It’s tough enough to make it to the big leagues — but when an MVP blocks your way, the road to the majors is even tougher.   

If you want to buy the jersey of the Bengals’ best player, you can’t just head down to Dick’s and pick up his jersey off of a rack.
  

Looking for their first back-to-back winning seasons and consecutive playoff appearances in 20 years, the Bengals enter the 2012 season with the swagger of a Pro Bowl quarterback-receiver tandem that could be the backbone of a winning foundation for years to come (haven’t we heard that before?).   

There are no players left on the team from Larkin’s playing days, though some, like second baseman Brandon Phillips, grew up watching him and idolized the longtime Reds shortstop. Others, like Miguel Cairo and Scott Rolen, played against him. All, though, have respect for the Cincinnati native.  

A hundred stolen bases? That’s so 2011. Today, Vince Coleman’s minor-league record of 145 stolen is the goal for Cincinnati minor-leaguer Billy Hamilton.  

It took all the way until the first day of July, nearly a week from the All-Star break, to figure out just what was off about this baseball season. We’ve had plenty of exciting games  still there was something missing, and I couldn’t put my finger on it until the National League All-Star rosters were announced. Tony La Russa, we missed you.   

Quite honestly, a team Hall of Fame never seemed like a big deal to me — a nice honor, sure, but nothing like Cooperstown. It’s something, I always thought, to which those being inducted paid lip service. That was until I threw out the softball icebreaker to Sean Casey on Saturday before his induction into the Reds Hall of Fame.   

Joey Votto should be the face of baseball right now. He should be the biggest name in the game, there should be cameras following his every move, national TV commercials and the talking heads on TV saying “Votto” so much that you’d think it was a verb.  

Are we living in some kind of strange new world where down is up, dogs live in harmony with cats and the Bengals are a well-run organization? Because it appears that the Bengals, long the butt of jokes not just here in Cincinnati, but nationwide, are making — gasp — sensible and shrewd decisions.  

Does anyone actually enjoy sports anymore? With Twitter, Facebook and message boards, it seems we have more outlets than ever to discuss and learn about sports. Add MLB.tv, NFL Sunday Ticket, ESPN3.com and other technological advances in streaming video, we’re always informed and entertained. So we can bitch. And bitch. And bitch. And then bitch some more.   

From a fan’s standpoint, what Aroldis Chapman is doing seems amazing. Through May 27, Chapman hadn’t allowed an earned run in 21 appearances and 26 innings. He’d only allowed seven hits, walked eight and struck out 44. But it’s not just those in the stands that are impressed — so are his teammates.  

During a baseball season, 40 games isn’t enough to tell the whole story, but it should be enough to get an idea where it’s going. Except when it isn’t — like with this season’s installment of the Cincinnati Reds.  

Andy Dalton jokes that he can now hold his head up and boss around the mere rookies that invaded the Bengals’ locker room this past week for a rookie minicamp. He, of course, is joking. It’s not his style to boss anyone around — more likely he’s showing his new teammates the ropes.   

Last week, former San Diego Charger and New England Patriot Junior Seau, a future Hall of Famer, committed suicide. Like former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson, the 42-year-old Seau shot himself in the chest. Last February, before shooting himself, Duerson sent a text to several family members.  

The Bengals did exactly what they were expected to do in the first round of the NFL draft on April 26 — take a cornerback and an offensive guard, even if the names were different than expected. Last Thursday, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick of Alabama and Wisconsin guard Kevin Zeitler became the newest Bengals.