CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

On Monday afternoon, it was announced that the Reds' Joey Votto had won the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He won by a landslide and rightly so.

UC hosted Florida A&M on Monday night at the Shoemaker Center. The Rattlers didn't put up much of a fight. The Bearcats shot the ball lights out and put the game away early. Final score was 76-51; the guards Dion Dixon (14 pts) and Cashmere Wright (18 pts) did most of the work.

Xavier played Old Dominion in the finals of the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. The Muskies seemed to run out of gas in this one. Kenny Frease got into early foul trouble and Tu was too tired. They lost by a score of 67-58.

The Reds signed lefty Dontrelle Willis to a minor league contract. The one-time rookie of the year with the Florida Marlins' 2003 championship team is 29 years old.

The Bengals signed some corner backs and D-linemen off of the scrap heap to try and field a team for a Thursday night game in front of the whole country. Oh, boy!

The Cincinnati Bearcat basketball guys were back at it on Wednesday night against Savannah State. The Cats played lackluster offense but that was enough for their small-time opponents. Final score 54-41.

On Thanksgiving night, the Bengals applied their own brand of L-triptophan to put fans asleep. After playing the Jets close in the first half, they resorted to form in the second half and lost 27-10. Oh, boy!

No Cincinnati high schools made it to the State finals in football.

The UC football team was in Hartford for a Big East game against the UConn Huskies. They were subject to the same fatal flaws that befell this squad all year; inexperience and lack of depth on defense, crucial mistakes on offense. The final was 38-17 and the slim hope of a Big East crown and a bowl bid are now gone.

On Saturday evening, the XU Musketeers played one of those teams that you usually only hear of when it's NCAA tournament time, the Wofford Terriers. They sneak in with a 10 or 12 seed and upset some favorite. They came in this night with a 2-4 record and took the Muskies to three overtimes. It could be argued that Wofford should have won the game three times but home court advantage got the best of them. The final was 94-90. Tu Holloway had 28, Mark Lyons had 25 and Jamel McLean had 22 to lead Xavier (now 5-1).

On Saturday night, the UC Bearcats met Dayton at US Bank Arena on the banks of the Ohio. It was the Cats best showing to date. They completely outplayed and humiliated their A-10 foes. This game was over long before the 42-19 halftime score was posted. The Flyers were held to 15 points in the second half and the final was 68-34. Dion Dixon had twenty points in 22 minutes and no one else had more than 10 as everyone played a lot of minutes.

:O)