Last year, while we sat through the back-end of a retched eight-game losing streak, it became apparent that the Bengals might miss the playoffs. While that thought horribly sunk in, there was another football team in Cincinnati that was taking over the show. We followed the Cincinnati Bearcats from start to finish last year, enjoying their ride to their first ever BCS game. Their games were exciting and their rise was awesome. Even though they lost to Virginia Tech 20-7 in the FedEx Orange Bowl, it was a great ride by the Bearcats. This year the University of Cincinnati are underdogs to conference favorites Pittsburgh and Rutgers. ESPN's Big East blogger Brian Bennett lists quarterback Tony Pike and Wide Receiver Mardy Gilyard as his preseason All-Big East team.

We plan on doing the same thing this year, observing them, though in less detail than Bearcats specific sites. My goal is to keep Bearcats interest high, supporting them for as long as we have Brian Kelly (which might not be very long). And for some of you, to turn you into Bearcats fans.

We also want to, though without any confidence that we'll do it regularly, follow the Cincinnati Bengals South, also known as the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League. While there's no roster listed online, as far as we can tell, we know that the following Bengals players are with the Tuskers this year.

• Chris Perry
• Quincy Wilson
• Mike Doss
• Anthony Schlegel
• T.J. Wright
• Odell Thurman

Former Bengals defensive coordinator is also the Tuskers linebackers coach. This is by no means complete. Most of the names were found in a post we did about the UFL draft. So it's possible players have come and gone and we wouldn't know about it; it's not like I'm signing up for Tusker Tweets. Heh.

+ If you were in downtown Cincinnati, you had an opportunity to watch Hard Knocks on Fountain Square. However, managers decided to pull the plug. Was the crowd out of control? Were there Steelers fans that slipped past the defensive parameter, setting up a timer for dark matter to swallow the Queen City? No. The show had cursing.

“We try to keep our content PG-13,” says Kelly Leon, vice president of 3CDC, which programs Fountain Square entertainment.

Cursing. The cause for war and pestilence. Word has it from a prophet that the act of cursing will open a gateway in which aliens will enslave the human race to drain Earth's resources leaving the planet baron. Thank god others are doing their part to keep that gateway closed.

Moving on. Links and Notes

All four Bengals preseason games will be broadcasted in HD, carried by Local 12, starting tonight.

Joe Reedy previews tonight's game.

The Chickster says tonight's game will be the first test for the Bengals rebuilt offensive line | Joe Reedy agrees.

The first unit did well during last week’s scrimmage, which had line coach Paul Alexander to the point of jubilation, but Friday night is a different deal. It will serve as a better indicator to how much progress the line has been made and what is left to do.

“For the most part, we’ve been where we need to be and the mental mistakes haven’t been there as much,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “Right now is a chance to show that. It doesn’t matter if you can’t do it on a live field. It’s a chance to get out there for some live action and to hit someone else. We’re ready for it.”

Robert Geathers will be entering his fifth season in the NFL and he's only 26 years old. He's looking to take on a role as a defensive leader.

Who Dey Fans react to Hard Knocks, specifically the way J.D. Runnels was cut.

WDR points out that ticket sales for the team continues to fall, striding towards their to goal to make sure games are not sold out to affect Mike Brown's pocket book. I really hope it works. Otherwise players will see open seats, become less inspired to play and rather than changing things, Brown will become even more penny-pinching.