Franklin, a former Oak Hills teacher who has a bachelor's degree in math and a master's degree in education from the University of Cincinnati, has turned his focus to mixed martial arts, a sport that involves a combination of fighting techniques including Jiu-Jitsu, karate, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling.

ALL THUMBS

Thumbs up 1. Pennant races. The Reds' season has long been over, but it's great to see games that matter in the pennant races. Even the most frustrated Reds fans must admit foiling the Cubs' playoff chances was satisfying. And say what you will about Kennesaw Molehill Selig (above), four races entered the final week in doubt, and that is strong. 2. Monday Night Football. We love one of the great sports institutions. But a beef: Has it really come to this? Do they need to have a halftime reality show - "You've been sacked" - loosely based on shows such as MTV's Punk'd or Candid Camera to draw viewers? For the love of Howard Cosell. 3. Carson Palmer and Ben Roethlisberger. This looks as if it could be a Bengals-Steelers quarterback rivalry to rival Kenny Anderson-Terry Bradshaw. Well, here's hoping it's at least better than the Akili Smith-Kordell Stewart era. 4. The New York Liberty. The team is attempting to reach the WNBA finals an unprecedented fifth time! Wait, the WNBA still exists? Thumbs down 1. Florida A&M. The board of trustees fired university president Fred Gainous after his decision to delay the move of the athletic program from Division I-AA to Division I. Good to see a university with its priorities in order. 2. Tiger Woods. Poor guy. It's been a rough year. Vijay has schooled him, and now Tiger's battling a bad back. Seems he slept wrong during a flight on his private jet. 3. Pete Rose. Granted, the ESPN movie about him won't ever be confused with Gone With the Wind, but ratings were 60 percent below the network's first two movies, on Bear Bryant and Bob Knight. Rose just isn't relevant any longer. 4. The NFL. The league won't let quarterback Jake Plummer keep the No. 40 logo on his helmet to honor former college and pro teammate Pat Tillman, who quit the NFL to join the Army Rangers. The No Fun League felt that wouldn't be "uniform." Make an exception!

On Oct. 22, he will fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship 50 in Atlantic City, N.J. The middleweight (185-pound) match against Jorge Rivera will air live on pay-per-view. It will be the third UFC match for Franklin, who won his first two in the light heavyweight (205-pound) division by TKO and is 17-1-0 overall in MMA events. It's a match Franklin and his training partners are excited about.

"There is not one point that Jorge Rivera is stronger than Rich," trainer Jorge Gurgel said. "(Rich) never gets tired. He's physically very, very fit. And he never gives up. He's going to fight the whole way. I can pretty much guarantee victory."

Franklin's fighting history goes back about six years. He loved football but found he was too small to play in college, so he turned his competitive nature to martial arts. He had seen UFC fights before and decided he liked it. In early 1998, he began to compete in amateur MMA shows, training with his buddy, Josh Rafferty, in a wooden tool shed because their training facility had closed.

"Winter time, we had two space heaters for minimal heat. There were days when it was 40 degrees in the winter," Franklin said. "In the summer, it would be 110 degrees with the sun beating down."

It happened kind of fast from there, "a couple of breaks," and soon Franklin fought in his first professional show in late 1999. He started doing more shows, all the while balancing his two careers - fighting and teaching. Sometimes, he'd have to go to school with a black eye or a twisted ankle. But that part of his career was something that often kept his students interested.

"When you have a math teacher that's a professional athlete on the side, that's impressive to them because it's rare. It makes you stand out, and it gives you a way to connect with them, something to talk about," Franklin said. "Even if they really don't care about the sport, they'd still be curious about things, like if you come in with a black eye, they'll be like, 'What happened to you?' Often times you find yourself talking to students who you have trouble connecting with otherwise."

Franklin said many people find the sport interesting once they give it a chance. He said there's a high level of respect among athletes. Even his wife, who first told him before they started dating that she didn't know "who would put up with that fighting that you do," is a fan.

"Most people would look at the sport and think, 'Man that's barbaric,' " Franklin said. "But once they actually get into it, and my wife especially, and they see the amount of time we put into getting better, they start having a lot of respect. It's like a physical chess game."

And Franklin is good at playing it.

"When I first got here, not to be rude or anything, but I didn't think they would be as good as they were," said Scott Sheeley, a kickboxing specialist who drives an hour and a half a couple times a week to train with Franklin and Gurgel. "I've been doing this for 13 years, and this is the best training that I've gotten."

Since becoming a full-time fighter, Franklin has been training six days a week with various partners who specialize in different aspects of MMA. In between, he squeezes in one or two nights a week helping students at an after-school credit-recovery program. He has dreams of winning a UFC belt one day, but making this career last five or 10 years also would make him happy.

"If I could pull off having a great record and being remembered as a great fighter, and make enough money in the process that I'm not wasting my time doing it, then I'll be happy," Franklin said. "If I get hurt and can't fight, I can always go back to teaching."

Holly Little & Joe Porter / Hyde Park

For Holly Little, the best part was the crowd support along the way and, of course, crossing the finish line. For Joe Porter, the best part was turning the corner into the old Olympic Stadium, and the announcer saying, "Joe Porter, you are an Ironman." But perhaps even better was that the twins shared the experience.

In July, Porter and Little, 29, completed the Ironman USA Lake Placid, one of the most taxing tests of physical and mental endurance around - a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.

The Wyoming High graduates, who have been involved in sports all their lives and have run four marathons together, trained six days a week for about eight months, doing 100-mile bike rides on Saturdays and two- to three-hour runs on Sundays. They adjusted their diets, sleeping habits and social lives.

Porter finished his first Ironman in 10 hours, 28 minutes, 58 seconds. Little finished in 13:16:55. EMR / Kubota / Worth

This softball team has won six of the last seven tournaments it has played, capping the run with a championship in the National Softball Association B World Series Sept. 17-19 in Kankakee, Ill. EMR, managed by Don Holden, finished 9-1 in the tournament to beat 35 teams for the title. In the championship game, it beat another local team - Robke Sales/Reds Boys - twice, including the 27-5 final.

"We caught fire and just kept hitting, hitting, hitting," EMR's Mike Kinnett said.

Kinnett was named Outstanding Offensive Player of the tournament. EMR's Bryan Price was named tournament MVP, and Terry Rosenbalm, Kevin Atwood, Pat Shanks and Darrell Hall were named to the all-tournament team. EMR will play its last tournament of the season Friday-Sunday in the Men's B Super World Series in Muncie, Ind.

"If we hit like we did (at the World Series), I don't see how anybody can beat us," Kinnett said. "We're on the most amazing streak right now. I've never been on a team that's won like this."

U-16 Cincy Storm

Head coach Cliff Kilian said he wants to keep his team challenged, so after a summer when this fast-pitch team won a couple local tournaments, placed seventh in the USSSA 16U A World Series and competed in the ASA

National Championships, the club has moved on to play small colleges.

"Most of our girls want to play and will play in college, so it's a real opportunity to see what college players are like and what they need to do to get there," Kilian said.

The 16U team, which has players from 10 area high schools and will be split into an 18U and a 16U team next summer, has faced Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), Grace (Ind.) and Miami's club team, posting a .500 record.