Geauga Lake to get smaller.

Ever since Kings Island closed for the season in late October, there was some speculation that Cedar Fair's "new" Ohio park would be getting a "new" coaster.

At the same time, it was noted that the faltering Geauga Lake, also a property of Cedar Fair located in Ohio, would be undergoing some restructuring. The park's PR representative, Lexi Robinson had been let go, with folks from Cedar Point assuming her duties. Attendance has been stagnant compared to 2005, even with expansion of Wildwater Kingdom. In addition, the Hurricane Hannah's park lay abandoned, the Belaire Express monorail was shut down, and Steel Venom had a serious mechanical issue later on in the season that shut it down earlier.

This has led to rumors that X-Flight, the park's newest coaster, installed in 2001, would be dismantled and sent to another park. It looked more likely as some electrical fixtures were being removed, especially lighting on the lift hill. It also looked suspicious that a surveying company - from Milford, OH, not far from KI - was spotted in X-Flight's perimeter. At the same time, the surveyors could have been there just for utility work going on along Aurora Rd - and that the electrical work was just upgrades, including installing an on-ride photo system. But ORP work in November?

Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and park spokesman Bryan Edwards, confirmed half of the rumors. X-Flight will no longer be operating at Geauga Lake, and will be dismantled and relocated to another park. But which park?

Which park will be getting a used Vekoma flying coaster?
Many rumors have stated that it's headed south for Kings Island, probably next to Flight of Fear. But would they really send a used coaster to a park that is one of Cedar Fair's biggest and highest attended parks? Have they even broken ground yet?
Other possibilities include Michigan's Adventure, which is growing and has not seen a new coaster since around 1999 - a Vekoma flyer might be the type of coaster its patrons have been wanting.
There's even the crazy rumor that it's headed for Great America, which built the world's first flying coaster - but later sent it across the country to Carowinds in 2004. It was removed from GA to make way for Boomerang Bay, which better suited the park's family audience, not to mention the lack of room to grow the park out in Silicon Valley. Now, the 49ers want to build a football stadium next door!

Also, the monorail will be removed over the winter from Geauga Lake. I hate to see any monorail go, but that's what they're doing. Hopefully Jungle Jim's will finally get theirs up - a handover from another park now owned by Cedar Fair.

Stay tuned!

New look for the blog, and other news tidbits.

This isn't the final version of what you may see, but I have changed the layout and colors of the AAblog, to make it look brighter, hopefully easier to read, and overall better.

Whether I'll update it consistently is another story.

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Glenn Beck is back on the air in Cincinnat after almost a year's absence - and clearer than ever before! He is now on 96.5 FM SuperTalk, which recently changed formats from country to talk. That's right, FM! Stereo!
However, 96.5 only carries the show's last two hours, from 10am to noon. If you want to hear the first hour, 9-10 am, you will either have to tune in to Columbus' 610 WTVN-AM, listen on XM satellite radio, listen to an online radio station that carries Glenn, or become an Insider at GlennBeck.com.
In January, 550 WKRC-AM, who carried Glenn Beck since late 2001, dropped Beck in favor of Fox News' political analyst Tony Snow. However, Snow, a Princeton HS graduate, like myself, accepted a position with the White House as the Press Secretary in April, and his radio slot again became vacant.
WKRC held an online poll - although the majority of the votes were for Glenn Beck, the station manager chose to ignore the poll because many of the votes came from outside the Cincinnati market, and instead chose Laura Ingraham for the time slot.

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Neil Patrick Harris had a life-changing event that made the news, and the top list of celebrities on AmIAnnoying.com - Legal troubles? Illness? Death? Break-up?

Nope. He's gay.

The actor, who rose to fame as the teenage doctor Doogie Howser, M.D. and currently starring in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, gave the following statement:

"The public eye has always been kind to me, and until recently I have been able to live a pretty normal life. Now it seems there is speculation and interest in my private life and relationships. So, rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

700 WLW Fires Andy Furman

Today marked the end of an era in Cincinnati radio, with the termination of Sports Talk host Andy Furman from 700 WLW. About two weeks ago, Furman was suspended with pay after an argument with Bengals wide reciever T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and calling the player a racist, after failing to show up for a paid appearance on a radio show.

On Oct. 6, Furman said on the air that Houshmandzadeh had called him a “punk ass white boy.” Houshmandzadeh denied making the remark.

“I told him, ‘Andy Furman, you can f**k yourself.’ That’s the bottom line. And he twisted it into all whatever he wants to,” Houshmandzadeh said several days after the broadcast. “What he did was wrong…. This time he took it too far.”

As a frequent listener to 700 WLW, especially of the Bill Cunningham show, I am disturbed of Furman's firing. I know Furman has said many things that have angered fans, players, as well as team owners and officials, but isn't his role as a talk host to question others' descisions and behaviors? I've enjoyed Andy being critical of players who have gone above the law, owners who have been too thrifty, and fans who have been rude, nasty, apathetic, or tended to go bandwagon.

Does this also mean the end of "Randy Furman," Scott Sloan's orthodox Jewish character?

God Bless you, Andy Furman.


Enquirer article

Cardinals win World Series!

Last Friday night, the World Series finally ended, at Busch Stadium, when the St. Louis Cardinals won game 5, with a score of 4-2. David Eckstein was named MVP of the World Series, and I must say, what an interesting season!

This was a season that was lackluster at best. They even clinched the NL Central with a loss, and only Atlanta's defeat of the Astros got the Cardinals in. Hell, can you ever imagine Busch Stadium full of fans doing the tomahawk chop?

I was a little more optimistic that the Cardinals in the postseason, predicting that they would get past the Padres in the division series, but have low chances of getting past the Mets in the NLCS, because the New York team just had the National League's best regular season record. When I saw the first two games at Shea split, I thought "eh, not so bad, but what about Busch?" STL ended up with 2 of the next 3 at home - almost as if the home team won every game. This would prove to be true with game 6 at Shea. But game seven came, and it went down to the end. The hero? Yadier Molina. Molina who? Ninth inning. I would't exactly say the Mets imploded, since an otherwise Scott Rolen HR was barely caught, but the Metropolitans lost some key guys... The improbable had finally happened. My naysaying friends were stunned.

Now the World Series, and the Detroit Tigers, who bumped off Oakland in four games, were the media's favorite in this series. You've got several young guys, like Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman, along with a veteran in Kenny Rogers (pine tar, not roasted chicken), some good defense. Oh, and Sean Casey, who was slumping with the Reds in 2005, although a fan favorite in Cincinnati. He'd be traded to NL outhouse Pittsburgh, albeit his hometown, and then to the quickly up and coming Tigers. And of course, the self-described 'hard-ass' that is Jim Leyland.

On the other hand, you've got 2005 NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter, a powerful Jeff Suppan, and an improved Jeff Weaver. Hungry fans who've waited 24 years, and a hungry Tony La Russa. David Eckstein, while short, is fast on his feet, Jim Edmonds still plays great defense, and Scott Rolen is healthy and playing this time around. You also have the iconic Scott Spezio available.

And Albert Pujols. While it seemed #5 was cold this postseason as a hitter, great defense by Albert and teammates made up for it. And the Tigers and their pitching staff made some bad errors that the Cardinals were able to take advantage of. The Tigers' only win had something to do with pine tar... But now, it's the Cards fans who've been dancing in the streets, after what I think has been an awesome comeback.

Some may say that a loaded team is expected to dismantle some after being so successful, because of the stars wanting dramatic salary increases -but think about what would have happened if they didn't go this far? Congratulations, Redbirds!!! Your hands are full of rings!