1.Evil power disappears 2.Demons worry when the_ wizard is near 3.He turns tears into joy 4.Everyone's happy when the_wizard walks by.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
WHAT THE F#$K is up with the G-D@!#ED F#$KIN Bungals?/Here we go again?!?
"Defense still draft priority for Bengals
It's easy to speculate that offense is the route the Bengals will take with their first-round pick in April's NFL draft. The team's offense ranks 27th in the 28-team league. But don't be surprised if the Bengals use that first-round pick on the same type of player they used it on last season - a run-stuffing, pass-rushing defensive lineman.
"Our (defensive) priorities, in free agency and the draft, are defensive line, inside linebacker, safety and we'd like to get another corner," coach Dave Shula said Wednesday. "But, probably No. 1 is the defensive line."
The Bengals will have the No. 1 overall pick if they lose to New Orleans Sunday, and guesses are they'll go with San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk, if they keep the pick. But the Bengals' defense, ranked 18th overall, has its troubles, too. And most of it is up front.
Nose tackle Tim Krumrie has signed on for his 12th year in 1994, but coaches want to use the veteran (he'll be 34 next season) in spots, rather than relying on him all game. The right end position is still unsettled, though starter George Hinkle has signed a contract for next season. Rookie left tackle John Copeland, the Bengals' first-round pick in 1993, has come on, playing both tackle and end positions. But he can't do it by himself.
The problems have shown up in the team's play against the run. The Bengals rank 27th, giving up 142.9 yards a game. That's 32 more than the NFL average.
"What we lack at the line of scrimmage is explosion," said defensive coordinator Ron Lynn. The Bengals can get help on the defensive line through free-agency, rather than the draft. However they do it, it is clear that they need help.
"Unless (rookie) Ty Parten (out with an injured thumb) comes back and rapidly develops, unless Mike Frier comes back stronger and more explosive, I think we're going to have to seek help other places," Lynn said. "We need to get some down guys who can stop the run and rush the passer. And both of those need explosion."
One of the top college defensive linemen mentioned in draft talk is Ohio State's Dan Wilkinson, a 6-foot-5, 300-pounder. But Wilkinson is only a sophomore. Experts rate him a top five pick if he decides to enter the draft.
General manager Mike Brown has said he wants a "sparkler," a player who can make a difference. Many define that as a "touchdown-maker," a quarterback, running back or wide receiver. But the Bengals showed in the last draft, when they used the No. 5 pick overall to take Copeland, that they believe good defensive linemen are hard to come by, too.
"You want to build a good offense or a good defense, I think it all starts right there, in the line," said Bob Karmelowicz, the team's defensive line coach.
"I think we've gotten to the level that we can be a little more specific in identifying needs, not just 'Hey, anybody is an upgrade."-John Donovan
The above article, published 30 December 1993 in the Cincinnati Post, brings back the bad tidings of that most dreadful Holiday season, as does the above football card, during the dark time, when that horrible day in January when Stanley Wilson's Pre-Super Bowl Victory Party made him a sweaty, coked out MIA and Krumrie's leg snapped like a matchstick, conspired, once again, to make Joe Montana the Great Satan of Cincinnati Professional Sports for all time (He still looks Manilow, the fucker) were still relatively close in our collective rearview, as was a winning season in 1990. The Free fall, by 1993, was already a cruel joke turned bleak reality by this point.
Nearly twenty years on from our last Super Bowl appearance, and four years into Marvin Lewis's tenure, when things seemed to be turning around, the question has to be asked: What size tanker requires this long to turn? In 2005 (I have the fucking shirt), we won the AFC North, yet, based on Monday Night's Abortion, we are going in the wrong direction.
To be sure, the defense is decimated (Medieu Williams can't be everywhere), but what I found frustrating-nay, infuriating, how under prepared, sloppy, and unprofessional they seemed as a team, as though the whole lot of them couldn't keep their heads in the game. Blown converages, missed blocks, sloppy pass routes and the abysmal special teams, all leading to the horrible conclusion: The Bengal has no stripes, so to speak, and we quite a bit farther away from renewed Glory than we were in '05, when it seemed all but a matter of time-a season, tops. This was perhaps, supposed to be the year. But in the stark relief our Bengals were viewed next to the dynastic juggernaut that is the Patriots(more later)[...]
Later:
...we are damn sight farther off from that goal than most of us knew (or would admit).
A faithful reader, writing Bengals fan living in the Denver Area, admonished me for, well, the admonishment of another reader about a lack of faith in the beloved Bengals, and I promised to correct this contradiction
Why does it seem like the Bengals beat themselves? This is the unfathomable. How come they beat themselves? I firmly believe that, when they bring their A game, they can play and beat anyone, and yet, they seem to be phoning it in, like a team with a massive inferiority complex, and instead of using that to get scrappy and prove everybody wrong, its like they just kick a pebble, and skulk on home, murmuring how "nobody loves them"or some shit like that.
Don't get me wrong: This city loves its Bengals, and have been, for most part, patient-but the thing that separates The Nasty from somewhere like Chicago or Boston, who have dealt with disappointment for, in some cases, generations, is that the whole town is like this. The whole town has a chip on its shoulder, and for all the wrong reasons. The Bengals are of Cincinnati, and embody its best-and worst, tendencies.
The worst tendency here is that nothing brings the city together. Ever. There's nothing to do downtown, for the most part. The businesses all left. There's no jobs, and so, there's the crime factor. The riots tore whatever sense of unity we had apart, and now, all there is rancor, with the vilest shit imaginable spilling from the entitled cupcake suburbs towards anything living, working, or being in the city proper.
Who knows? I'm out of explanations at this point. Suspensions have hurt, sure, but that's just part of the picture. Its like the Bengals can't escape the gravitational pull of their past suckiosity, and no matter how good or how talented they are, they still don't believe that they are capable of anything but, really believe it.
But what are you gonna do? If you love something, you have to be there, and tell 'em to quit fucking around, support them, help them get better. For the Bengals Nations, there is a certain "suck fatigue" to be sure, and dark memories of embarrassment, but we hung in there?
Let's hang in there. And tell our boys to QUIT FUCKING AROUND.
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Wasn't it just last week that you told Dave P. below to "have a little faith" in the Bungles, I mean, Bengals? C'mon, Wizard: where's yours?
ReplyDeleteThe Broncos didn't fare well their last game either, allowing Manning and his Colts to walk away with a 2-point win.
What size tanker requires this long to turn?
Have you ever seen a barge turn around on the Ohio River?
It ain't a pretty sight.
Roaring still...
I'll get to the faith part a little later...had to rush off to class.
ReplyDeleteI hope you come strong with the proselytizing, Wiz, because I'm just that much closer to giving up for good.
ReplyDeleteI've always said that I don't mind my teams losing as long as they play smart and hard. You know, gave it all they got. This team does none of the above. The coaching, the personnel decisions, the poor tackling (I thought Madieu was going to be an all-star but he's a wuss who's afraid to really wrap someone up).
Sinking big money in has-beens (Big Willie), never-weres (J Smith), and apparent douchebags (Levi). The long line of 5th-round-and-above picks who have been busts, trouble, or aren't even with the team any more: Thurman, Henry, Ratliff, Askew, Abdullah, Nicholson, McNeal, and Mann (that's not counting the guys who can't get on the field or had bad breaks: C Perry, Weathersby, Irons, Pollack). The poor clock management, the annual meltdowns, the unending tolerance for Chad's bullshit. And Marvin's cocky, ridiculous, smiling smirk. "We'll fix it." Fuck you, then fix it, chief.
Ugh.
Sadly, it's back to the pre-Marvin era for me. I'm not following them because I think they have a chance to win, but rather because they're a pathetic soap opera that I've been sucked in by, like watching "Days of Our Lives" while I'm bedridden for a week with the flu.
Save me, Wiz.
I'm checking to see if www.mikebrownsucks.com is back up.
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