Opening Day!

It's opening day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. The Reds will begin to defend their National League Central title against the Milwaukee Brewers at 2:10 this afternoon. It's odd to start the season on a Thursday instead of the traditional Monday but least MLB stopped the Sunday "opening night" nonsense.

WLW is a News/Talk station from Cincinnati, Ohio. They've carried Reds games since just after World War II.

WTMJ (W The Milwaukee Journal) is a News/Talk outlet from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the flagship station of the Brewers. The sticker sports the team logo in use from 1978 until 1993. The ball and mitt which also form the letters M(ilwaukee) and B(rewers) is much better than their current logo but not nearly as cool as their original 1970s-era swinging beer barrel man. Coincidentally, at the Dayton International Airport earlier this week I saw this cool Brewers-themed airplane:

UPDATE: HOLY CRAP! The Reds win on a home run in the bottom of the ninth after trailing since the first batter of the first inning. GO REDS!! Woo Hoo!!

Reds vs Cardinals

Spent a fun evening at Great American Ballpark for the 2010 Civil Rights game. Quite a few big names were in attendance this year for an extensive pregame ceremony including Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Billie Jean King, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack and Laila Ali. I was also overly excited to see the superhot Sage Steele from ESPN. With all these celebrities on hand the game was sure to be a letdown, right? Wrong! With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, the Cards were only down by one and had the tying run on first when Joe Mather shot a double into the left field corner. Skip Schumaker tried to score from first but was nailed at home by a diving Ramon Hernandez in a very close play to end the game. It was probably the most exciting game-ending play I've ever witnessed and screamed myself hoarse along with the rest of the sellout crowd. This brings the Reds to only a half game back of St. Louis in the National League Central Division.
Both teams wore 1947 throwback uniforms who's retro coolness were negated by most players insistence on wearing long, bunch-bottomed "pajama pants." Attention Major League Baseball: It is within your power to force players to wear their baseball uniform correctly. Nobody in 1947 wore these ridiculously long pants which often cover the cleats and reach the ground. This is how one wears not only a throwback uni but their everyday game pants as well. Thank you.


KZIM is a News/Talk station from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. A previous KZIM sticker can be seen here.

WLW is a News/Talk station from Cincinnati, Ohio and has carried Reds games since 1948. A previous WLW decal can be seen here.

Reds Opening Day

The Cincinnati Reds host their 128th Opening Day at 1:00 this afternoon. With a forecast high of 39 degrees and a chance of snow showers it should be a delightful time at the old ballpark. As the oldest franchise in the sport -dating back to 1869- Major League Baseball decreed that the first pitch of every season would be thrown in Cincinnati. This changed in the past decade as ESPN has been carrying opening games on Sunday night. The Reds are the only team to always start the season in their home ballpark and their first game is still considered the traditional Opening Day.
If I was honest with myself I would admit that the Reds have slowly become my favorite baseball team and not these guys.

WLW (World's Largest Wireless) has been the Reds flagship station for over 60 years. "The Nation's Station" is a 50,000 watt clear channel signal which can be heard across 38 states at night. The father/son duo of Marty and Thom Brennaman do the play-by-play on about 50 affiliates of the Reds Radio Network.