The Queen City.

I know my readers. Both of you. And I know that you want to read about what affects you, what you care about, and for the most part, I ignore that. I write about what I care about. Well, not today. Today I’m going to be selfless and write about something that has been requested several times (mostly when said requester is severely impaired). Finally today I am going to talk about the Bengals, and Cincinnati sports in general.
Let’s start with the in general part. In general, Cincinnati’s time in the forefront of sports seems to have been about 15-25 years ago, when Chris Sabo led the Reds to the World Series and Boomer Esiason was winning AFC titles with the Bengals. The University of Cincinnati consistently found its way into the the NCAA tournament. All through the 80’s the Reds had superstars like Pete Rose and Joe Morgan, while the Bengals had scene stealers like Icky Woods. But then, sadly, the nineties came and screwed everything up. The Reds stopped being shoe-ins for the post season, although Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin certainly grabbed their share of headlines. And the Bengals. Well. Fortunately, the Bearcats were still there, still screwing up in the second round of the tournament every year.
But things are better again in Cincy, and let’s start with the Reds. Their annual problem was their pitching staff, which never seemed to be able to keep the ball in the park in recent years. Earlier this decade, Elmer Dessens was the ace of the staff. Even when the Reds were winning their titles, they rode the starts of guys like Mke Morgan and Pete Schourek. Long gone are the days of Jose Rijo. However, with the emergence of Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, their ample cache of sluggers finally has a complement, and the Reds are in control of their Wild Card destiny.
People are worried about the Bengals, though, what with Carson Palmer’s injury in the playoffs. However, one needs to look at their division to realize that the Bengals will be ok. First there are the Browns, one of the ugliest teams in the league right now. The Ravens just traded for Steve McNair, who at this point is being held together with Elmer’s glue and hope. And the collective will of Ohio just sent Ben Roethlisberger headfirst into a sedan in Pittsburgh. Even if Big Ben does recover, the Steelers have the loss of Jerome Bettis and Antwaan Randle El to contend with. Sure, the Bengals could worry about their QB situation if Palmer is less than 100%, but they need to remember an importan fact. They still have the same important components that made John Kitna look like an acceptable option at the helm a couple years ago.
So in short, things are looking pretty good in Cincinnati – Ryan