Doc: MLS joy? Nope. At at the moment.

The Enquirer won a Pulitzer Prize for its series on the local heroin epidemic. I had nothing to do with it, but I’m tremendously proud of and happy for the people who worked tirelessly on that terrific series of stories. Journalism’s top honor. Very cool.

Now, then. . .

Some days we wake up on the wrong side of the bed, don’t we folks? The day we wish wouldn’t start, starts anyway, and we arise with what might be seen as a bit of an attitude. Apologies in advance.

CITY COUNCIL OK’D THE MONEY for the infrastructure so I guess FUBAR Field will be a reality in the West End, if MLS deems FC Cincinnati worthy today, when the league bigshots gather for a meeting on expansion.

Clap, clap. Cheer, cheer.

There have been so many dead-ends, reversals, misstatements, false hopes etc. in the past year, I don’t know what to believe anymore. If FCC gets a franchise, the joy will be muted.

I dunno about you, but I’m too exhausted to celebrate.

The MLS has jerked us around, with its demand for a soccer-specific stadium and its further demand that said stadium be located in the urban core. An announcement that was supposed to happen in December hasn’t happened yet.

Really? Who the ---- are they?

FC Cincinnati hasn’t had the lightest of touches, either. Mass resentment exists in the West End. I don’t know what the good folks of Newport feel about being courted, then all but ignored, except as leverage. But it can’t be great.

I don’t even know whom to be vexed with, if anyone. As a sports writer, I’m glad soccer has become a writing option. As a citizen, I’m tired (again) of being whipsawed by a sports league. Tired of being told how wonderful another sports team will be for the community. Tired of good ol’ Can’t Do Cincinnati making this whole process seem like childbirth.

Joy? Nope. Not at the moment.

Hope we get an MLS team today. Won’t be devastated if we don’t.

I AM ROOTING FOR THE REDS. I AM A FAN. Because I root for me, above all. And if this summer is like last summer is like the two summers before that, I will run out of things to write about sometime in the middle of next week.

(Promise, Doc? That would be great!)

BengalBoy, Pogo and myself had a golf-course discussion Friday over whether Cincinnati has the worst sports teams of any town in America. Xavier and UC basketball saved us from that designation, barely.

Run the list through your mind. Especially the smaller places. KC? No. Royals and Kansas b-ball. Cleveland? LeBron. Pittsburgh? No. Steelers and Pens winning Stanley Cup last 2 years. Charlotte? No. Panthers to Super Bowl 2 years ago. Tampa? Stanley Cup finals and conference finals twice in the last four years. Minneapolis? Vikings in NFC title game last year. Twins, rising. St. Louis? Cardinals almost always in the October mix.

Detroit? Red Wings have faltered last few years. Before that, they were in the playoffs for 25 – count ‘em! – consecutive seasons, and in that time won 4 Cups.

I came up with Buffalo, Miami and San Diego. San Diego, a one-pro-team town, barely qualifies. And really, if you live in sunny, warm Miami, do you really care how your teams are doing? As for Buffalo, with all due respect, anyone who chooses to tough it out in Buffalo kinda deserves his fate, yeah?

The futility here – and the way the futility occurs – takes us to the crest of that dubious wave. I thought it peaked in March, when UC and XU lost the same way, in the same gym, on the same night. That might happen to some other town’s two quasi-am basketball teams in the future. Until it does, we wear the crown of thorns.

The youthful Reds have taken the baton. For now.

WERE YOU SATISFIED WITH WHAT D. WILLIAMS HAD TO SAY Monday about the state of the Reds state?

He’s with The Club on the current roadie. Here’s part of what he said, per the paper’s John Fay:

“First and foremost, we’ve got to stay committed to the process we’ve been going through the last couple of years and roster we’ve set up for the season,” Williams said. “That’s the big picture – to stay committed to what we’ve embarked.”

That is not to say that the club can’t change or at least alter the course.

“In the short-term, we’ve got to do a lot of introspection, see what we can improve,” Williams said. “That’s a focus.”

They have to “stay committed’’ because the alternative – starting all over – is too gruesome to contemplate.

That’s what’s gruesome about the way this year has started. The roster they’ve set up for the season is thin. Giving one start to Cody Reed is one start too many. Mahle and Romano have ERAs in the mid-5s after three starts. Castillo threw 6 shutout innings last night. His ERA is 6.75.

The offense is better than it has shown, sure, and no Suarez and Schebler and now Winker has made an impact. Still, ask yourself how many of the Opening Day starting eight would start on a good club.

Introspection? Start with this: Losing clubs can get comfortable with losing. Losing, rebuilding clubs can get more comfortable than that. Expectations should never dictate performance, good or bad.

I’m not a big Gesture Guy. I don’t think someone needs to go on a tirade and overturn the postgame food spread when things are bad. But an acceptance of losing as an unfortunate byproduct of a rebuild shouldn’t be OK. At 2-13 heading into last night, someone needed to say something.

Problem is, Lou isn’t the manager and Greg Vaughn isn’t in the lineup. Almost every good team the Reds have had since 1990 has had a forceful leader and/or bad cop in the mix. Piniella, Vaughn, Rolen, Chris Speier for Dusty. Barry Larkin defies pigeon-holing, but he was a leader.

Bryan Price doesn’t have that strong personality. Joey Votto does lots of unseen things for younger players. He doesn’t have that strong personality. Barnhart? Potentially.

In the past seven years, the Reds have missed on more than a few No. 1 picks: Robert Stephenson, Nick Howard, Nick Travieso, all pitchers. Howard and Travieso both missed all last season with injuries. Michael Lorenzen has been OK. The jury’s out on Winker, Blandino and Ervin.

Since Mike Leake in 2009, there have been no home runs.

Nor have the Reds developed pitching. Their best kid pitcher, Castillo, came from Miami. Romano, Mahle, Garrett arrived in the majors less than fully formed.

The wholesale vets-for-kids deals have been hit or miss. They got nothing for Chapman. They got nothing for Bruce and nothing for Phillips. They didn’t get enough for Cueto unless Finnegan becomes a top of the rotation pitcher.

Maybe Senzel, Taylor Trammell and Hunter Greene are all good major leaguers. But by the time they’re playing together here, some of the current pieces won’t be here, or their skills will have diminished.

All of this is to suggest that the organization overall isn’t where it needs to be.

IF YOU’RE FREE SATURDAY NIGHT. . . Go to Xavier and watch the Musketeers play St. Louis University in a soccer game to benefit the Down Syndrome Association’s Buddy Walk. The 8th annual “Devin’s Game’’ is named for Devin Fleming, daughter of X coach Andy Fleming. Devin was born/blessed with Down syndrome eight years ago. Admission is $5.

THANKS FOR THE OLD SHOW HELP yesterday. Can’t believe I left off Gilligan and F-Troop. Absolute staples of my 8-year-old being.

SEAN HANNITY. If a man lives long enough, he gets the face he deserves.

TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine.