We’re just wrapping up the pre-season and, as many of you know, it hasn’t been the best pre-season for me. As you can see from this picture, I suffered a broken nose and a busted lip in our game against the Saints. Most people think that are helmets make us somewhat invincible but I got hit by a blitzing safety and my helmet got me. The worst part about it was I had to get the broken bone reset following the game. I was numbed up but it’s still made for a tough week.

On to a brighter subject, the NFL season is just around the corner. I, like most fans in Cincinnati, have high hopes for the Bengals in 2008. We’re returning a large group of solid players including two wide receivers, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson, who make up one of the best wide receiver tandems in the NFL. As a quarterback, it’s always good to have one Pro Bowl receiver. Since I have two, I’m especially lucky. We also have a strong offensive line and a running game that I think is going to be solid. I mentioned our defense

once before and they’ve continued to impress through the off-season. Again, we’re excited in the Nati and I hope you guys get to see us play this year.

I haven’t had much time for anything but football of late. When I have had free time, I’ve just stayed mellow at home with my wife and our three dogs. We have two Rottweilers, Homer and Chunk, and a Maltese, Muffin. Although Muffin only weighs about 15 pounds, she definitely commands the respect of the “big dogs.”

I hope you guys are ready for football season to begin. Not only am I excited about the Bengals season, but I’m also looking forward to watching my USC Trojans play. Despite losing a ton of players, I think they’re super talented and should be a strong run at the National Championship again this season. To all the Trojan fans out there, “Fight On!”

I hope you all are well. You’ll be hearing from me after the season begins. Hopefully by then, I’ll be able to breathe out of my nose again.

Safe travels,

Carson

As a proud sponsor of the New York Mets, Delta leaders regularly have the opportunity to spend a day at the ballpark with valued customers and employees as a way to say thank you!

This past Saturday night we had our second Delta Day of the summer, granting us the opportunity to invite over 600 guests to share in the evening.

After some the pre-game festivities - the Mets treated us like family, welcoming everyone to a hospitality tent just outside the stadium where they serve all the best of ballpark fare - our group entered the park and we quickly took over the bleachers section in the outfield.

For a large group event, there is no better way to experience a game or to strengthen relationships than to have the flexibility of moving freely to visit with our guests - not relegated to one seat. What a great place to have a chance for a home run ball too.

The highlight of this Delta Day, at least for me, was when the Mets offered me the first pitch honors in Saturday night’s game against the Florida Marlins. Are you kidding me?

Leading up to the big day, I promised all my family and friends that I was going to “groove” one in there and that I’d make them all proud. If the truth be told, I was really just hoping to get it across the plate without throwing one into the dirt! Well it all worked out just fine and thankfully I didn’t send Met’s catcher Robinson Counsel diving into the dirt but he really made me look good as he received what would have surely been called a “ball” had one of the umpires been standing behind him.

The best news of all, as a Delta leader, my mission of appreciation was accomplished. However, for all those who were not a part of this special event, on behalf of New York’s largest and fastest growing carrier, I’d like to personally thank you for your business or your service to our valued customers and perhaps we’ll see you at the next Delta Day at Shea! See more pictures and a signed picture at our official Flickr account.

Mike Medeiros

Vice President – JFK

New York

Hello from Florida,

Well, it’s been quite an eventful last few weeks since I last had time to sit down and post a blog. We’re here in Miami now getting ready to face off in the ‘rubber game’ against the Florida Marlins, one of our big NL East rivals and a team that is playing great in the very competitive division. A ‘rubber match’ is a baseball term used to describe the third game of a three-game series in which each team wins one of the first two games. Whoever wins the third game of this series wins what we call the ‘rubber game.’

That has me thinking about baseball lingo. There are so many phrases is the game that we use sitting in the dugout and I always wonder: would a fan know what we’re talking about. Let’s go through some of my favorites and their real life meanings.

Baseball Term: A ‘Can of Corn’

An easy fly ball that we catch in the outfield

Baseball Term: A ‘Bronx Cheer’

When the crowd boos (Although I will say this, the crowds in Philadelphia are incredible when it comes to boo-ing a player, so they should rename this ‘A Citizens Bank Cheer.’

Baseball Term: ‘Cheese’

A really good fastball

Baseball Term: ‘Texas Leaguer’

A bloop base hit that falls between the infielder and the outfielder

Baseball Term: ‘Uncle Charlie’

A really good curveball

Sorry to divert a little bit from the subject, but after writing the word ‘rubber game’ that got me thinking. What’s your favorite baseball term?

The All Star Break was last week and it’s an opportunity for everyone on the team to get away from the baseball field for a few days and clear their minds. Some of our players – including Chipper Jones and Brian McCann – had great First Halves of the season and were members of the 2008 National League All Star team that played in New York. Both of those guys were more than deserving of the honor. I’m really happy for both Chipper and Brian. As many of you know, Brian and I came up together and have been great friends for years. To be a teammate of Chipper’s – just to watch him play the game the right way everyday – is still amazing. I read a story about Chipper the other day where one of our Minor League players – Tyler Flowers – told Chipper that Chipper actually visited Tyler’s class when he Tyler was in 4th grade. Yes, 4th grade. We’ve got to give Chipper a hard time for that. The fact that Chipper’s doing what he’s doing at this age is incredible.

I spend three days down here in Florida during the break with my closest family members. I arrived in Florida at about 2 a.m. (we played our last game before the break in Los Angeles) and woke up early the next day to spend some time on the beach with my brother, D.J., and my brother in law Barrett. After a full day at the beach, I got out on the golf course early the next morning for a round of golf with my dad, D.J., and Barrett. As a professional athlete, I’m competitive in most everything that I do, and golf is another sport where I absolutely hate to lose. So there is no such thing as a nice relaxing round with my brother and brother-in-law. It’s all about competition with me. Four-foot putts may not be as scary as a 95 MPH fastball, but at that moment they were just as important.

The next few weeks are going to be very important for this ballclub. July 31st is the Trade Deadline, and each team at that time of the year determines if they are ‘buyers’ or ‘sellers’. (More baseball terminology. Although instead of buying or selling stock, if you trade for a good player you are a ‘buyer’, and if you trade a great player for a bunch of young prospects, you are a ‘seller.’ ) Last year, we added Mark Teixiera, so we were definitely ‘buyers’. Every player wants to be on a team that adds top flight talent for a run at the Playoffs/World Series. We are 7.0 games back today with a little over two months to go, so I’m excited to see what we will do in the next 10 days. These may be the most important two weeks of our season. But it all starts, of course, tonight with the ‘rubber game’.

Best,

Jeff