From Fountain Square to Chad Johnson: The Best and Worst of Cincinnati Ohio

Whether its running into someone I work with on a trip to the grocery store, or randomly finding out that my high school Civics teacher has a child in the same daycare as my daughter, from my experience Cincinnati seems like just a big "small town". With a metro population of over 300,000 people, I suppose technically it is a city, but you'd never know it by the people.

There is a clear delineation between east and west (the I-75 corridor), the metro area and Northern Kentucky (which is technically part of the Greater Cincinnati area even though its in a different state). The reason Cincinnati seems like such a small town is because for the most part people on the west stay on the west, Kentuckians don't stray north of the border and those city folk stay in the city. You get many people who live their whole lives within the same ten mile radius - I'm not one of the ones who stayed, but when I came back, I still ended up within 10 miles of where I went to school.

If you're ever in Cincinnati, join us at Fountain Square downtown for contests, dancing, movies, and music. There's always something going on at the Square. An ice rink in the winter, Haunted Square, Egg Hunt, New Year's Eve, you name it.

Spring every year brings some fabulous events to Cincinnati. The Flying Pig Marathon, which just celebrated the tenth anniversary, brings many serious runners to the city. And from the Cincinnati Flower Show at Coney Island, which claims to be the biggest flower show in the United States, to the Taste of Cincinnati where the best chefs in the city whip us into a food frenzy, there is an event for just about every demographic to enjoy. One of my favorite holiday traditions is the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo. The awesome light display features 2.5 million lights and is an absolute joy for all ages!

And of course, you can't talk about Cincinnati and not mention the Cincinnati Reds, one of the oldest teams in baseball - "The Power of Tradition". We're a loyal bunch, we love 'em, even when they're last in the league.

And under the title of "infamous"... what other town can claim that Jerry Springer was mayor for a year? In our defense, it was 1977, so it was before his show, but it was definitely after getting caught writing a check to a prostitute, so is there really a defense?

And baseball fans everywhere remember when Pete Rose was banned from the sport for betting on baseball games back in 1989. That's still a sort spot after all these years.

In more recent history, we have the race riots of 2001; a result of tension between the black community and the city police force that came to a head after a white police officer shot a 19-year old black man to death while he was running from police. The police officer claims his use of deadly force was warranted because he thought the man was reaching for a weapon, but public opinion thought otherwise, and the riots resulted.

Let's not forget our favorite role models, the Bengals. I think it says a lot that the NFL actually made a rule regarding off-field behavior due in part to actions of some of our Bengals. What a legacy. Thank you Chris Henry, Odell Thurman, etc. down the list for making our team one of the most infamous (I think the Steelers actually take the title there) in the NFL. And Chad Johnson, the baby of the NFL, who's going to end up being an expensive bench warmer.

If you're ever a visitor to our great city you are guaranteed to encounter one question:

Skyline or Gold Star?

And don't answer "neither" because we love to show off our cinnamon, chocolate meat products ;-)