Thumbs up

        1. Bengals hiring John Cooper. Hey, it's not Mike Brown hiring a general manager, but it's certainly a start. As you know, Cooper has produced more quality NFL players than Brown. Besides, Michigan isn't in the new AFC North, is it?

        2. “The Reds are on the ray-de-o.” Sure, our men took two solid butt-whippin's early, but the sound of Nux trying to pronounce Ricardo Aramboles or Ranier Olmedo warms the heart.

        3. Terry Nelson. A member of UC's Final Four team in 1991-92, he has pretty much milked that accomplishment for all it's worth. But now he has a new feat worth bragging about. Nelson, the coach of the Western Hills boys basketball team, not only challenged West Side rival Elder — by intentionally choosing to play the Panthers in the tournament — but beat it. Next up, top-ranked Winton Woods.

        4. Monday Night Football. Pow! Bang! Crunch! Hiring John Madden was a genius move. Now Dennis Miller's bizarre references will stay where they belong — on his comedy show.

        5. The UC-Louisville rivalry. It should really crank up again with Huggs and Pitino squaring off twice a year. (Although we must admit this mutual admiration society thing between the two needs a little work).

        Thumbs down

        1. Nolan Richardson. Look, we couldn't presume to know what he has gone through in Fayetteville. But he got a $3 million buyout. His referring to great civil rights leaders in conjunction with his struggles was way out of line, a real injustice to those who really were oppressed.

        2. ESPN. OK, you've convinced us. You've made a movie about Bob Knight. We're impressed. Now stop the incessant promotion!

        3. Baseball. Somebody say something about the labor talks! Shoot, lie to us. Now we're hearing rumblings of the players boycotting the All-Star Game — which just happens to be in Bud Selig's beloved Milwaukee. Well, that's just fine.

        4. Storming the court. It used to be cool. Some little school knocks off a superpower, the kids get excited and fill the floor. But anymore, it doesn't seem to even require an upset for the kids to mount a charge.

        5. The NHL. Hey, that Olympic tournament was great. So couldn't we just crank up the Stanley Cup playoffs now?

Sports Stories

Battle won, but Smith loses war Basketball brothers sharing dream Buckeyes claim share of Big 10 title Indiana wins share of Big Ten Miami comes up short OSU's Arden arrested for driving under influence Top 25 roundup Wildcats nail down SEC bye Women: Waugh keys Xavier upset Ducks win 4-2 Enquirer Page Two power rankings Request for Parole wins Battaglia Memorial Cavaliers can't contain Kukoc Hospitalized Buck suffers setback Pens' Lemieux: I shall return next season Role reversal for Els at Doral Stewart tries to rebound after Daytona Coming up this week

A season inside the Bengals
Bengals' QB pool gets smaller
Football, faith and Florence
Bengals Q & A with Mark Curnutte
Bears re-sign QB Miller
Don't worry, we're happy, Reds assert
Jr. one slugger who values health over homers
Reds Q & A with John Fay
Reitsma fastball showing some pop
Rangers 4, Reds 3
Reds notebook
Baseball notebook
Cowboys make big splash at state swim meet
An unsung player saves McNicholas
Mercy gives coach 499th career win
St. Ursula earns Beavercreek rematch
Purcell gets half-court buzzer-beater
Undersized MND ousted
Dixie girls cruise to 34th District title
Lakota West 7th in state gymnastics
NewCath edges past Highlands
Regionals rev up this week
Ohio boys basketball scores
Ohio girls basketball results
Kentucky boys basketball scores
Kentucky girls basketball scores
Wrestling: Division I
Wrestling: Divisions II-III
Regional Schedule
Hungry cats set for battle
Logan is expecting an emotional finale
XU beats UMass, wins A-10
XU notebook