IDK – Sportsinnati

Catching You Up-Intro to Links of the Week

I’ve been busy writing, but not here, and that’s kind of a bummer. Here’s some links to what I’ve been up to. I’m going to start doing this where I tease what I’ve been doing elsewhere and provide a link. I don’t much care for neglecting my home site, where I decided writing was something I wanted to do, pay or not. Now I’m building something to possibly start turning money out of this hobby. Anyway, here is what I’ve been up to.

CINCINNATI REDS

You all know I love the Reds the most. I’ve been writing a bunch on lockedonReds.com.

Why it’s not so bad if the Reds get good value out of trade involving Scooter Gennett – https://www.lockedonreds.com/reds/scooter-might-be-traded-and-thats-okay/

Redsfest was a blast – https://www.lockedonreds.com/reds/recapping-redsfest/

And one last link, this one was about Billy Hamilton being non-tendered – https://www.lockedonreds.com/reds/instant-reaction-bye-bye-billy/

CINCINNATI BENGALS

I must admit, my interest has waned in the Bengals season. Just doesn’t feel like there’s a whole lot to write about, other than talking about how things need to change. That being said, here’s one about my feelings on the state of the team – https://www.lockedonbengals.com/bengals/a-sucker-til-the-bitter-end/

FANTASY FOOTBALL

I began writing for another website, called getsportsinfo.com. Every Friday I do a column called “Studs, Duds, and Sleepers,” with mostly successful picks. Here’s last week’s post…which won’t do you any good right now, but check out the look of the post – https://getsportsinfo.com/studs-duds-and-sleepers-week-14-2/

Like I said, from here on out, I’ll post links to other stuff, that way you know I’m not abandoning the writing. On the contrary, I’m trying to make it more than a hobby!

Monday Musings

It’s Monday morning (at time of writing) and my mind is in a bit of an entanglement.

Firstly, AJ Green is hurt. The report says “some games” which is about as vague as the chances I give the Bengals of beating the Saints, without him. Apparently, he hurt it in the last game before the bye, whenever he got up grabbing at his toe. Some reports say that, after the game, AJ mentioned stubbing it and he’ll be fine. Then he was seen at PBS in a walking boot. Now they’re saying multiple games will be missed. It doesn’t take much to connect the dots and see that Tyler Boyd will be Andy Dalton’s number one target for the Saints game, the Ravens game, and maybe beyond that. In a league where the slimmest of margins separate wildcard teams from teams who finish 7-9, losing AJ really blurs that line for Cincinnati.

The Reds are being linked to a number of different free agents, and it’s got me excited. Sure, I looked at season tickets and realized peons like me aren’t meant to afford that regality (plus, different ticket apps make it cheaper and easier to go to the games I want, anyway) and the Opening Day tickets available on websites start at $150, right now, as the “market” preys on overenthusiastic instant-gratification junkies. That being said, I’m all in on Redsfest coming at the end of November and will probably type up a few words on it, too. I’d love to meet Dallas Keuchel, or Patrick Corbin, or even Nathan Eovaldi, but we’ll see. The powers that be for the oldest professional base-ball franchise have said they’ll break the bank. But whether it’s a bigger crack in the piggy bank or a full blown shattered oinker, remains to be seen.

I plan on writing more about this next thought, so I’ll be brief, but college basketball is back, baby, and this fool just got cable. Hope my wife is ready to hear lots squeaking sneakers and swishing nets!

UC football is back ranked in the Top-25 with a pair of games against good Florida football teams (USF and UCF). That being said, they get the lesser of two Florida’s at home, this Saturday, in a game I think they have a much better shot at winning than I did in August. Then comes the monster that is UCF. 21-straight wins (maybe 22 by next week) will face off against the Luke Fickell reclamation project. Coach Fick has built the Cats into bonafide football players in just a year and a half, and may be the next name to be plucked from Clifton to a big time job. Nobody, including me, saw the success he’s had this year as possible, and yet here we are. We could be talking about a 10-win Bearcats football side, come December, and that is magnificent.

I’m still on about Bohemian Rhapsody. What a film. Been listening to Queen all weekend.

Also, playing Red Dead 2 any chance I get. It’s so simple and yet so fantastic. Much like many a good Western flick. One of the latest “missions,” or maybe stories is a better term for them, that I completed was one where your character gets drunk, but has to keep his other drunk friend out of trouble, and then run from Johnny-Law. Rockstar just knows how to make an entertaining video game.

Right, well, back to Monday, I suppose.

Bohemian Rhapsody Rocks

Freddie Mercury is the Freddie Mercury-est Freddie Mercury who ever Freddie Mercury-ed. That being said, Rami Malek did one heck of a job emulating Freddie Mercury.

Let me preface this post about a movie by saying that I do not care about the little details. I am not one who looks for this or that. I go to movies to get away. If a movie can get me to suspend disbelief, bingo, it’s done is job. I go for the feel of it. Did the movie provoke me to feel a certain way.

Bohemian Rhapsody was all over that. It did an awesome job of showing how Queen developed, how Freddie Mercury came up with this idea for that song, or that idea for this song. It talked about his background, but not in a boring, ho-hum way. It really made you feel as though you saw Freddie Mercury. As someone who loves Queen, but was two years old when Freddie Mercury died, this was a glimpse of something brilliant. Also, how they reacted when they first recorded the song that gave the movie its name is pretty much what I imagined.

It also made me think of how much Queen means to sports. Who, when attending a sporting event and the home team is either leading, or getting ready to take the lead, doesn’t get crazy excited when “We Will Rock You” blares through the speakers? At least every other time a Reds pitcher strikes out an opposing batter, I think “Another One Bites the Dust.” And the Lord knows, I cannot wait for the day that I get to scream “We are the Champions” for either the Reds, Bengals, or Bearcats. Queen has interwoven itself into the fabric of sports and sports fans.

Rami Malek, though, was Freddie Mercury. For a little over two hours, Rami provided a performance that made you feel like you knew Freddie Mercury. You saw his rise from a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport to, possibly, the best performer of all time. All the while, you never got a sense that it was being over-played. Like Malek was trying too hard. He had exactly the right look, exactly the right movements, and exactly the right voice to project one of the greatest musicians that ever lived.

I spent $15 on a ticket to see the movie at the Rave-Cinemark in XD. Don’t even care. Movie ticket prices, blah blah blah, it’s worth it if you love the music of, I’ll just say it, the best dang band there ever was, Queen.

Cowboys and Video Games

So this is mostly a sports blog for the wonderful city of Cincinnati, but every now and then I dabble in non-sports related topics. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the game of the year, hands down.

I’m no video game expert, I’ll be the first to say. In fact, I’ve realized lately that I’m at the age that, even if I was good at pwning noobs, I’m not sure too many people are lining up to pat me on the back. So I play for the mere enjoyment of the game. I don’t try to beat something quickly, I don’t try to climb the online leaderboards, I just play to have fun. Red Dead Redemption 2 (heretofore referred to as RDR2) is a heck of a lot of fun, and in a mostly laidback way.

Fans of western movies should own it yesterday. The story starts off that you are a badass named Arthur who is a member of this gang that completed a big score at the cost of topping the wanted lists of every law enforcement agency and bounty hunters in the west. In response, they’ve tucked tail and run north, into the Dakotas, and are hiding in some snow covered mountains. Your job, quickly, becomes to help rebuild the gang’s reputation, while also building your own.

Just as in the first game, you can choose to do good, do bad, or be a bit of a neutral. Something that has been added, though, that I love is the system they developed of creating a bond with your horse. The more you bond with your horse, the better it becomes and the more it helps you out.

Another thing that is vastly improved from the first game is the hunting system. There are legendary animals that you have to track, find clues as to where they are, and then, somehow, find a way to kill. When you do manage to kill the legendary animal, or any animal, for that matter, you can then use all of the things you collect from skinning that animal to craft items that improve your gameplay. You still gain food, like in the first, but RDR2 has added something to the gameplay that makes it essential.

In RDR2, you have to remember survival. It’s not like other games where you get into a gun fight, run and hide, and replenish health and stamina. In this game, you must focus on what food, drink, and “tonics” you have on you to replenish the necessary skills to go on. I really enjoy the nuances of this game, and have barely advanced in the story, for focusing on the nuances.

The antagonist of the game is actually group. The easy explanation is: any gang that isn’t your own. It’s not as if you have to do something to antagonize a rival gang member. Your character is already well established within his own gang (as the backstory says Arthur has been in the gang for more than 20 years) so when you just see a rival gang member, they’re already aggressively postured against you. This adds an interesting wrinkle when you explore the vast gameplay area that Rockstar Games created, because you don’t know exactly where you will run into baddies.

I just started playing this game, and will probably write a bit more about it, but I know it’s one of my favorite games, ever, and may rise to the top. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m Back…or at Least Trying to Be

So, I might be lazy….ok, I am lazy. I’m writing this post something like 6 months (I din’t look) since my last one. Heck, if you want to get technical, I for sure haven’t written all year, so yeah, bad Frederick.

That being said, consider this my re-re-re-foray into regular posting. I promise I will try, can’t really do much beyond that. All vamping aside, this is just a general post. A sort of refresher, get to know the guy typing, post.

I enjoy being me. I’m comfortable in my own skin. I laugh what I laugh at, and it really doesn’t bother me if what I am laughing at makes you shake your head. In fact, that will make me laugh more.

I am happy with myself physically, as well. Definitely got the “dad bod” going on…because beer and stuff…but that doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is getting fitted for a suit…which is why I work out, currently. Now when I say work out, I mean I use a treadmill and then flail my arms about while clutching some sort of weight in my hands. I have as much knowledge of what I am doing in the gym as does a sumo wrestler at a weight watchers meeting. That said, I still try.

The whole thought about getting fitted for a suit stems from thinking about two weddings this year in which I am closely tied, my own, and my best friend JD’s. Got to get a suit for both of em…and having a person (man or woman does not make it any less awkward) measure my body is just hilarious. I figured I could at least make it less of a guffaw when I hear the measurements if I go to the gym at least a handful of times in the next half year. As someone who is famous once sang, it’s the climb.

And, yeah, dieting is out the window, so you can stuff that in a sack. I like food.

So I figure I can be active at the gym for a bit each day, and then try out that thing that Alex Guerrero has Tom Brady doing where he trains his mind to not get hurt. I’ll just use my time in front of the television watching college basketball to teach my mind to make my body not as fat. Not the craziest idea there’s ever been, right? Sweet, now pass me the chips…

IDK: Turbo

If you google how to create a successful blog, most, if not every article will tell you to find your niche and stick with it. I don’t like that. I enjoy many things, but am no expert in anything, so I will take on everything. That being said, there’s an awful lot that I don’t know. These posts will be about things I have no knowledge of but decided to look em up and write about em.

This being my first know-nothing post, I didn’t want to tackle something too out there, like string theory. Instead, I thought I would write about a turbo charger on an automobile engine.

I like cars (and trucks) and enjoy car shows.

Grand Tour host, and former Top Gear presenter, Jeremy Clarkson once described what a turbo charger (henceforth referred to as ‘turbo’) does. He said, “Exhaust gases go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens, and you go faster.” Probably as good as you can explain it, really.

Say I am slightly more curious, though. The all-knowing Wikipedia describes a turbo as such: “(it) is a turbine-driven forced induction device that increases an internal combustion engine’s efficiency and power output by forcing extra air into the combustion chamber.” Sounds like it’s your annoying younger sibling who constantly is blowing on your ear during a long road trip in order to get a rise out of you. The reaction is the mechanical equivalent of you throwing a tantrum.

Engines aren’t limited to just one turbo, either. The Porsche 911 turbo has a pair of turbos that create a quick ride. Blowing all that air and pumping proportionate amounts of fuel pushes the 911 T up to 60 mph in less than three seconds. You can only blink like a few times before you’re speeding on every road that doesn’t start with the letter I.

The McLaren P1 takes that even a step further, adding an electric engine to the mix. See, despite not having driven a turbocharged car, I have heard that there is a slight lag between acceleration and turbo firing. The German engineers who made the P1 decided to fix that by having the electric motor boost the engine while waiting for the turbo to wake up. Because of that, well, there’s a reason you haven’t seen a P1 around your suburb (unless you live in Beverly Hills).

Nowadays turbos are pretty common. A turbocharged 4-cylinder engine is becoming more normal and replacing the V-6. Turbos, despite making your car more awesome in the performance area, also make your car more fuel-efficient. Take the new Chevy Cruze, for example.

The 2017 Chevy Cruze comes with a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, in some options, that delivers 40 mpg highway and 30 mpg in the city. The 1992 Grand Marquis I scoot around in, meanwhile, has a V-8 and gets maybe 12 mpg overall. Give me that Chevy.

So, yeah, basically a price tag that bumps up a few nickels due to that “turbo” tag, it’s worth it.