For the parade on Opening Day this year, the Reds have selected former third baseman Aaron Boone to be the Grand Marshall. One can only look forward to the year when Sean Marshal is chosen. Grand Marshal Marshal. It has a certain Catch-22 ring to it.

The Cincinnati Reds and Findlay Market announce that Reds great and ESPN broadcaster Aaron Boone will be the Grand Marshal of the 93rd Findlay Market Opening Day Parade, which kicks off at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 5th.

Aaron will be joining his ESPN Monday Night Baseball partners Sean McDonough and Rick Sutcliffe in covering the Reds Opening Day game for a national TV audience on ESPN2. Boone also serves as a regular correspondent on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.

In his 12-year Major League career, Aaron Boone hit .263 with 126 HR, 555 RBI and 107 SB in 1,152 games for the Reds, Indians, Nationals, Yankees, Astros and Marlins. Selected by the Reds in the third round of the June 1994 free agent draft, from 1997-2003 Boone hit .271 with 86 HR, 362 RBI and 83 SB in 668 games for Cincinnati. He was an All-Star for the Reds in 2003, when he hit .273 with 18 HR, 65 RBI and 15 SB in 106 games before he was traded to the Yankees.

The Reds will release further details of Opening Week, including festivities planned for the new Spring Showcase, Opening Day and Opening Night, in the coming weeks.

Just like in years past, Fox Sports Ohio will be televising 145 games of the Cincinnati Reds during the 2012 season.

Basically, they’re not covering those day games when everyone is at work and wouldn’t be watching anyway. Oh, unless the Reds do super-well and are picked up by national networks, in which case, FSOhio would have to pick up some other games. And all the games will be broadcast in HD, no matter what DirecTV or other content providers try to say.

Here’s the press release.

CINCINNATI, OHIO – FOX Sports Ohio today announced its 145-game Cincinnati Reds television schedule for 2012. The Reds regular season begins with their home opener on Thursday, April 5th at 4pm against the Miami Marlins at Great American Ball Park. The entire schedule is below.

The network will kick off its coverage of the home opener at 3pm with a special hour-long Reds Live pregame show, presented by Ray St. Clair Roofing. Jim Day and Jeff Piecoro will take the field to feature all the Opening Day festivities. FOX Sports Ohio is also happy to partner with Local 12 WKRC-TV to simulcast Reds Opening Day.

FOX Sports Ohio will continue its comprehensive pregame coverage of the Reds all season long with the return of Reds Live featuring co-hosts Day and Piecoro and feature reporter Brian Giesenschlag. The pregame edition of Reds Live, presented by Ray St. Clair Roofing, will once again provide fans with commentary, features, and in-depth pregame coverage of the Reds 30 minutes prior to every game telecast. Immediately following the final out of each game, the post-game edition of Reds Live, presented by Kings Honda, will feature highlights, player interviews and analysis.

Play-by-play announcers Thom Brennaman, Jim Kelch, and George Grande, and color analysts Chris Welsh and Jeff Brantley will return to the booth to call all the action this season.

Behind-the-scenes on all of FOX Sports Ohio’s Reds productions are producer Josh Hall; directors Brian Hunterman and Roy Alfers; and Reds Live producer Kent Weaver.

The full schedule is available here.

Yes, for the moment everyone is occupied with the Super Bowl. I’m no football fan, but I’m as wrapped up in it as anyone. It helps when Super Bowl Village is five blocks away from your office. But soon that will be all over with, and then what? March Madness doesn’t even start till June these days!

Enter Fox Sport Ohio with the cure: reruns of old Reds games and a little spring training coverage. Maybe it doesn’t have the level of excitement that the games in April will have, but it’s at least as exciting as the crap we sat through in August.

FOX Sports Ohio is ready to “March to Opening Day” with Reds Classic Rewinds & Reds Spring Training Coverage

Including a NEW 30-minute show every weeknight March 12-30 at 6:30pm

CINCINNATI, OHIO — Cincinnati Reds fans won’t have to wait until Opening Day to enjoy Cincinnati Reds baseball. In a “March to Opening Day,” presented by Tri-State Chevy Dealers, FOX Sports Ohio is excited for the return of Reds Classic Rewinds throughout February. As we head into March, the network will continue to feature coverage of the Reds with the live production of a Reds Spring Training game on March 5th and an all-new nightly show, Reds Live – Spring Training 2012, beginning March 12th.

FOX Sports Ohio will televise four (4) Reds Classic Rewind games, including three games from the 2011 season as well as a game from 1999 in honor of Barry Larkin’s recent election into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Rewind series, hosted by Jim Day, will feature thrilling games such as Opening Day 2011 v. Milwaukee – the Reds notched a walk off win after Ramon Hernandez’ slammed an opposite-field three-run homer. Other 2011 games include the game from July 15th when the Reds claimed a 6-5 win against St. Louis in front of a sellout crowd at Great American Ball Park, and the game from August 13th, the Reds-San Diego win that marked several Reds’ season-highs and the largest winning margin of the season. Fans will also enjoy the Barry Larkin replay from May, 7 1999, in which Larkin went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, including a walk-off double.

FOX Sports Ohio debuts the return of this entertaining series Monday, February 6th at 7pm, with a new game every Monday.

As the Cincinnati Reds enter into their third Spring Training at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona, FOX Sports Ohio will televise the Reds Spring Training game on March 5th at 3pm EST in Goodyear when the Reds take on the Cleveland Indians. Thom Brennaman will call the game alongside Chris Welsh.

Finally, FOX Sports Ohio is excited to announce a NEW nightly show, Reds Live – Spring Training 2012, that will air Monday thru Friday from March 12th to the 30th. Each weeknight starting at 6:30pm, Reds fans will get 30 minutes of Reds Spring Training news, notes, interviews and features. Jim Day, Chris Welsh, and Jeff Piecoro will host the show from the Reds Spring Training complex with appearances by Jeff Brantley, Jim Kelch, and Thom Brennaman. Various features of the show will also be available on FOXSportsOhio.com.

Following each new show every evening, the show will replay later that night at 10pm or following a FOX Sports Ohio live event. The show will also replay the following morning at 8:30am.

Despite the 60-degree weather in my Midwestern neck of the woods, it is actually the dead of winter. And as the calendar flips over to the shortest month of the year–with all new, less shortening this year–once again the Cincinnati Reds announce their now annual sweepstakes for Opening Day tickets.

Now lest you think this is a drawing for actual tickets, no, it’s for the chance to buy tickets. I didn’t win the chance last year, but I’m feeling good about this year.

In a continuing effort to make Opening Day tickets available to as many fans as possible, the Reds have announced the annual online ticket opportunity for the April 5 game vs. the Miami Marlins.

Now through Wednesday, February 15, at noon ET, fans can register on reds.com/openingday for a chance to purchase up to four (4) individual Opening Day tickets.

There are a limited number of tickets available through this opportunity.

Applicants must complete and submit the registration form online on Reds.com to participate in this opportunity to purchase Opening Day tickets.

Winners will be selected at random from the pool of registrants.

Winners will be notified via email and will have the opportunity to purchase up to four tickets to Opening Day.

The best way to guarantee Opening Day ticket options is with a VIP Full, Weeknight or Half-Season Mix plan.

You can register at https://secure.mlb.com/cin/ticketing/opening_day.jsp.

I was going to post about the fact that the Reds avoided arbitration by coming to agreements with Homer Bailey, Bill Bray, and Paul Janish tonight. That is, I was until I went to Reds.com and came upon this press release calling for applications to be a Reds Rally Pack rallier.

CINCINNATI (Jan. 17, 2012) – The John Morrell Reds Rally Pack entertainment squad is looking for a few new members for the 2012 Reds season.

The John Morrell Reds Rally Pack is a fan interactive team that serves as ambassadors for Great American Ball Park. Through participating in pregame and in-game activities, greeting fans at the gates, tossing out victory balls and delivering birthday packages, this team knows how to get fans to feel welcome and on their feet at Reds game.

The Rally Pack performs at all home games and at many events throughout the community.

Tryout Expectations:

1. Must be 21 years or older
2. Must have a flexible schedule
3. Customer service and people skills are a must
4. Outgoing and able to talk to new people
5. Crazy/zany personality and willing to be silly in front of 40,000-plus fans
6. Willing to participate in creative promotions

Tryout Information:

1. Please complete application online at www.reds.com/rallypack
2. Only selected applicants will be invited the auditions on Feb. 4.
3. If you are selected, we will contact you by Feb. 1.

For more information, please contact Corey Hawthorne at (513) 765-7343 or chawthorne@reds.com.

The Rally Pack is a paid, seasonal position. The Cincinnati Reds are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

I’m not sure which part I like better: the fact that they try to get you to sign up for SMS alerts when you fill out the application, or the fact that, if chosen, you’ll apparently be rolled into a giant Reds Rally Katamari.