The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 21

Ha (rrn THE MORNING LINE Paul Daugherty has had trouble getting worked up about the Alex Rodriguez revelations, but today is another day. Check his blog at for his thoughts. TUESDAY Editor: Josh Pdiler, jpriiler enqairef an. 513-7E3-8381 ClfjCINNATl.COM: Sign up to have scores sent to your mobile phone from high school basketball games In Ohio and Kentucky. SEARCH: alerts PTC mid I A ANALYSIS Sports Briefs With open arms, they'll close book Hugging visit chance for UC to move forward in his second season at his alma mater, West Virginia.

it When he took over for Tony Yates in 1989, Huggins inherited a team that was on NCAA probation, hadnt been to the NCAA Tournament since 1977 and had posted losing seasons in four of its previous six. His first two teams went to the National Invitation Tournament and his third team made it all the way to the Final Four. In 16 seasons as UC's head coach, Huggins coached By Bl Koch bkock Sfnquirrr com What could have been an awkward situation for the University of Cincinnati basketball program might provide an opportunity for its fans to finally reach some closure over the departure of former head basketball coach Bob Huggins. UC officials have plans to honor Huggins when he returns on Feb. 26 as the head coach at West Virginia, making just his second public ap- Huggins.

The Fifth "Hiird Arena court already been named in honor of the late Ed Jucker, who coached the Bearcats to their only two national championships in 1961 and 1962. But Huggins certainly deserves some sort of recognition for the work he did in pushing the UC program back into the national pearance in Fifth Third Arena since he was forced out as head coach in August, 2005. Huggins only other public appearance was on March 6, 2006, when he was recognized on Senior Night at the West Virginia game. Huggins was out of coaching at the time. Since then, he has coached for one year at Kansas State and is now against his old team for the first time last season, absorbing a 62-39 defeat on Jan.

30 in Morgantown. a if Huggins Associated Press file UC officials would not reveal Monday how they plan to honor Ben Roethllsberger says pie played the Super I Bowl with broken ribs. See HUGGINS, Page C4 PRO FOOTBALL BASEBALL Rod comes GRIFFEY WAITS FOR RIGHT JOB Still backlog of bats on market mm Steroids a surprise to manager Narron -1 'i I 'VJ By John Fay By Rory Glynn rglynnenquirer.com KEN GRIFFEY 39, Orlando, Fla. OBJECTIVE: A run-producing lineup spot for a major-league baseball team. WORK EXPERIENCE: Twenty seasons; 13 All-Star Game selections; 611 career home runs, fourth all-time; only active member of MLB All-Century Team last season.

SALARY REQUIREMENTS: Ramirez, Bobby Abreu and Griffey's former teammate, Adam Dunn. "I think once somebody signs, youll see something of a domino effect" Brian Goldberg, Griffey's agent said Sunday. "All offseason, Junior has kind of been the fallback guy for some teams. He knows that he understands that and he's totally comfortable with it" Goldberg, who said he Former Reds manager Jerry Narron told The Enquirer Monday that he never suspected Alex Rodriguez was using steroids while Rodriguez played for the Texas Rangers. Narron managed Rodriguez in Texas in 2001 and 2002.

"All I can tell you is if he wasn't the hardest worker I've Negotiable. The numbers i Ben played super with broken ribs The Pittsburgh Steelers I have no knowledge that Ben Roethlisberger played the Super Bowl with two broken ribs, as jfthe quarterback told a fWeb site. According to SI iT.com, Roethlisberger said jhis fractured ribs did not i how up on X-rays taken before he led the Steelers to a 27-23 win over Arizona on Feb. 1, but were revealed only during a MRI exam he had last week. "Luckily, in the game, I didn't take any big hits to make 'em hurt," Roethlisberger said.

"But I knew all along there was something wrong." COLLEGES UC 'D' coordinator will not return Defensive coordinator Joe Tresey will not return to the University of Cincinnati football team next season. "Joe was an integral part of our Big East championship in 2008," coach Brian Kelly said in a statement "But we dif- fer philosophically on where we want to go de- fensively in the future." Clresey, 50, has been the QUC defensive coordinator tfor the past two seasons. jlTresey is the second iCJnember of UC's defensive coaching staff to "Deave. Assistant coach Keith Gilmore left last nonth to become Illinois' defensive line coach. EDS Opening Day tickets online -if Reds have announced their annual on-! line ticket opportunity for Opening Day, April 6 I against the New York i Mets.

Through noon "Thursday, fans can register at reds.com for the chance to purchase up to four tickets. Winners will "be selected at random. The Kansas City Star John Sleezer Ken Griffey Jr. hit three home runs and drove in 18 in 41 games with the Chicago White Sox after being traded by the Reds during the 2008 season. hopes to reach a deal in a week or so, declined to identify which teams are still interested in Griffey.

Various media reports have Ken Griffey '08 stats: Team GP HR RBI Avg. Reds 102 15 53 .245 CWS 41 3 18 .260 Totals 143 18 71 .249 Despite the accomplished resume, Griffey is still looking for work less than a week before pitchers said the Mariners could be weighing bringing Griffey back to the scene of his prime, and the Seattle Times quoted MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds, Griffey's former teammate in Seattle, as saying Griffey would "love to be back there. He's personally told me he'd love to be in Seattle." But the Mariners also could be trying to find a way to land Abreu, and agent Scott Boras has actively been shopping and catchers report to spring training. The only other time in his major-league career he faced this kind of offseason uncertainly was in 2000, when, nine years ago today, after a winter of trade rumors, he was introduced as a Red. This year, of course, amid baseball's economic slowdown, Griffey is hardly alone in his job search.

There are still dozens of free agents on the open market including some of the premier sluggers of the past decade in Manny seen, he was close," Narron said. "He came in every day and worked like he was the 25th man on the roster. He was really dedicated to being one of the best who ever played the game." Rodriguez, who played for the Rangers from 2001-03, confirmed to ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs while with Texas. Sports Illustrated had reported Rodriguez was among 104 players who tested positive for steroids in 2003. Testing that year was intended to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball.

Results were not supposed to be made public. Rodriguez signed a record $252 million, 10- Wonder years? Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids for three years while playing for the Rangers, including his 2003 AL MVP season. His stats from those years: 2001: 52 HR, 135 RBI, .318 2002: 57 HR, 142 RBI, .300 2003: 47 HR, 118 RBI, .298 Enquirer fileMichael E. Keating Griffey's arrival from Seattle in 2000 was enough to bring smiles to the faces of his agent, Brian Goldberg (left), and then-Reds CEO Carl H. Lindner See GRIFFEY, Page C5 MIAMI BASKETBALL RedHawks, 4-0 on road in MAC, don't really mind traveling calls year contract with Texas in December 200L He said he felt pressure to prove he was worth the money.

"Back then, (baseball) was a different culture," Rodriguez said in the interview. "It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive.

And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time." Narron said he never suspected anything. "That's the sad thing about the whole steroid thing. A lot of innocent guys got thrown into who never wanted to be. They felt pressure to keep up." II Share Ron Harper, also won the conference tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament Miami lost 83-69 to Southern Methodist in the first round at Pullman, Wash. Miami has gone 6-0 on the road in the MAC three times, all in conference championship seasons.

Miami at Central Michigan Tlpoff: 7 p.m. today, Rose Arena Mount Pleasant Mich. Records: Miami 14-7 (7-2 Mid-American Conference), Central Michigan 6-15 (3-6 MAC) Radio: WM0H-AM (1450), WPFB-FM (105.9) By Mark Schmetzer Enquirer contributor Miami will celebrate an historic men's basketball run Saturday with a reunion of the team that surged to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen in 1999. This year's RedHawks hope to go into the reunion on a memorable run of their own. Miami will try to extend its Mid-American Conference road winning streak to five games tonight at Central Michigan.

That would be the RedHawks' longest conference road winning streak in 25 seasons. Miami, in Darrell Hedric's last season as coach, opened MAC play with five consecutive road wins on the way to a 24-6 overall record and 16-2 conference record that led to the 1984 conference championship. That team, led by sophomore Share your owr sports news on your community's page at i using Share. Post your stories, stats and photos it's easy and it's free. To get started, go to Cincinnati.Com or NKY.com.

Search: Share More baseball insideC5 A-Rod said he felt pressure to live up to $252 million contract in Texas. Reds trim front-office staff in response to economic downturn. See MIAMI, Page C4 513-985-0777 8127 Montgomery Road siaspas.com This Valentine's Day, Give Her Something To Kiss You About. 8 pf..