IT HELPS WHEN THE TIMING IS RIGHT, and we’re not talking about Aaron Rodgers' connection with Davante Adams. On a week when Joe Mixon is less than healthy, the Bengals are playing a Green Bay team without its best cornerback, Jaire Alexander. Seven Packers who started last Sunday didn’t finish. That list included four 2020 Pro Bowlers.
Can we suggest a Joe Show will start Sunday at 1 p.m.?
A pleasant surprise this year, one of several, has been the Bengals effective run-pass balance. The Men will never be confused for a running juggernaut. But as long as Mixon is playing, their balance will help their QB.
Even at 3-1, the jury’s still out on them. The teams they’ve played are a combined 4-12. Jacksonville is a bottom-5 club. Pittsburgh’s not much better. No one’s all that impressed by a win over Minnesota. Or a loss to the Bears.
Things change a bit Sunday. The Bengals do play Detroit and the Jets in the next six games, both on the road. Mix in Ravens, Browns and at Vegas and the early season schedule becomes less cake-y.
How good are the Bengals, really?
The Packers are rolling. Aaron Rodgers looks like a “young’’ 37, an oxymoron for anybody in the league over 30. Are the Bengals the team that dominated Pittsburgh? Or the team that had to rally from 14 down last Thursday night?
Sunday will shed a little light.
Pack 23, Men 20.
THEY CAN’T GET THEIR MONEY BACK… The Yankees spent the Empire State Building and half the East River to win games like the one they lost last night in Boston. That Gerrit Cole, he’s no Nathan Eovaldi. Before MLB began checking for gunky stuff on pitchers’ hands, Cole was pretty darned good. Since?
Cole ERA for April and May: 1.43 and 2.18.
Cole ERA for June, July, August and September: 4.65, 4.71, 0.51 and 5.13.
Thing that makes you say “Hmmm.’’
To be fair, Cole had pitched since early September with a tight hamstring. He said that was not a reason for his two-inning, three-run show last night.
Cole is another reason I’d never drop hundreds of millions of dollars on one arm. Unless I owned the Yankees, Dodgers or half the world. Too much invested in one player simply isn’t smart. Three hundred million-plus and the guy can’t beat Nathan Eovaldi in the biggest game of the year.
AND THEN THERE IS THIS, from Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel, re: Urban Meyer’s frolicking last weekend:
Remember: Ohio State actually hired Meyer to coach a class in “Character and Leadership” that, according to the course listing, was focused on “value-based decision making, character, and personal integrity.” Also: Meyer claims that at Florida he led a regular “Bible Study” with … Aaron Hernandez.)
Oops.
The problem with Urban Meyer is, he thinks he’s smarter than everyone else, and he’s not. Perhaps pie-eyed freshmen believe Meyer’s act. NFL vets do not. He didn’t return to Jax with his team? He stayed in Ohio to see his grandchildren? They allow little ones to hang in bars now?
ALL THAT SAID. . . Some low-life TMZ-ist wannabe shot the video that Gotcha-ed Meyer. What gives that guy the right? Not excusing Meyer. But at what point is a person allowed to say, “enough’’?
Don’t give me the “He’s a public figure’’ line. In public, we’re all public figures. Where’s the line? The best thing we can offer people like Johnny TMZ is a broken nose.
MEANWHILE. . . We loved Trevor Bauer’s pitching last summer. That didn’t mean we had to love Trevor Bauer. He’s as narcissistic and egotistical a ballplayer as I’ve ever dealt with. He proved that again yesterday, when he used the eve of Cards-LA wild card game to issue his thoughts on his suspension.
Funny. I wasn’t aware of anyone asking for his thoughts about anything.
LIVE FROM THE AUGUSTA NATIONAL GOLF CLUB IN AUGUSTA, GA., CBS PRESENTS. . . THE PRIMARIES.
Real estate agencies on both sides of the Ohio River already have or will drop the term "master'' from their home listings after years of controversy surrounding the term's racial overtones.
In the Cincinnati area, the term "master'' has been replaced with "primary'' to describe bedrooms and baths on the input form brokers must fill out to list properties on The Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati Inc.'s website.
The term has also been eliminated from all reports and documents that the listing service publishes or controls.
My next job, I’m going be a free-lance Word Sanitizer. I will hire myself out to major local businesses and remove forever from the lexicon any syllable anyone anywhere judges to be offensive. I will come armed with an impressive array of sensitivities, a working knowledge of erasers and a big bag of enlightenment in the trunk. It’ll be great.
Can't we sons of Donegal do better than “Irish’’ American’’? Why, of course we can.
I’m thinking how perfect life is now that we can focus on what really matters.
Meantime, be thinking about what you’d like to rename that Very Big Space at the end of the hall. Maybe. . . Very Big Space at the End of the Hall.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . A wonderful and wonderfully underrated tune from The Band.
Source link
