miss me?

Returning from 10 days in Florida, tooling up 75 in southern K-Y, first voice I here is Marty's, "commenting'' on David Weathers' performance in Sunday's game. I always knew we lived in a time warp here...Florida was great, except the gator eating my Titleist. I'd recommend St. Augustine to anyone seeking a piece of what used to be, before tackiness took over. If you're heading that direction, ask me about Cap's in Vilano Beach and the A1A Brewery in d-town St. Aug. A few observations on things I'll likely be writing in the paper the next several days:

The Reds are still getting jobbed nationally. Nice first half, Brandon Phillips. Here's your pat on the back and a three-day vacation. Same for you, David Ross and Aaron Harang. The only national pub the Reds get is of the "1st team to fold in the second half'' variety. And maybe, someday, ESPN will cease to be the home network for the Red Sox and Yankees. OK, maybe not.

And I still say they should deal Dunn, unless you think the club will exercise its 13.5 mil option on him in '08 or even pay him the 10-mil owed next year. Why not make a move now, for a pitcher and a prospect, when you're in the pennant race?

And those who don't think the Reds can hang the next few months don't realize how down the NL is.

Lawrence Taylor tells SI playing golf has saved his life. Let's get Chris Henry over to Second Swing in Tri-County, shall we?

Much feedback on the 6/23 column lamenting no baseball at Broadway Commons, almost all of it agreeing with me. Where were those people in '98, when Jim Tarbell was banging that drum solo, and I was the only member of the heathen media counting the beats? No ball at BC is Cincinnati in a nutshell: No vision, fear of the future, race-baiting etc. What could have been our own little Wrigleyville could instead be a slot machine parlor or a jail extension. And people visiting Great American Small Park get away as quickly as they can after the game ends.

At least they could have saved Sleep Out Louie's

And by the way, GASP continues to be a joke and an embarrassment. What's the over-under on homers hit there this year? 300?

Training camp begins in a couple weeks. This is the Bengals' time.