You love your sporting news through the filter of a blogger who has no particular credentials, yet manages to put together better insight than 95% of ESPN. After you’ve read about the wacky misadventures of the Red Hot Family, you can check out:

• http://cincinnati.majorleaguebaseballfansite.com/ It’s an aggregater too cool to even have an name other than it’s URL. True, most of what you’ll find here is links to blogs you already visit, but where else will you find awesome sports photos that have had inappropriate aspect ratios hard-coded so they’re all stretched out?
• For something more polished, check out MASN Online, the official website of the mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
• And when you need a little something political to go with your sports news, go to The Tricky Trail Times. Keep looking: there is some baseball in there.

The Reds have announced their 2009 schedule, and it’s the best schedule they’ve had in years. The host division rivals and the Indians for the lion’s share of their weekend series, including two weekend stints with the Cardinals. The month of September is pretty lame, with 16 away games, but the Reds should be pretty lame by then, too, so I expect it’ll work out.

…you notice this headline on your Reds feed:

Reds could bring back Weathers

Considering that he did about as well in the closer spot a couple years back making $2.5 million as Cordero did this year pulling down $10 million, it may be a thrifty approach. Makes it hard not to roll your eyes, though. Same old Reds.

No Adam Dunn next year, though, unless they sign him as a free agent. Boy, that would be a great move on his part, wouldn’t it? Out of the frying pan and back into the frying pan. What’s the speculation on where Dunn will end up next year? And what’s the whole draft pick situation with him? I’ve always been a little confused by that one.

Even Griffey remains in the Reds headlines, as he was named a “public diplomacy envoy” by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and charged with spreading “the values of the United States” by helping to spark “interest in America and in our culture.” He’ll go to Panama in January to begin this mission while his agent is working out where he’ll sign, seeing as he’s a free agent this year too.

Last week the Reds announced that Cam Bonifay and Mike Squires would join the front office as special assistants to GM Walt Jocketty. At the same time, they announced Jamie Quirk as a professional scout.

Bonifay comes to Cincinnati via Pittsburgh, where he was the GM for the Pirates from 1993-2001. So you know he’s quality. One wonder’s whether he’s coming aboard to tell everyone else what not to do. As in, “Cam thinks we ought to extend Dusty Baker for another two years, so I guess we’d better not.” Of course, since then, Bonifay acted as Jocketty’s special assistant in St. Louis. Similarly, Squires had been a Major League scout for the Cardinals since 1995.

Here that sound? It’s the sound of millions of snark-enjoying web surfers crying out in anguish as they discover the news that Fire Joe Morgan is calling it quits.

Like Ken Tremendous wrote, it’s been a good 21 years, and I will greatly miss their criticism of stupid writers and broadcasters everywhere. Now it’s up to others to mock the ignorant and pointless drivel.