Every day there are three things, none worth devoting an individual post to, but each worth at least mentioning.
I'm a little short on time today....
1) In defense of the Bengals "locker room culture." I don't visit the Bengals locker room as much as I should, and even if I was there as often as the men and women who cover this team in-depth, I doubt I could give you a realistic snapshot of the true culture and personality of the team.
That said....I've heard and read concerns about the locker room that Joe Mixon is joining, and the personality of the team he'll be a part of. Few give him a chance to be surrounded with the kind of players he needs to be around to thrive.
I do.
I talked with a pretty prominent player on Monday night - one who wasn't exactly thrilled with the decision to draft Mixon - who was adamant that Mixon's rookie environs can be a nurturing one..
"We've got good guys."
We never really know these guys like we pretend we do, but you wouldn't have to peruse the Bengals roster long to find names of players who've shown throughout their careers that they get it.
AJ Green (who will be on my show tomorrow), Andy Dalton, Jeremy Hill, Carlos Dunlap, Giovani Bernard, Vinny Rey, Michael Johnson, Dre Kirkpatrick. I could keep going. There's more guys who get it on this team than those who don't. It's up to Mixon to find them
2) Celtics/Wiz. Or, Thomas/Wall. The shame of the fact that Boston won game two is that with the Celts up 2-0, we're less likely to get a seven-gamer between two transcendent point guards. Wall went for 40 and 13 and he was the second-best point guard on the floor.
Thomas was spectacular. I've not seen a guy of his stature do the things he can do (Iverson was bigger), not just statistically, but in the way he emotionally willed his team to a win that has to be devastating for a Washington team that's played near-perfect ball in stretches of both games, only to lose both.
Thomas scored 29 in the fourth quarter and OT, the game seemingly hanging on every shot he took in the final 17 minutes. He ended up with 53 points and two turnovers in 45 minutes.
We're getting Cavs/Warriors next month. We're not getting a better one-on-one duel in these playoffs.
3) The Reds. Since I'm woefully short on time and imagination today....here's a recap of last night.
Recommended link of the day: P-Doc on Baltimore's Adam Jones and the treatment he received in Boston.
Radio Show: Back on air tomorrow with two shows....ESPN1530 in the afternoon, 700WLW at night. AJ Green is among my guests, at 3:20.
Win: A new lawn mower from Baxla Tractor and lawn tickets to every show at Riverbend.