LAST CALL! If you didn’t already know, we’re putting together our first annual “Best Bar in Cincinnati” Tournament. It’ll be conducted Final Four style. There are still some spots left; if you’ve got a bar that you think should be in the field of 64, email us or put it in the comments below. Deadline for nominations is July 1 and the party begins shortly thereafter, so to speak.
As contrary and curmudgeonly as I can sometimes be (sometimes?), I feel like I do an okay job of pointing out when good things are happening in our local media. I try to, at any rate. This is one of those times.
Our best friendreported today that a group of folks led by Andy Martin, owner of Galaxie Skateshop, is putting together an even to help expand an apparently small skatepark under the Daniel Carter Beard bridge in Newport, KY. It’s going down on Saturday, and as I understand it, they’re putting up a couple ramps and some punk rock bands are playing at Newport on the Levee on Saturday.
So, if you’re into that kind of thing and want to watch people do some amazing stuff, or just bust their asses on skateboards, this is probably worth going to. Ultimately, it’s all getting done with a purpose in mind: giving kids a place to go. This keeps them out of trouble and out of that old neighbor’s hair. Give ‘em your money.
In light of the recent “honor” bestowed upon Cincinnati, and in light of what I expect people might think of our city, I wondered something simple: what do people really think of Cincinnati? When they hear, “Cincinnati,” what is the first thing that comes to their minds? Pete Rose? Riverboats? The Underground Railroad? The Reds? The Cincinnati Bengals?
This question raises another: what’s the point? Why care what outsiders think of Cincinnati? It’s fairly simple.
We’ve been trying to improve the city for how long now? We know what’s great about our city, and what’s not so great. That said, we don’t always agree on what those things are, and we probably never will. But what can we garner from the broad brushstrokes of outsiders’ impressions? I’m interested to know what we can learn from just what people think of our city. We think we know who and what best represents Cincinnati, but we can’t always be aware of who or what is actually representing Cincinnati. This is an effort to capture at least some of that information.
We’re going to try to make this a weekly adventure into the mind of a Cincinnati outsider. If you’re not from here and want to answer the question, “What do you think of when you think of Cincinnati,” send it our way in 400 words or so–it might just show up here at TCM.
Joey Votto in 2001, when the Reds' starting first baseman was a man known as "The Mayor."
Votto’s back with the Reds as of last night, and he held a press conference before the game. Last year, he lost his father in the middle of the season and played through it. Balls, right? According to him, it all came back to haunt him, as literally as that can possibly be, while he was dealing with the weird ear infection thing last month. Here’s what he had to say:
As some of you know, my father passed away last August. The first day back I kind of put that all on back burner and just played baseball all the way to the end of September. I don’t want to use the word suppress because he was in my thoughts and I was dealing with it on a daily basis. But, as powerful a moment that is to lose your father so young in a way I did suppress it. From August to beginning of spring training, I was pretty severely depressed. I was dealing with the anxiety of grief and sadness and fear. Every emotion you can imagine that everyone goes through.
I spoke to some doctors. They came to the conclusion I was dealing with obviously being depressed and anxiety and panic attacks. They were overwhelming to point where I had to go to the hospital on two separated occasions. Once in San Diego and once – nobody had been told about – but I went to the hospital once in Cincinnati when the team was on the road.
It was very, very scary and crazy night. I had to call 911 at 3 or 4 in the morning. It was probably the scariest moment I ever dealt with in my life. I went to the hospital that night.
I’ve been talking and seeing some doctors. They’ve been a great help. And speaking to people in general – I spoke to my team last week – and letting people know what I’ve dealing and how difficult this grieving process has been. My father was young, and I’m a young man. I really wish I hadn’t lost my father so young. I’m the oldest brother. I feel like I’m responsible for my family. Maybe I have proclivity for depression or whatever it is.
But I was dealing with some pretty abnormal circumstances – the combination of being a major league ballplayer, a young ballplayer and also dealing with my father and my family.
The Votto we've come to know and love. Like in a healthy man-crushy kinda way.
Like a lotof folks, I can identify with this. While I’m not a professional baseball player, rich, good-looking, or even expected to succeed in any way whatsoever, my father died in similar circumstances–during a period of my life where I was putting a lot of pressure on myself and was expected to do well in a number of different areas. It was a few years ago, while I was in graduate school. I was close to Votto’s age, and my father was only a few years older than his. Both were certainly unexpected. Add to that the fact that we didn’t have a particularly good relationship, and you’ve got a recipe for party funtimes.
I didn’t drop out, or even stop what I was doing for a particularly long amount of time. In fact, I probably got back on the horse a little too quickly. I certainly got on with things a lot sooner than I was ready to. As a result of that, I feel pretty guilty just about every day; I didn’t deal with it correctly, didn’t allow myself the time for his death to catch up with me. I tried to outrun it, so to speak, which is impossible. This makes his words hit home that much more.
This year was my first Father’s Day from the “Old Man” side of things, and it was also the first one where I didn’t really think about my dad all that much. Of course, I felt horrible as soon as I realized that, but isn’t that a symptom of the Circle of Life? Anyhow, Joey, if you read this at any point, all of us know what you’re going through more or less. Knock a couple in for us.
I was going through some of the search terms that we’re showing up in, and it looks to me like we’re showing up in some pretty fucked up corners of Google. This means that you people are looking for some fucked things, yourselves. Consider this a pat on the back.
Some of the more interesting search terms I came across, along with a little commentary:
cincinnati tits–Not sure why, but I was sort of expecting this one.
“dress shirt with shorts”–Short answer: no thank you.
“jean shorts” and “look like a tourist”–Yes, yes you do.
+”socks with shorts” +”what kind”–Really? You people will search for ANYTHING.
chili doggin–Point proven, though this might be the best two-word combination ever.
gar hook–What? I’m not sure the word “Gar” has ever appeared on our website.
gay man fuck man.com–Nice, guys. Nice.
guinness chocolate beer milkshake–Holy shit that sounds good. Recipes, anyone?
LAST CALL! If you didn’t already know, we’re putting together our first annual “Best Bar in Cincinnati” Tournament. It’ll be conducted Final Four style. There are still some spots left; if you’ve got a bar that you think should be in the field of 64, email us or put it in the comments below. Deadline for nominations is July 1 and the party begins shortly thereafter, so to speak.
