We had to begin Monday’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment with some talk about Kobe Bryant’s stunning death. There was a baseball connection as one of the eight passengers who was also killed in that helicopter crash was legendary Orange County College coach John Altobelli, along with his wife and daughter, who was a basketball teammate of Bryant’s daughter, Gianna.

After that, Pat Ryan and I discussed the Cincinnati Reds’ surprising plunge into free agency, signing Nicholas Castellanos to go with Mike Moustakas, Wade Miley, and Japanese outfielder Shogo Akiyama. With last season’s additions of Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer, and Freddy Galvis, are the Reds a contender in the NL Central?

I was a bit worried when Pat said he wanted to discuss Kobe. Certainly, it’s a current topic, but my feelings on Kobe are conflicted and getting into that right after he died wouldn’t have felt right. But if I’d had the chance, I would’ve mentioned him shooting 38 percent in the 2004 NBA Finals and helping the Detroit Pistons win the championship.

(OK, that would’ve been bad form too.)

Thanks to WISE Sports Radio for allowing me to post this on my site, along with Mars Hill University (which sponsors the stream), host Pat Ryan, and Vistanet for sponsoring my MLB segment.