But not everyone has the URL to prove it. I got an e-mail today from Miamigirl01, proprietor of the blog iloveryanfreel.blogspot.com. Though it hasn't been updated with actual Reds content since the end of the season, I think it's worth a glance, if only for the excellent movie star sunglasses she's wearing in all the photos and the ample use of smiley-faces in the posts.

Consider these rules for Reds fans:

1. No matter how bad the pitching is, DON'T BOO YOUR OWN PLAYERS!!! By booing your pitchers as they come out and with every throw, you are only lowering their self esteem. It may make you feel better, but a true fan stands by their players. If you think the pitching stinks, yell at the people who trade for them. DUH.

2. Don't only go to games where they give free stuff away. This is a sign of a luke warm fan, and therefore you are not worthy of watching games like the one Freel won last night. Shame on you if you came for a Matchbox car and left loving Freel. You stink!

3. You must have at least one of your stations programed to 700WLW even if it is a sign that you're getting old. Seriously, I swore I'd never do it, but I have, and I'm not old, male, or even boring!

4. Invest in a #3 shirt. Griffey isn't #30 anymore and that's annoying.

5. Let loose a little bit. When the scoreboard says, “Make some NOISE!!!” Don't sit and stare. That means you should put away the cell phone and risk spilling your beer while you jump up and scream!

Gotta love the enthusiasm. It's downright Ryan Freel-esque.

On Ken Broo's podcast yesterday, he played an interview with Homer Bailey he'd made during the recent Reds Caravan. You can listen to the podcast here.

I thought it was interesting to here Bailey's confidence. At the same time, I was surprised not to hear much of an ego from him. Either he know how to hide it, or he doesn't have one. If it's the latter, consider me impressed. It would have to be hard not to think highly of yourself with the lavish praise and attention that he's received.

I do hope that Bailey can make it a hard decision for the Reds this spring. If Bailey's ready, this team's starting pitching could be fierce.

As if you didn't already have enough reasons to be glad not to be a Pirates fan, this is apparently their new alternate home jersey design.

Says Pat of WHYGAS? has this to say:

Bright red vest, black lettering, black sleeves, gold trim, and bringing back the black cap with the red bill. Calling it “ugly as sin” would be offensive to sin.

Meanwhile, I'm concerned that this is just too much suffering for baseball fans in the greater Pittsburgh area and karma is bound to come around if we don't do something drastically nice for them. Quick! Let's send them Sean Casey!

We didn't mention it in the podcast, but there were a couple other celebrities split between the north and south legs of the Reds' Caravan: Gapper and Mr. Red. I think most people would think that we got the better part of the deal with Mr. Red, but I still don't think it was enough to balance out Brandon Phillips. Besides, I've got a killer idea for a one-on-one interview with the Gapper.

There were so many people hoping to catch a glimpse of Thom Brennaman that they were lined up out the door. It was freezing cold in the lobby area thanks to the fact that the front doors were propped open by the autograph seekers, which at least distracted us from the fact that we were packed in like sardines, our feet hurt from standing so long, and we couldn't hear the Q&A going on 30 feet away.

The other side of the restaurant is a big, rectangular dining room, but they elected to have these guys backlit by the three projection screens that adorn the clubhouse at Damon's. You know, this would have gone better if Rob Butcher had been there.

The Crack Technical Staff had to brave the dirty looks of the masses around us to stand up on a bench in the lobby and snap this photo.

But after all the shivering, suffering, and waiting, the line finally started to move and we got a chance to exchange a snarky comment or two with just about every guy there.

Hefty podcast this week as we take you inside the magic and wonder that is the Reds’ Caravan stop at the Damon’s in Muncie. We also chat about:

• Trading for one Mr. Kirk Saarloos
• Clips from the Caravan
• TV Network Planning Reality Dating Show During Red Sox Games
• Yankees free up No. 22 for Clemens, in case
• Fan fined $1,000, ordered away from Shea Stadium

Episode 43: Reds Caravan Report (26.1 MB, 38:01)

Got inspired this evening and wrote up a Human League entry on our newest candidate for fifth starter: Kirk Saarloos. He sounds like a sweetie-pie.

• Player Page on Reds.com
• Saarloos a quiet role mode on Examiner.com
• Crack Hard Facts Staff on Red-Hot-Mama.com

• Player Page on Reds.com
• Saarloos a quiet role mode on Examiner.com
• Crack Hard Facts Staff on Red-Hot-Mama.com

Kirk Craig Saarloos was born May 23, 1979 in Long Beach, California. He attended college at Cal State Fullerton and made his major league debut on June 18, 2002. Saarloos (rhymes with Carlos) is married to Kristen, but his MLB profile page doesn’t mention any kids.

Really, the whole reason I put together a Human League entry for Saarloos was just an excuse to link to this article that I stumbled upon this evening. It comes from Examiner.com, out of San Francisco, where author Mychael Urban has a lot of love for Saarloos’s approach to the game:

Granted, kids typically gravitate to players who put up big numbers and appear nightly on highlight shows, and Saarloos — rhymes with Carlos — does neither. So anonymous is he that even if you wanted to pick up a No. 31 jersey at McAfee Coliseum last year, you’d have been out of luck.But the fact that he’s so anonymous is a sad commentary. This is a young man who embodies everything right and good about sports, yet he’s continually overshadowed by the criminals, cheats and look-at-me athletes who pollute our daily sports sections.

Saarloos was an accomplished collegian, a first-team All-American. But he’s barely 6 feet tall, well under 200 pounds, right-handed and rarely tops 90 on the radar gun, so after being drafted by the Houston Astros, he essentially dropped off the baseball map.
…
We want our role-model athletes to overcome adversity, right? With his mother battling breast cancer during spring training 2005, Saarloos took his heavy heart to the mound — hiding a cancer-awareness bracelet in his back pocket — and won a spot in Oakland’s starting rotation.

We want our role-model athletes to carry themselves with class, too, right? Saarloos bounced between the bullpen and rotation so often in 2006 that he had never had the luxury of routine. Not only did he not complain, he picked up a save and a win (as a starter) in one memorable six-day span.

And we want our role-model athletes to be humble. Asked if he was going to contribute to Barry Zito’s Strikeouts for Troops program by donating $100 for every strikeout he records, the soft-tossing Saarloos said, “I think it’d be better for the soldiers if I gave them $100 for every batter I hit.”

So what if he doesn’t light up “SportsCenter”? He does his job well, stays out of trouble and keeps everything in perspective. So find out what number Saarloos is wearing with the Reds, order a custom jersey and give it to your kid.

Sure sounds like a sweetie, huh? He sounds downright Sean Casey-esque. We touchy-feely types here at Red Hot Mama will be watching his career with great interest.

Kirk Craig Saarloos was born May 23, 1979 in Long Beach, California. He attended college at Cal State Fullerton and made his major league debut on June 18, 2002. Saarloos (rhymes with Carlos) is married to Kristen, but his MLB profile page doesn't mention any kids.

Really, the whole reason I put together a Human League entry for Saarloos was just an excuse to link to this article that I stumbled upon this evening. It comes from Examiner.com, out of San Francisco, where author Mychael Urban has a lot of love for Saarloos's approach to the game:

Granted, kids typically gravitate to players who put up big numbers and appear nightly on highlight shows, and Saarloos — rhymes with Carlos — does neither. So anonymous is he that even if you wanted to pick up a No. 31 jersey at McAfee Coliseum last year, you’d have been out of luck.

But the fact that he’s so anonymous is a sad commentary. This is a young man who embodies everything right and good about sports, yet he’s continually overshadowed by the criminals, cheats and look-at-me athletes who pollute our daily sports sections.

Saarloos was an accomplished collegian, a first-team All-American. But he’s barely 6 feet tall, well under 200 pounds, right-handed and rarely tops 90 on the radar gun, so after being drafted by the Houston Astros, he essentially dropped off the baseball map.
…
We want our role-model athletes to overcome adversity, right? With his mother battling breast cancer during spring training 2005, Saarloos took his heavy heart to the mound — hiding a cancer-awareness bracelet in his back pocket — and won a spot in Oakland’s starting rotation.

We want our role-model athletes to carry themselves with class, too, right? Saarloos bounced between the bullpen and rotation so often in 2006 that he had never had the luxury of routine. Not only did he not complain, he picked up a save and a win (as a starter) in one memorable six-day span.

And we want our role-model athletes to be humble. Asked if he was going to contribute to Barry Zito’s Strikeouts for Troops program by donating $100 for every strikeout he records, the soft-tossing Saarloos said, “I think it’d be better for the soldiers if I gave them $100 for every batter I hit.”

So what if he doesn’t light up “SportsCenter”? He does his job well, stays out of trouble and keeps everything in perspective. So find out what number Saarloos is wearing with the Reds, order a custom jersey and give it to your kid.

Sure sounds like a sweetie, huh? He sounds downright Sean Casey-esque. We touchy-feely types here at Red Hot Mama will be watching his career with great interest.