Hey all, We got back today at about 8:00 PM Central Time... left about 5:00 AM, but went the wrong way for two hours.

Let's start with the trip down:

Left early Sunday morning and made it to Nawlins in about 14 hours. Interesting story on the way down there... Saw a family of three in the back of a pickup drinking beer... This includes a kid who was probably 12.

Anyway, we took 31 youth and 8 adults. In my group we had about 15 people including only 3 guys (including me). We worked in the Lower Ninth Ward on a small black baptist church called Greater New Jerusalem Baptist Church. We grouted tiles and after covering up the floor with paper, the real work began. After setting up a rickety old scaffolding, two other people and myself scraped and mudded the ceiling and sprayed it with a mud hopper. We worked a good 7 hours per day for 5 days. The walls were also scraped and mudded and a mosaic was framed with stained plywood.

We took one night to go down to the French Quarter and had some great fun. We ate at a Cajun restaurant called Mulate's (I had Blackened Catfish and we all got to try alligator which tastes like chicken), and then got Beignets and walked along the river. New Orleans certainly has some... Interesting shops... And no guys, sorry but  I felt that getting smashed and STD'd on a church mission trip might have been a BIT inappropriate... :D

Here are some pics:

Holding a Lizard During a break:

UP ON THE SCAFFOLDING:

I never realized how great private bathrooms and showers are... I'm happy to answer any and all questions!

Well, come tomorrow (Sunday) at 5:00 AM Central time, I'll be on my way to New Orleans for a church mission trip. This will be my third mission trip and second one to N'Aleans. About 40 youth and parents will be working on houses. 2 years ago we did house gutting in New Orleans... Had to wear the Haz-Mat suits and respirators... so this shouldn't be as bad.

Anyway, once I'm back I'll fill you all in on the experience, hopefully it'll be a pretty fulfilling one. See ya in a week!

-crolfer

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I've been pretty busy lately... So busy in fact that, although all three Reds games against the Cardinals were televised... (That makes 4 Reds games available on TV total so far for me this year), I was able to catch about a total of 2 innings. Anyways, one of the things that I've been busy with is umpiring, and it really opened my eyes up to a whole new part of the sport. Because this is my first year of umping, I've been doing the 10-12 or so age groups and have really noticed a few things... Some parents are total dicks.

I know a lot of people on here are parents... mostly relatively new at that, so I just want to weigh in and say that until high school... sports should be about learning and having fun, not about winning... A lot of those kids were only there cuz there parents forced them to play. Teach mechanics, not competition. And for God's sake... Don't let them throw a curve before they're around 15 or 16, and even then might be a bit early...

I also have to admit that umping (especially behind the plate) is a lot harder than it looks...

Oh yeah... GO REDS!!!!

    Guess that Arizona pitcher Doug Davis has gone under the knife and is hopefully doing well as his thyroid surgery was scheduled for today. Last year Davis went 13-12 with a 4.25 ERA in his first year with Arizona. I think it'd be a good idea to go ahead and give our best wishes to AZ Snakepit:

Best wishes.

Hopefully he'll get better and will be back on the mound soon... And while we're on the subject of a left-handed pitcher for the D-Backs... Man do I miss Coutlangus...

Make sure to enter your picks for the Yahoo league!

I'm kinda surprised Kansas State actually got in...

Who do you all think is gonna win?

Any upset thoughts?

Brackets available here among other places:

http://www.nationalpost.com/380144.bin

I'm thinking about taking North Carolina to take it all...

Some people are really thick-skulled when it comes to realizing just how important Adam Dunn is to this franchise... I was just wondering what some effective stats and simulators might be to show just how weak we'd be without him. (Facebook Cincinnati Reds Fans Application Debates)

 Thanks for the time! Here's to the Reds in 2008!

Just saw the story on SportsCenter... Looks like Scott Spiezio and his creepy goatee are no longer a part of the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Apparently he was cut after California police issued a 6 count warrant for his arrest stemming from a car crash. Apparently the max prison term he faces is 2 years.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm really starting to get sick of baseball and crime being so interrelated. I think that the MLB needs to devise some sort of system. Just take the Cardinals for instance: In the past year alone, the Cards have had three instances of players or their manager driving under the influence... Tony Larussa, Josh Hancock, who was sadly killed, and now Spiezio. If something like this happened in the NCAA, the team would almost certainly be sanctioned...

I think that in events like this, especially with repeat offenses, teams need to start getting penalized. I don't care if it's monetary or something along the lines of draft picks, but something needs to be done. These people need to realize that even though they are celebrities, they also are icons and role models.

Sorry if this came across as a rant, but I'm really getting sick of this...