FanHouse Paul Daugherty

Now that Dusty Baker will be returning to the dugout as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, he's already got some problems to deal with. He's replaced his old feud with Steve Stone and Chip Caray for a new one with Marty Brennaman, but that's not the only feud Baker already has in the Queen City.

No, apparently he's already hated by Reds fans.

No love for Dusty Baker. Nothing but bile for a man with more than 1,100 career wins, whose teams have finished either first or second in eight of his 14 seasons as a manager. A guy who has been NL Manager of the Year three times, who took the Chicago Cubs closer to the World Series altar than any manager in almost 50 years?

He stinks, you say. Terrible pick. You won't go to the games, you won't renew your season tickets. You're done with the Reds.

Those are the words of The Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty. According to the emails he's received, and the phone calls he's gotten on his radio show, Cincinnati is not happy with the hiring of Baker.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly a fan of Baker either. I got a front row seat for his tenure in Chicago, so I know how bad a manager he can be at times. He favors the veterans too much, and he's too loyal to his players. He kills pitchers. Though, to be fair, I think Kerry Wood's arm would have blown up with or without Baker around.

I talked yesterday about Chad Johnson's new book, Chad: I Can't Be Stopped, and the Cincinnati Enquirer ran Chapter 10 in it's entirety today. Lots of great stuff about Chad's work ethic (which quite honestly sounds legendary), but this was easily my favorite part:

Chad Johnson, who while living in L.A. worked as a stock boy at a toy store and in a men's clothing store, has his own way of keeping it real. When he's at a restaurant, he asks for a job application. It can be a fast-food place or a pizza joint. Johnson will fill out the application and turn it in. There are restaurants in Cincinnati now where a framed Chad Johnson job application hangs on a wall.

A few years ago, Johnson even spent a few Thursday nights during the season waiting tables at the LaRosa's pizza restaurant on North Bend Road on the west side of Cincinnati.

Can you imagine going out for some pizza on a random Thursday night and having Chad Johnson take your order? Talk about surreal.

The Enquirer also included a scan of the cover of the book, which you can see after the jump:

I don't know how this got by me, but I was reading Inside Slant at USA Today earlier, and saw a blurb about a new Chad Johnson book called Chad: I Can't be Stopped written by Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty. The book came out last week and USA Today had a few humorous quotes regarding it from Madieu Williams and Kelly Washington:

"Is it fiction?" safety Madieu Williams asked of "Chad: I Can't Be Stopped," written by Cincinnati Enquirer sports columnist Paul Daugherty. "We've got to get a copy of that and pass it around," Williams said. "I'm not going to Barnes & Noble and spend $20 on it." "Dawg," wide receiver Kelley Washington said, "you can buy it at Walgreen's."

The book apparently promises to reveal what actually happened during halftime of last January's playoff game against the Steelers, so it might not be a bad buy just to get Chad's take on that situation. Plus it's Chad Johnson. You have to figure there'll be at least a couple of hilarious stories in a book he helped shape. I'm in Columbus so I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing these will be all over the place in Cincinnati for the next few months - Walgreen's included.

More: Chad: I Can't Be Stopped by Paul Daugherty - Amazon