mick cronin's good work
What would be good now would be for all the doomsayers -- and you know who you are -- who predicted the end of UC hoops once BH left, to emerge from the closet and say how wrong you were... wrong about the program's guaranteed demise... wrong about zimpher not allowing juco transfers... wrong about UC never being able to fill BH's shoes... wrong about how the ill-handled situation would be a death blow to near-term recruiting... wrong, wrong, wrong... the best thing Huggins did was create a program that could thrive after he left... cronin -- tireless, determined, in his dream job -- was the perfect pick to fill the void...
Dave Campbell, ESPN Head, actually said yesterday that Manny Ramirez was the best hitter he'd seen since DiMaggio... better, apparently, than Mays, Aaron, Mantle, Clemente, Schmidt, Bonds, Griffey etc. Another reason to dislike ESPN's East Coast blindness...
Happy 4th, especially to my buddies Dick Kerin, a WWII vet who witnessed the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, and Jeff Brown, a brand-new dad who served a hitch in Iraq, leading convoys across the desert between Kuwait and the most dangerous places on earth. We will forever be in your debt.
Thought for every day, but especially this one: The elderly Private Ryan, in the movie Saving Private Ryan, standing at John Miller's gravesite above Omaha Beach, some 40 years after D-Day, asking his wife, "Have I been a good man?'' Be a good man today. Especially today.
posted by Paul Daugherty at 9:41 AM
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Post a Comment*Paul- I agree with your article entitled 'Reds treated like and afterthought' so after reading it I preceded to cut it out and forward to the 'HEADS' of ESPN (mainly the baseball writers of the group). I hope they recieve it before the All-Star game. Enjoy the 4th!
Paul,
I always enjoyed the time I spent with BH, having hosted his radio show for a couple of seasons back in the early 90's, but you are right on the money,as usual.
He set up the program to prosper after he left, and Mick has taken the ball and started the fast-break. That's some recruiting job!!!
Gotta go....I think the Yankees are coming on, or is it the Mets?
Paul- Loved your 'Reds treated like an afterthought' article. I'm a LONG TIME Red Sox fan and have always thought that ESPN needs to rename "Baseball Tonight" to "Today in New York and Boston". My admiration of Bronson Arroyo is what led me to the Reds and I am proud to say that I am becoming a VERY big fan. In addition to the AS game snubbings -there have been other irritating ignorances. The Reds have been in the top ten teams according to WPCT - for almost the entire season. Yet their average ESPN power rank has been around 13. Not grossly incorrect - but still enough to be annoying. One last thing - I am WAITING for the day when the Sox put Wily Mo on waivers. It's only a matter of time... (Then again - they are really good at keeping poorer players and getting rid of good ones, so I guess we will see.) Thanks again for the great article.
-J
Right on Manny isn't even the best hitter in the game right now.(Pujols)
Hey UC it is alright UC may have a down year, but look at last year Wake Forest, Maryland, and Goergia Tech who are in this unstoppable ACC they all sucked this year.
Your kidding right. I moved to Cincinnati in 1991, and I have never seen an area that is so obsessed with themselves. When I first moved here I could not get an NBA or NHL score on a Friday night. It's all High School Football all the time. God forbid an Elder grad move more than 2 miles from the Elder Mecca. Back to ESPN. Since the NY and Boston teams have so many stars would it not be logical to showcase this? How many games have the Reds even sold out? ESPN is just catering to what it believes the people want. Also, I don't think the Reds really had anyone get snubbed. Phillips has had a nice season, but so has Uggla. I'm also remembering an article from earlier this year that you wrote, and you mentioned that you don't even have cable.
Loved the column about the Yankees and Red Sox. I thought I was just being jealous when I thought the same thing this year. Anyway, you questioned how Arroyo snuck onto the All-Star team. I figured it out. They thought he was still on the Red Sox roster. :)
Manny might not even be one of the top ten hitters in the league right now. I would take Pujols, Mauer, Ichiro, A-Rod, Garciaparra, Miguel Cabera, David Wright, Bonds (when healthy), Jeter, Ortiz and Tejada before him. And those are just the guys playing today. Griffey in his prime was way better than him.
Plus with Manny you get a ton of blunders in the outfield.
Broke down and got the damned directv in february...it spazzes every time it storms... last storm, a dead tree limb knocked the dish off the roof... it's still sitting on the deck... i'm thinking of going back to network...
Now Manny is out of the All-Star game with an "aching knee". This is good...more hope for a National League win!
Mick hsan't done anything yet, so don't give him credit to soon.
Paul:
I have to agree with the previous poster--Mick has assembled a lot of bodies...BUT....
HE HAS YET TO COACH A UC GAME
We also have to consider what will happen when (not if) one of these kids gets into trouble. Nancy's stance on "image" puts her in a real pickle--if she messes with the program again you may see her office taken apart brick-by-brick by angry mobs. If she does nothing she is a colossal hypocrite.
I would argue she has compromised her stand on "image" already by allowing Cronin to recruit exactly the kind of kids BH brought to UC. This leads me to beleive that her feud was with Bob specifically and the smoke screen of "image" was just an excuse to get rid of someone she couldn't stomach having around. Her actions regarding Kennedy seem to confirm this.
Mick has a tough road to hoe--a lot of the fanbase are reluctant to support a program that they feel has NO SUPPORT from the administration. Many of them will not give another dime to UC until Nancy has left the institution. This attitude is not directed at Cronin, but at the administration. Part of the current 27 million dollar deficit at UC is the result of this attitude.
I think there was a song back in the 80's with the tag line "you've got to be cruel to be kind". This reflects the attitude of a lot of the UC fanbase: in order to get back the University they want--one that serves the broadest base of the community and eschews an elitist attitude--they must withhold support for the time being.
This is an unfortunate circumstance for Cronin. I hope he can outlive the current administration.
All valid points... BTW, "Cruel to be Kind'' was a Nick Lowe tune...
Paul, what do you think about the Reds getting Everyday Eddie from the Mariners? I know he may not fix the bad bullpen, but at least Krivsky is trying to improve the club! You have to like the effort at least.
Doc--surprised with you. Cronin hasn't won a SINGLE GAME at UC. He's had a good offseason, THAT'S IT.
This program will miss Bob Huggins.
Paul-When it comes to the BH situation, I consider myself part of probably a small minority. There was a certain "black hand"-ish quality to how Zimpher went about the business of transitioning the program. It REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. On the other hand, I was SOOOO ready for BH to move on down the pike. Year after year he would over achieve by absolutly hammering his guys into the emotional and physical ground. Come tournament time, they really had nothing left to give. It was getting really old. Give Mick his "props" for his work so far, now we'll see if he can coach.
Thanks for answering my question...Not. I'm sure your answer will be negative.
By what possible rationale could you argue for Harang over Carpenter or Pedro? The only thing he has over them is wins.
I do not know why people think Pujols is so great. Is it because he always does well against the Reds ? If he was playing in the AL facing better pitching, he would be trailing Pig Papi and Manny in slugging and homeruns.
The proof is staring right at you with the dominance of the AL over the NL. The Red Sox swept the Cardinals in four straight, where was Pujols back then ? Nothing good at TV tonight, think I will go see Superman again in the IMAX version.
Chess
way, i repeat, way too early to say that UC has filled BH's shoes.
we'll see in the next few years -
if recruits won games, larry finch would be in the hall of fame.
love mick - good luck to him - but paul's anger(?) or jealousy(?) with BH shows through in these comments
Huggins did anything but set up the program for success after he left. He failed to make the Sweet 16 for a decade, failed to recruit any talent to the program over the last three years he was in Clifton, save Devan Downey. Huggins will not rest until he does everything in his pathetic-mind to power screw UC into obscurity. Tough thing is, coming back with K-State to play Xavier then getting beat ain't gonna make him look too good. Beasely ain't gonna play a second in college because he, Mayo and Walker are gonna sign a big ol' shoe deal and play barnstorming ball all over the nation for a year while they pay their pre-NBA dues. No college is really going to take then for a year due to the APR ramifications, which are differnet now than they were a year ago. No academic progress from a one and done kid and that scholarship is lost for THREE YEARS = shoe hoops for a year.
The above poster was sure right :P
Whch decade did UC not make the sweet 16???
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