NEWS OF THE WEEK - SPORTS

 The Reds polished off the Pirates last weekend.  The weekend was capped by a 4-0 shutout by Hunter Greene and his friends.  The sweep was the first a Reds team has had in quite a while.  On Tuesday, the Seattle Mariners came to town boasting a sweep of their own; this one over the  Texas Rangers.   Matt McLain was back in the line-up after 10 days curing a hamstring strain and Austen Hays was in the line-up for the first time ever following his muscle problems.   This duo helped power our boys to an 8-4 win.  McLain drew 3 walks and scored twice while Hays powered one out of the park.  On top of that, Alexis Diaz saw his first action of the year out of the bullpen.  They may be getting healthy. The next two against the Mariners did not go so well.  And so it goes. This weekend the Reds are playing the Orioles in Baltimore.  Last night we saw why the fancy colored birds are not winning this year. The Reds and Andrew Abbott smooshed 'em like a rolling pin handles a pie crust.

FC Cincinnati popped one in for a 1-0 win over DC United last Saturday night.  They are now 5-2-1 and in 3rd place in the MLS.  The Blue and Orange meet The Fire in Chicago tonight.  On a sad note, Aaron Boudpendza, who the locals paid $7M to get two years ago then sent hime away last year, died at the age of 28 in a fall from the 11th floor of a building in China.

The Bengals  . .  . still crickets.  The NFL draft starts this coming Thursday.  The boys have a lot of holes to fill; OG, Edge, LB, CB, S -- four of these five are on the defense. The Bengals pick 17th.  

The country was consumed by golf last weekend.  Rory McIlroy won the Masters in sudden death extra holes after carding a poor one-over-par 73 in his final round.  Justin Rose lost in the play-off after catching McIlroy by posting a six-under par 66 final round.  The PGA Tour then moved to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage tourney.  It's going on now.  Justin Thomas posted a 10-under 61 in the first round.  He missed a 4-footer on 18 that would have given him the course record. He held onto the lead on Friday.  He seems to have it all together right now.