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Reds fans couldn't be happier, except when their miserable


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[i]
[b][size="5"]Reds fans couldn't be happier, except when they're miserable[/size]


[/b][size="2"]"Love the team this year, have really enjoyed the regular season, and am not looking forward to being swept (in) the NLDS.''[/size][/i][size="2"]

The Cincinnati Reds are going to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years and the town is just incredibly stoked. Enthusiasm is rampant, expectations are off the charts. Fans are giddy.

[i]"The sense that many of these young guys will leave when they reach free agency hangs over like a cloud.''[/i]

It's contagious. Reds fans hang on every pitch. Downtown is awash in red. You don't know confidence until you come to the Queen City and experience the unwavering optimism the town has for its baseball team. It's humbling, actually.

[i]"I'm loving this season, even as I'm dying with each goofy Dusty decision and every first pitch swing and the next Coco meltdown which is surely coming.''[/i]

It is possible, in an old-school baseball town where for a decade winning was a concept, that some folks are actually enjoying the winning. They're like the Japanese soldiers from World War II, holed up in caves on Borneo, a decade after the war ended.

I don't know them. I know the people quoted above. They post on my [i]Cincinnati Enquirer[/i] blog, [i]The Morning Line[/i]. I asked them Thursday to take their playoff temperatures. That's representative of what I got back.

Is Cincinnati happy for its baseball team? Yep. In its own, Cincinnati way. At various times during a year in which the home team has been in first place 105 days, and every day but two since Aug. 2, fans have celebrated the scrappy local nine by demanding that half the Everyday Eight be demoted, traded, waived or otherwise banished.

Manager Dusty Baker has done a nice job keeping his team's psyche at a low boil. Baker remains not just a player's manager, but a player, too, in attitude and attire. Dig the wristbands, big guy. You pinch-hitting tonight?

Baker has kept his young players confident while letting his vets run the clubhouse. It's a calm, loose place. The Reds have overachieved. Everybody gets along. If that's not partly Dusty's doing, then why have a manager?

Fans obsess instead on Baker's lineups, his affection for older, underperforming players, and the time he spends worrying about egos and psyches. The only difference between a Reds win and a Reds loss is the amount of second-guessing Baker hears. And believe me, he listens.

Not long ago, I asked Baker if he'd pondered replacing closer Francisco Cordero with Aroldis Chapman. Chapman throws 103 miles an hour in the bullpen; lately, Cordero is a Stephen King novel.

It was a legitimate question. Baker decided the whole world was against him.

"Some people didn't like the (stuff) I was doing from the start of the season. They didn't like whatever the hell they didn't like. Those people don't manage this ball club. They don't understand the psychological dynamics. There were people that wanted (since-traded Chris) Dickerson to play, people that wanted (Jay) Bruce sent to the minor leagues. There's people that wanted (reserve outfielder Chris) Heisey to play every day, people wanted (set-up reliever Nick) Masset out of here.

"I ain't worried about what people say. Let's enjoy what we have instead of thinking about what we don't have. How 'bout that?'' Baker said.

That's not how it works in Cincinnati. We're not great at living it up around here. We don't trust success, maybe because we don't see it very much, and when we do, it's just passing through. Bob Huggins was a rare consistent winner here. We dumped him. Brian Kelly got famous and got gone. The Bengals are the Bengals, you know?

We think like a hitter: If we're successful three times out of 10, we're batting .300, and that's pretty good. Success is not trustworthy when your town's athletic resume looks like a banana peel.

[i]"Look at the Reds record vs. winning teams (BAD). Look at the Reds record vs playoff teams (WORSE). So...exactly... what's to get excited about?''[/i]

On paper, the Reds would seem the least attractive NL playoff representative. They do have losing records against all potential October foes. They don't have a big-time No. 1 starter. Cordero has been a foot in the shower, waiting for a renegade bar of soap.

The Reds will win the weakest division in the National League, maybe in all of baseball. They're ker-bumping to the finish line, having lost 12 of 21 this month. As a small-money team, they'll always be up against the payroll wall.

But the last time they made the playoffs, O.J. Simpson was being acquitted. The morning of Game 1 of Reds-Dodgers in the 1995 divisional series, I stood with the alternately tense and festive masses outside the federal courthouse in L.A., awaiting the verdict. Years later, I finally figured out that if the jury had gone the other way, I'd probably have been in the middle of a riot.

Compared to that, these playoffs are a skate across a pond. Unless you're from around here.

Reds fans love their Reds, the best way they know. Every silver lining has its cloud.

[i]"I'll enjoy the playoffs, but they'll probably be short.''[/i]

See?



Read more: [/size][url="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/paul_daugherty/09/24/reds.fans/index.html#ixzz10U40m0V2"][size="2"][url="http://sportsillustr...l#ixzz10U40m0V2"]http://sportsillustr...l#ixzz10U40m0V2[/url][/size][/url][size="2"] [/size]
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[quote name='GoBengals' timestamp='1285366003' post='922194']
why do they even play baseball into september? that needs to be a march-august sport..
[/quote]

Yeah, nothing's better than watching them try to play a game in Denver during a snowstorm.

Wankers...
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Dusty's a much better manager than I am. The only thing I didn't like was his opening day lineup. Which he changed very quickly btw.

How can I complain? I can't. Dusty's the man. He needs some appreciation in my opinion. There were a couple of "i woulda left that guy in for an extra inning" but what do I know?


If you read this Dusty - I like your work.


Don't think too much.

Don't go from the gut too much.


Don't be afraid to WORK THAT CHAPMAN.

Seriously.


My Thanks to the Reds. Mr. Jocketty. Mr. Baker. The Team. You guys have had a great season. I thank you. It's been fun to watch.



Good Luck.
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As a Reds fan, I am continuously embarrassed by the "chicken little" Reds fans.

Is this the Big Red Machine? Hell no.

Is this a fucking playoff team, something we haven't seen since the mid 90's? Hell Yes!

Why the vast majority of the fans of this team continue to be negative assholes, I will never know. Enjoy the success, and enjoy it for as long as it lasts! Even if they go 3 and out in the first round, at least they fucking made it!

Actually, when I think of it....quite a few Bengals fans are just as fickle.

I suppose I am among the minority when it comes to Bengals and Reds fans....I ENJOY when they do well, even when it's ugly. It's really not a hard concept people.....ENJOY the good times because the bad times might last 10-15 years (as we know).
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It actually bothered me how many "fans" were there last night. I didn't know if Thom was bragging or complaining about the thousands of walk-ups prior to the game. Most of them were just going to a party. The Reds have been in first for at least a couple months and they can't draw unless Strasburg is pitching or Chapman is likely to make his debut, or the Magic Number is 1. So I saw all of the walk-ups as people that didn't want to get tickets until they were sure that there was a good chance to clinch. If the Reds lost and the "fans" had to go down there an extra 2 or 3 nights to watch them clinch, they would probably bitch about it. I wonder how many "fans" went down just so they could say they were there. That really annoys me. It bugs me that going down any old time to watch the Reds play isn't exciting enough for them.
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[quote name='Hooky' timestamp='1285779071' post='924334']
It actually bothered me how many "fans" were there last night. I didn't know if Thom was bragging or complaining about the thousands of walk-ups prior to the game. Most of them were just going to a party. The Reds have been in first for at least a couple months and they can't draw unless Strasburg is pitching or Chapman is likely to make his debut, or the Magic Number is 1. So I saw all of the walk-ups as people that didn't want to get tickets until they were sure that there was a good chance to clinch. If the Reds lost and the "fans" had to go down there an extra 2 or 3 nights to watch them clinch, they would probably bitch about it. I wonder how many "fans" went down just so they could say they were there. That really annoys me. It bugs me that going down any old time to watch the Reds play isn't exciting enough for them.
[/quote]

I will say, as much as I don't "like" them, it's hard not to "admire" Cubs fans. I remember back in the mid 80s to early 90s. For years and years, the Cubs stunk. They played every home game during the day while people were at work and kids were in school. And they were one of the first teams to have every game they played (almost) on TV (and WGN was a local station in Chicago, not a cable station). And they played in a town with another MLB team. And another one 90 miles away, so they don't get as much "regional" fans as the Reds. And Cubs tickets weren't exactly cheap either, if I remember correctly.

And despite all of that they sold out, or were close to it, just about every game. If Reds fans were nearly that dedicated, ownership would have more money to spend to field a winning team.
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[quote name='CTA513' timestamp='1285793630' post='924415']
If those fans didn't show up then people would be bitching about how they only had about 15,000 fans show up for a game that clinched a playoff spot.
[/quote]
I wouldn't have cared how many people showed up last night since the park was half empty every other game. Except for the night that the ESPN hype machine product Strasburg pitched.
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[quote name='GoBengals' timestamp='1285366003' post='922194']
why do they even play baseball into september? that needs to be a march-august sport..
[/quote]

If it bugs you so much, lock this section of the forum down September 1 - February 28/29.

The coldest sporting event I've ever been to was a baseball game in April, and that was the year a bunch of early games got snowed out in Cleveland.
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[quote name='CTA513' timestamp='1285793630' post='924415']
If those fans didn't show up then people would be bitching about how they only had about 15,000 fans show up for a game that clinched a playoff spot.
[/quote]

I should clarify that I was disappointed in how many walk-ups there were. People that were waiting to see if the Cardinals lost on Monday before getting a ticket to Tuesday night's game. Because that would be really disappointing to buy tickets in advance and just watch a regular old game. Like I said, it was probably just a party for most people that went. Half of them probably bought their first ever Reds clothing item before the game so they could be fashionable.
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