I think the issue is that through the prism of what would be acceptable in other cities, Lewis WOULD be on the hot seat, and another sub .500 campaign would spell the end of his time in THAT city. However, those of us who are lifelong Bengals fans realize that if the team would allow coaches like Shula and LeBeau to run up historic loss totals before pulling the trigger on them, they certainly won’t be bailing on an 8-8 Lewis, only the third coach in team history with a winning record.

Clearly, that can’t go on forever, even in Mike Brown’s Loyalty Land at some point Lewis is going to have to put some playoff wins on the board. But that time is not yet here. If that seat is warm at all it’s because Brown is kissing Lewis’ backside for getting the team to be good enough to fill the stadium every week, not because he’s in trouble.

I always knew that to be a Baltimore fan, one had to be of below average intelligence. How else could one get past the obvious logical inconsistency of complaining about how the Colts were “stolen” in 1984 (though the city of Baltimore was actually going to steal the team from Irsay using a rather unique interpretation of “eminent domain”) and then stealing the Cleveland Browns in 1996.

Moreover, Baltimore fans forget about their franchise’s past serious trouble with the law when they rag on Bengals fans about the series of player arrests over the past few years. I might be splitting hairs here, but I think having a player that was involved in a murder and a player that SOLD – not used – drugs is a bit worse than having a bunch of immature players with substance abuse problems.

I have always hated the Ravens; when I moved to Washington DC and was exposed to their fanbase, I learned to hate them even more. Adjectives like moronic, thuggish, and evil fail to capture the utter darkness of a Ravens fan’s soul.

The Bengals may lose a lot of games in 2008, but none of them will be to the Baltimore Ratbirds.