The Morning Update (4/23) Cincinnati Reds, Playoff Hockey, NFL Schedule

Apr 22, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Cincinnati Reds catcher Brayan Pena (29) celebrates with starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Johnny Cueto is a man. In case you didn’t already know that. The Cincinnati Reds won last night behind a dominant Cueto outing. We have playoff hockey coming up tonight, the Blue Jackets are in action and the Cyclones. Then there is the NFL Schedule release, possibly the most pointless two hours of television all season.

Last night I viewed the original Planet of the Apes the one made in 1968, aka the one made decades before I was born. I’ll admit I’m not a fan of old movies, honestly there are basically three old movies I’ll watch. Animal House, Bullit and Grand Prix, they just don’t appeal to me. Planet of the Apes though wasn’t hateful, sure it was filmed in Arizona and I nailed that right off the bat much to the disappointment of my girlfriend. For 1968 they did a stellar job of creating a storyline, costumes and sets. Just to throw this out there, the new Planet of the Apes with James Franco are definitely more appealing.

And now back to sports.

Cincinnati Reds (9-11)

Johnny Cueto dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates for his second consecutive complete game. Cincinnati won 4-1 behind another great outing by the bottom of the lineup. Catcher Brayan Pena continues to impress for the Reds, his 2-4 night drove in a run, his double in the seventh was safe but MLB replay failed again.

Zach Cozart came through as well, his double to left drove in a run. All of that was overshadowed by Cueto, his complete game, 1 run, 3 hit performance was his second consecutive dominating performance. After 2013 this is a spectacular turnaround for Cueto.

The Reds are back at the ballpark tonight at 7:05pm, Alfredo Simon is on the mound.

Playoff Hockey

The Cincinnati Cyclones bring their 2-0 lead back to Cincinnati to face the Orlando Solar Bears in Game 3 at US Bank Arena at 7:30pm. Cincinnati has played phenomenal hockey in the first two games of the series, a 4-2 win in Game 1 was topped by a 7-3 win in Game 3. The Cyclones look to release their potent offense again.

While the Cyclones aren’t on TV tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets are at 7pm on NBCSN. The Jackets trail the Pittsburgh 2-1 in the series. A disappointing collapse on Monday night may have dampened the excitement at Nationwide Arena but look for the fans to be just as excited tonight.

NFL Schedule

The NFL regular season schedule will be unveiled tonight. You can watch all of the edge of the seat excitement at 8pm on ESPN, or you can check back here for the Bengals schedule. Either way please don’t watch all 2 hours, please! Just check your teams blogs to see the schedule.

Video of the Day

Don’t commit a crime in Kenya, if you do carry a big stick, throw said stick in front of the Kenyan rollerblading police.

P.s. One YouTube commenter said this is a “great idea” and she meant it.