At the end of yesteday's game thread WVReds and others brought this up, and it echoed my thoughts, and fears.

As a guy that endured the early 80's, I have much of the same feeling with these guys. I signed up for Extra Innings with Dish after a couple years of hell with DirectTV, and I really thought I'd enjoy it. Truth is, the Reds are putting a vanilla brand of baseball out there, with so many glaring holes on offense it does feel like 82 again.

Back in 82/83/84, I can remember rushing to the morning paper for the boxscores, to see who had the 1 RBI in yet another 5-1 loss. It was a barren time for fans....with absolutely no hitting, only one bonified starter (Soto....Seaver was horrendous in 82), and a comedy at the management level. I remained a fan...but a very tepid interest level at best. (Playing a one man stickball game with Ron Oester as your #3 hitter just wasn't that interesting either)

The last 9 years have been pretty brutal...but for me the offense has kept it entertaining....and quite honestly, Redszone has kept me informed, in good humor, and in the company of fellow sufferers.

I do recall how life changed dramatically for me as a Reds fan, on August
16th of 1984. The news of Pete Rose returning to Cincy was nothing short of a miracle. I felt like Lazarus the Reds fan, being raised from the dead with sudden new life. Oh, I had a bit of hope with the Dave Parker arriving, and some unproven colt named Davis. But this changed everything. Suddenly my Reds were the focal point of the media. I could see them on tv again. Sport Illustrated cover. Wow! It was 1981 again as a fan, the drought was over.
We then moved into an exciting period between 1985-1989....culminated in glory in 1990.

The rest of the 90's had big ups and downs, but there was never a shortage
of competetive baseball, and star quality players. Griffey and Dunn were star value, always fun to watch.

So here we are again in 2009. The young talent is really, really exciting. The problem remains however.... an uncohsive group of defenders and bats that are skittish at best, a trainwreck at worst. Not fun to watch on a daily basis.
And yet, I watch. You just never know when you'll see a Cueto gem, Vottomatic clutch yet again, or a webgem from BP.

I think this club can either be a 1982/83 version, or a 1985 version....but I think we need an August 16th type of event to turn the fan base around.