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Cincinnati Reds (2026 Season Thread)

From reds minor league.com

The Cincinnati Reds have selected shortstop Justin Lebron out of the University of Alabama with the 18th overall pick in the 2026 Major League Baseball Draft.

Justin Lebron Scouting Report

Height: 6′ 2″ | Weight: 190 lbs.

Bats: Right| Throws: Right | Position: Shortstop

Highest Ranking: 8 (ESPN)

The player with arguably the highest upside in the entire draft, Justin Lebron has some explosive tools to work with. He has plus raw power, plus speed, and he has plus defensive tools. But there are concerns about his ability to hit. And that showed up in college, too.

IN the 2026 season Justin Lebron hit just .277 and had 27 walks with 56 strikeouts. His numbers were much worse than that once he got into SEC play where he hit just .230 in conference play. The low average in college and his downright poor strikeout-to-walk ratio leaves many evaluators with serious concerns about what you can expect to see him to against professional pitchers.

If everything goes right you could see a lower average, but still productive offensive player who hits for plenty of power and steals a lot of bases (he had 42 steals in 43 tries this season for Alabama). That would be coupled with quality defense at shortstop. Overall that’s an incredibly valuable player.

Justin Lebron Stats

Justin Lebron College Stats

Given the Reds track record of developing hitters, a guy that struck out twice as often as he walked all through college is...curious.

Some were projecting this guy to Cleveland. I was happy to avoid him. The fact that He only hit .229 in SEC conference play this year and had a very high whiff rate at pitches in the zone makes it hard to figure out what teams see in him. Speed is worthless if you can't get on base can't steal 1st
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2026-27 Ohio State Men's Basketball

Ohio State to Play in Outdoor Doubleheader with Cincinnati, Dayton and Xavier

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For the first time ever, four of Ohio’s high-major basketball programs will gather on one court — without a roof.

On Oct. 7 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, home of the Cincinnati Open, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Dayton and Xavier will play outdoor exhibition contests as part of the CareSource Invitational, an event to raise awareness and funds for mental health and suicide prevention.

“I think this is great. This is great for the basketball community in Ohio. And it’s been a long time coming,” Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler said on Thursday. “I’ve been vocal about this since I first got the job and wanted something like this to happen. There are so many moving parts. There are so many moving parts to make something like this happen. It takes a lot of people. And I’m just excited. Everyone got together to make it happen.”

The CareSource Invitational will feature Ohio State vs. Cincinnati with Dayton vs. Xavier as the tennis complex transforms into an outdoor basketball court.

In case of inclement weather, the games will be moved to UD Arena in Dayton, but Diebler’s hoping for nothing but sunshine on a fall Wednesday.

“Getting all four teams together and doing it in a venue like that, it’s exciting. You might as well try something different," Diebler said with a grin. “It’s going to be really early in the preseason. So it’ll be a great time for everybody to get some minutes and just see where you’re at relative to someone else. … I’m excited that it’s outdoors. I’ve never been a part of a live game outside like that.”

Diebler said it’ll be a fun reminder for coaches and players of their time growing up playing basketball in the driveway, at a park or on the school playground.

“We used to play outside all the time growing up. I know it won’t be the same surface as what I played on growing up, but I’m excited about it. You’ll have different things, right? Wind, all that stuff. But who cares? It’s going to be fun to play outside.”

It’ll also be nice to support a great cause, Diebler said.
Call me crazy, but I think it's dumb to play on a tennis court. What did Woody Hayes say? If you're going to fight in the North Atlantic, then you should train in the North Atlantic. Conversely, if you're going to fight on a hardwood court indoors, it doesn't help your preparation for the season to play outdoors in the elements, presumably on a clay court. I guess I'm rooting for bad weather so they play at UD Arena instead. I'm sure playing on clay is going to cause guys to not go full tilt, which is a big part of why I don't think it's particularly helpful. Hopefully no one will get injured out there.
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The Jerome Schottenstein Center (Official Thread)

Could be just me, but was/am of the opinion that 'naming rights' is transitory. In other words, you pay X to have your name there, but after, what, five years? Then the rights are used up and unless there's a continuation clause in the contract, tOSU can go out for another round of bidding. Certainly a company wants to be recognized, but they might have to make a decision if the marketing expense is gaining them market share/sales etc. Guess I'm saying that 'buying' may be a misnomer, but 'renting' is more likely. Sort of a continuing money maker for the AD. PS, does anyone know if the debt for building all of these wonderful facilities is being defeased? Eventually the interest on this big number can take away from NIL etc. See US Debt levels, versus amount of US budget required to service said debt.
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OSU Women's Basketball Recruiting/Projections/General Discussions

Kitts is (to me at least) an enigma. See her floating around the 'crumb area' to pick up long rebounds, and doing her pull-up thing away from the reach of their bigs. Haven't really seen her get dirty fighting for rebounds. (I could have been going to the fridge when might have happened). Anyway, her injury profile leaves much to learn about her. Yeah, hope for the best, do know that when she comes in, that there will/seems to be a spark in the offense. Rereading what I wrote, don't misunderstand, believe that tOSU is stronger with her than without. Also wonder how McDuff will utilize these pieces to enhance the team performance effectively.
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Should semipro/college players be paid, or allowed to sell their stuff? (NIL and Revenue Sharing)

Trying to run two businesses, one of which is in a rapidly changing environment, under the outdated framework of an old University simply is to going to work.

Big college athletics isn’t the same as the big school. Two different entities, two different goals, two different guidance systems needed.

You can game financials for a while but ultimately they are like spandex and little kids, they always tell the truth.
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Latest Celebrity 'Obit' posts

Randolph Mantooth. Used to watch Emergency when I was a youngun….

That and Adam 12.
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PGA Tour (Official Thread)

Scottie Scheffler missed the cut at the Scottish Open, breaking his 78 made cuts in a row streak, which was the second longest streak of all time behind 90-something by Tiger. The current longest streak is now 27 by Matt Fitzpatrick. Meanwhile, on the LPGA Tour, world #1 Nelly Korda also missed the cut, breaking her 34 made cuts in a row streak. I imagine that if one had parlayed prop bets on both of those things happening, one would be in high cotton.

Edit: I asked the Google what the estimated parlay payout would have been for a $10 bet and, with explained assumptions and showing its arithmetic, it said $1,540.
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College Football Playoffs Expansion Discussion

Maybe perhaps the wrong thread but Atlanta will continue to host quarterfinal and semi-final games in the future:

2028-2031 - Mercedes Benz stadium will host CFP games

1). Beautiful, easy to get to stadium
2). Plenty of reasonable accomodations
3). Track record of hosting big events well
4). Airport is incredible

It looks like most of the article is behind a paywall. But it seems like they're pumping that up like no one else gets this privilege. All the article actually says it that the Peach Bowl is going to remain one of the 6 bowl games for the playoffs, just like the other 5 are staying there.

Ha - I just Googled the GPS coordinates of all of the 6 bowl games. And I get that AI is unreliable, so feel free to fact check my numbers. But guess which bowl game is farthest north?

Spoiler Alert:
Orange Bowl is at 25.777 Lat
Sugar Bowl is at 29.951 Lat
Cotton Bowl is at 32.779 Lat
Fiesta Bowl is at 33.527 Lat
Peach Bowl is at 33.755 Lat
Rose Bowl is at 34.161 Lat

For reference, Columbus, Ohio is at 39.962.
Ha. Look at a map. Draw a line from Pasadena through Atlanta. All 6 bowl games are on or below that line.
Also funny to me: In 12 years, 6 champions come from north of that line, and 6 come from south of that line. (I'm pretty sure that Clemson is just north of that line, so that's how I counted them.)
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NHL (Official Thread)

Anaheim matched. That was an impossible position to be placed in for them. In a few years, that contract might not look that awful as the cap keeps rising, but for now they have to make Carlsson the highest paid player in the game and he's never scored more than 70 pts in a season. :lol: They better hope he becomes a consistent 90-100 point guy, and I'm not sure he does.

Totally gums up their spending capability and they're gonna have to pay Gauthier, too, soon. Plus they have to cobble together a blue line. I'm not sure I wouldn't have taken the 4 firsts.

Moral of the story - lock up your young core early and don't be a jackass negotiating.
Adam Fantilli says “hold my beer.”
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