post was written, Beridng is preparing to present the results of the Oakley site traffic, the West End is nearing Civil War status as heated arguments that pit anti stadium residents against club and stadium supporters has been a hot topic in the news, and the Newport site remains untouched and seemingly off the radar. The soccer stadium, which will only be built should the franchise get the bid, is a huge topic of debate and has cast the team in a negative light. Despite the stadium fiasco that surrounds FCC, there was a bit of good news to come from that Sports Illustrated article that gives me hope.

Abbott said, “Although we haven’t finalized any deals and all of the finalist markets remain under consideration, we’ve made the most progress in Cincinnati.”  That is obviously very good news if you’re an FCC fan. That statement makes it seem like FCC is the front-runner for MLS expansion. The ownership group is there, the passionate fan base is there, and the stadium is almost there but ultimately remains a work in progress. If the franchise can lock down a stadium site, hopefully their bid will be considered complete and warrant a visit to the Queen City from Don Garber. Until that day, there is seemingly no end in sight for the MLS expansion waiting game.