It's Christmas time. So the area Sports Talk shows much be changing lineups and firing quality talent. It's what they do this time of year. The firing blitz of talk radio in Cincinnati is like a Chuck Bresnahan blitz. They do it a lot, but it's not really that effective. Clear Channel keeps axing talent because of cuts to reduce cost. A typical business move. Even the well-known John Phillips wasn't spared. So Friday morning, while Alan Cutler was on commercial, I went to find the Angry Guys on SuperTalk FM 96.5. I wasn't sure if this was a four-hour long Stomp concert or if I was really hearing saws, hammers and other fix'em up tools pounding in the studio.

Instead, 96.5 is changing their format again from SuperTalk to, well, whatever. John Kiesewetter says they could be going to a "Jock and Rock" format. There's no clue whether the Two Angry Guys -- my opinion, a tremendous show -- will return, though they have the impression they'll return January 2nd. Andy Fuhrman? No, he's gone.

But Gregg Doyel won't be back with Mo. You get comfortable in your ways and then they go changing things around again. It's a wonder the minds that make decisions fail to understand that sometimes, it takes time for people to adjust their daily lineup. When the Two Angry Guys originally left, I moved onto Mike and Mike In The Morning on ESPN Radio and left The Homer completely. Then I heard Alan Cutler took over the mornings and now I'm doing my best to maintain three morning shows during my long commute to Dayton.

The one comfort is that no matter what happens -- through World War III, IV and V -- Lance McAlister will be on at the same time frame he's been for the past several years. Even Armageddon won't stop Lance's barrage of stats and man-love for Marvin Lewis (I kid, I kid).

One thing about the holidays is that sometimes, when you're invited to another family's Christmas party, you have to deal with a small group of loud, obnoxious, bothersome, irritating, plaguy, vexatious children. It happens. They're excited. You're completely uncomfortable with surrounding circumstances and beg the gods to transport you, Star Trek style, home in front of the couch for a football game -- even a tennis match. Now, while that seems mean, I'm not grouping everything in that category. I've always played the role of big kid with my younger cousins and siblings. And children always have a knack for proving that you're out of shape with bones that are begging you, BEGGING YOU, for the added recovery time that comes with getting older.

Still, you have those kids that rarely listen to their parents as they swoop around making trouble with tribbles very pedestrian. Some kids even act like complete idiots with no regard to their surroundings while their parents, along with most adults, shake their heads in disbelief that they're actually acting like that.

For example, a known loud, obnoxious, bothersome, irritating, plaguy, vexatious sports reporter -- reporter is a bad word, I know -- is acting like a kid flailing around the house to the annoyance of all the adults.

Note: Several blogs on SB Nation have writers with training and a professional writing background. Hate to say it Smith, but let's not generalize people. Mothing good that ever comes out of that.

Here's the funny thing to me. A guy like Smith is quick to pounce on someone else that would stuff the idea of promoting your own opinion -- dare I say, free speech? If some guy came out and shouted that a certain topic should never be discussed, then a guy with any journalistic or general writing background, will instinctively expose their ethics demanding that everyone have the right to chat about whatever they feel like. The idea of free speech hardly matters with the size of your audience. To completely disregard a large, and getting larger, segment of idea promoting blogs is not only a lose-lose situation for Smith, but it's a complete disregard of progressionism.

Here's the funny thing to me, II. Does it occur to Smith why blogs, with writers that are "not experts", are gaining in popularity? Does it occur to Smith why newspaper circulations are dropping alarmingly fast? Does it occur to Smith that the mainstream media, for years now, has failed to completely fulfill their obligation of producing pieces that interest their audience?

Not only did Smith invite responses from bloggers, likely reactive, while he's dealing with legal issues at the Philadelphia Inquirer forcing his word to be silenced at that newspaper, but he made the mistake of inviting absolute hatred that a majority of the sports community already harbor for him.

Even better, he's looking at things in a new perspective while demanding the dinosaur industry of paper newspapers remain a prominent role of "news" gathering sources. Personally, I couldn't care less for the guy. I don't hate him nor do I appreciate anything that comes out of his mouth louder than a 747 taking off CVG.

I understand most in the industry are freaking out about the explosion of bloggers. Even in Cincinnati I've found it difficult to establish any sort of connection with area columnists and beat writers.

I've always said (and this still applies): There's a reason why people are turning towards blogs. Those that feel threatened should ask themselves, why?

Say hello to widget. Bengals.com introduced a widget. A small piece of code that connects directly to their site. That small piece of code I put on the right hand side. Let me know what you think. Is it worth having there? Do you see any problems?

Bengals' fans market them [Enquirer]

A published short essay in the Springfield News-Sun checked off all the things that drives him crazy about Marvin Lewis. Two took center-stage: the developed roster and Lewis' attitude towards the media. Worry not my friends. The 1,228 word piece does have a compliment. Stewie's theory dictates, while practicing it during Brian's telemarketing job performance review, that you sandwich a negative between two pieces of positive bread. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. Me? I'm shredding it. The only positive I can export is the possibility that football players are also astrophysicists.

On Lewis' responding to the name of Chris Henry. The piece quotes Lewis as saying "Who? ... He's not on our team" in regards to Chris Henry. Not only did the piece fail to put the quotes in context, but I truly do not remember that. Did it happen recently? I remember him saying of Odell Thurman in early January: "Odell is not a member of this football team...". Perhaps that's it. He's forgotten how many cases of amnesia he's suffered in response to Thurman's name. I don't remember Lewis having amnesia with Chris Henry. If I missed it, well, my bad. It's entirely possible. But I'm also not sure how you get the two confused when Henry floats around the country with "1" and "5" on the shirts he goes clubbing in.

"One theory is Lewis wanted to upgrade the talent so much he took guys with questionable character." I agree. But most teams you see are a "victim" of that theory taking talent over character. This has become an NFL trait. Not simply the Bengals. A trait, however, most would like see controlled. It's a fair point. Not a complete one. But fair enough.

"His defense hasn't gotten much better, but Lewis is more defensive. Earlier this season, he told his players not to explain certain things because reporters wouldn't understand them anyway. Classy." Who cares about classy? Was Paul Brown classy? Listen to Bob Trumpy stories. Paul Brown is the father of modern football. But no one goes directly out of their way to talk about Brown's class. Classy is that pretty ball of yarn that never unwinds. Pretty with no purpose. Classy is the intermission between acts. But answering a question with a question, I ask: "Would you rather have a classy coach or a head coach that makes a difference?" Dick LeBeau was plenty classy. AND WE HATED HIM AS A HEAD COACH. And I know what you're going to say. Well, Lewis really hasn't made a difference. Doesn't win much. Has only one winning record. You got me there. But ask yourself this. Take the time machine back to week #17 in 2002 and fast-forward to 2007. Difference? Absolutely.

And yes, this goes back to me suggesting that we not take Lewis' attitude towards the media so franticly. Or, dare I use the word, seriously.

National commentators — ex-jocks who understand football's astrophysics [Kirkendall: scratching head] more than mere reporters — are saying things like the Bengals are out of control and the coaches are losing them. Thank god those football astrophysicists have no names. Otherwise, Stuart Scott's knowledge would be out of this world, yo.

[Personal note: Why is it that the media sometimes flaunts a very noticable flaw: the inability to accept that you're not always an expert on the topic your reporting or discussing. And before you go after me, just remember, I'm a blogger, not a reporter. Big difference. In fact, many bloggers feel insulted when grouped as "media". Modern bloggers -- most political and sports -- were born of their distaste for the media, not their desire to join it. If anyone in the media reads this, I'm sorry. It's not personal. It's just business, baby.]

The commentary ends, "Lewis is a good coach. This team could bounce back. But win or lose, that snippy attitude doesn't play with fans. Who Dey? The ones who buy tickets, that's who." What?! Are fans seriously considering giving back their season tickets because Lewis is snippy with the press. Hold on. (startling screech of hysterics takes out half of the North-side). Hold on, hold it, hold back, hold down, wait, stop, check, clog, cork it, fill it, zip it brake while I laugh, deride, gibe, crackle, mock, scoff and cachinnate.

Fans care about winning. Not some press conference days after an embarrassing loss on national television. The media made a big deal about this. So much so, now some are going Dan Rather on our asses.

However, Jerricho Cotchery said of the Jets offense in the first half. "We were just in another world." Hummm. Astrophysicists? Possible. Feasible. Workable. Viable. Imaginable.

Moving on...

Chick Ludwig heard what Mort said too.

Alrighty then. Don't let it bother you. In the meantime, hearing the smoke pouring from this story will only make a bigger fire. We'll see how it turns out. But when fans keep hearing off the wall gibber-jab that Chad will be traded, then suddenly confirmed, it makes us fans take notice. Having been a long-time fan of Chick's stuff, I'm sure he'll ensure we remember this in the coming months.

Marvin Lewis did respond to Mort.

Chad wonders...

Hate to say it Chad. But we proved that wrong in the article mentioned earlier in this post.

Chad was sad about Daugherty's piece though.

MSNBC.com listed three reasons that the Bengals are off to a bad start. Number one, injury. Check. Number two, suspensions. Check. Number three, responding poorly to adversity. Check. Very sound reasons. Dan Pompei says, "There have been rumors that Lewis would welcome the hiring of a general manager. And it probably wouldn't be a bad thing. The Bengals could use someone to give the organization more direction and take some of the pressure off Lewis."

Wait? There's rumors with the Bengals?

The New York Times, the country's "classy" version of hard-knock politics, wrote an entire story on Darrelle Revis's... penalties.

Speaking of Chris Henry, he could start practicing again Wednesday. Lewis suggests that Perry could also. Dexter Jackson and Willie Anderson are fine after Sunday's game. Expected to start against Pittsburgh. Who knows about Rudi Johnson, Caleb Miller and Ahmad Brooks. [Bengals.com]

So, amigo. What sports do you plan on checking out this weekend? There's plenty of action. Plenty of variety. What's in your tube.

For the weekend, Cincinnati stations plan on broadcasting this weekend's following NFL games.

Early game (1pm EST), CBS - Browns at Patriots. Two teams that beat the Bengals in one screwed up fashion or another. Both having a field day against our tremendous paper over-talent defense, combined scoring 85 points. I asked Tom (Pats Pulpit) if the Patriots were worried the match up against the Bengals would be a "trap game". He said that it would be more likely the Browns would be that "trap game". I don't think he suspected the Bengals would be this bad with the Browns having the better record. Go Pats! Dawgs by Nature (Browns blog) | Pats Pulpit (Patriots blog)

Early game (1pm EST), Fox - Seattle at Pittsburgh. Oddly enough, the Steelers are being shown in the Cincinnati area. Head about 50 miles in any direction and Fox is showing Tampa Bay at Indianapolis at 4pm -- Fox only has a single game weekend. Go Hawks! Behind the Steel Curtain (Steelers blog) | Field Gulls (Seahawks blog)

Late game (4pm EST), CBS - Baltimore at San Francisco. Well, this rounds up the AFC North for the Cincinnati viewing area. About 90% of the nation -- which doesn't include Cincinnati -- will get San Diego at Denver. Which includes a majority of the East Coast and the entire south. Baltimore Beatdown (Ravens blog) | Niners Nation (49ers blog)

Other interesting matchups. Tampa Bay/Indianapolis and San Diego/Denver. Bears/Green Bay play Sunday night.
Buc' em (Tampa Bay blog)
Stampede Blue (Colts blog)
Mile High Report (Broncos blog)
Windy City Gridiron (Bears blog)
Acme Packing Company (Packers blog)

Saturday Evening. ABC and CBS are competing for the primetime slot. You have tOSU Buckeyes and the Purdue Boilermakers on ABC. The Florida Gators head west (not far) to challenge #1 ranked, LSU. This Saturday night will display some fantastic football. I mean, really good stuff.
Around the Oval (Buckeyes blog)
And the Valley Shook (LSU blog)
Alligator Army (Gators blog)

Football not you're cup of tea? Well, that would be just weird considering you're reading an NFL-related blog.

OK, baseball playoffs. We could see a duel-elimination night. The 2-0 Colorado Rockies will host the Philadelphia Phillies. The 2-0 Arizona Diamondbacks head to Chicago. Both on TBS starting at 6pm. If neither game ends their respective divisional series, both play on Sunday with Boston/Angles playing at 1pm (TBS) and the Indians/Yankees playing at 6:30pm (TBS)

Need more? NASCAR is at Talladega this weekend. Let me summarize one thing for you. When they say the "Big One" they're referring to a big wreck. That phrase is used the most at Talladega as 43 cars line up, three wide, around the 2.66 mile d-shaped oval less than one full second separating first and last place.
Restrictor Plate This (Nascar blog)

Man, this is going to be a great sports weekend. Hell ya.

I fail to understand why Marvin Lewis owes anything to the media. Whatever do you mean, Josh?

Dustin Dow in Mark Curnutte's blog responds after Marvin Lewis said "I'm not going to try to explain it. That's our business" after being asked why the defense was so bad Sunday: "So apparently it's everybody's business when things go well. But when they don't, it's only the Bengals' private business."

Yes. Yes, it is. If your business is going swell, you promote it. If it's not going swell, you avoid talking about it. If your personal life is going swell, you dance like a fool around pessimists. If it's not swell, you are the pessimist. It's simple. Dow is a good one -- one of our best area writers. But I didn't see the point of reacting to that quote.

What exactly should Lewis say that would break the ground you're standing on? What could Lewis possibly say that you didn't see on Sunday? Bad tackling, lack of pass rush, absent pass coverage, etc... what else do you need to hear that would counter-argue the performance seen Sunday? Perhaps I tired of coach speak. Would it be better if Lewis had said, "we gave 110% and just came up short?" Not to fans. Not to me.

Furthermore: Who cares about a press conference? Who cares what Lewis says? If you don't want condescending answers, don't ask questions that would invite condescending answers.

I only ask of Marvin: Just fix it.

Lewis' position as an NFL head coach with a .500 record (minus 2005, of course) having giving up 51 points to the Browns is a difficult one. You remember how you, the reader, reacted when they lost knowing how awful the defense played. If Lewis wasn't ticked off about it with condescending answers about relentless questions that were clearly there on television, then I'd have a problem. Then I'd ask, doesn't he care. Fortunately, we know he does.

There's no doubt Lewis is showing his heart on his sleeve. Great. Fine. Wonderful. Whatever. But the media getting all bent out of shape for Lewis' attitude seems very ticky-tac to me. What difference does it make if he's pissed off and condescending or personally puts roses in a golden vase on each chair for the press conference? The fact remains that the defense looked more bloated than Britney Spears -- I know, that was bad. Sorry. How Lewis reacts has no bearing on that game. It has even less bearing against Seattle. Just fix it.

Paul Daugherty, who I believe is a fine columnist, was very condescending.

Personally, I think he took it way too personal.

Chick wrote about it. Apparently Lance spoke about it. He definitely wrote about it on his blog: "The 24-hour+ period from the game Sunday to the end of his news conference Monday, will be remembered as the most damaging of the Marvin Lewis era." Lance goes on to remind us of Lewis' insult against fans a thousand memories ago. This has nothing to do with fans. We're just as bitter about the loss as Lewis. This has everything to do with an over-action by the media because Lewis didn't treat the questions with respect.So we egg a guy that's already down and kick him in the ribs? Bullocks.

Lance, who's my favorite area sports personality, goes on to question: "How is it that Marvin still doesn't understand the media is the NFL's extension to the fans?"

I hate to say this, but they're not. Not anymore. The extension is there. That's true. But that extension goes beyond the Cincinnati Enquirer, The Cincinnati Post, The Dayton Daily News, WLW or Homer. That extension includes blogs and forums -- of which there's rarely a good word spoken about anyone in the mainstream media these days. It says something that sites like Deadspin smoke a newspaper's or a radio's blog. That doesn't speak a thing about the quality of their blogs. They are good in their own right. But fans are finding plenty of alternative avenues on the internet that doesn't include the mainstream media -- who's no longer any more of an extension to the fans than simple internet websites.

I'd be willing to say that the only things fans want is roster updates, actual quotes and other information from the mainstream media. Then they go to forums or blogs like this one to read the opinions of like-minded fans that sometimes want their own voice to be heard. It's why I started blogging the Bengals over five years ago. Do fans want opinion anymore from the mainstream media?

I've said this for years as a proponent of the blogging revolution that I've been apart of for over a decade now: There's a reason why blogging has taken off. And a lot of it has to do with the media not fulfilling the hunger of knowledge hungry people -- be it politics, celebrity gossip, science, nature or sports.

I happily admit, on this issue -- this little itty-bitty non-issue -- I'm a Lewis apologist. I'm as bitter from Sunday's loss and Lewis' performance. But I don't over-react for the sake of reaction about a few comments from a coach that's pissed off from his Sunday performance. If you must evoke professionalism, go for it. There's probably truth to that. But who cares? Just fix it

Then again, I know the Cincinnati mainstream media doesn't care for me or people like me. I guess we are a voice that's best served silent. Or perhaps they just react negatively when we criticize them. You know, like Lewis against the mainstream.

If you get the chance, Bob Costas, on his HBO show, ran a story about Earl Campbell. Campbell, former Houston Oilers running back many of you remember, is known for having such degradation with his body that retired running backs Eddie George and Tiki Barber use him as an example to retire early. Campbell also suffers from a spinal cord issue that causes incredible immobility issues. The wearing and tearing on his body has only accelerated the degenerative condition. It really makes you reflect on the toll some football players put on their bodies and why the NFL must advance and progress their retirement plans.

The NFL is as popular as ever.

In all 30 NFL markets, local games dominated the ratings -- tying week 17 in 2003 as tops. The New Orleans market led all NFL markets with a staggering 46.6 rating. Fox's doubleheader had over 22.1 million viewers with NBC's Giants-Cowboys game pulling in 18.2 million viewers. The Opening Kickoff Game on Thursday (Saints-Colts) opened the season with 17.8 million viewers. The Bengals/Ravens game pulled in 11.1 million viewers while the Cardinals and 49ers reached 8.5 million viewers. Following are the NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of September 3-9:

Want a preview for this weekend's ESPN NFL shows? On Monday Night Countdown, they will have "soundtracks" with Carson Palmer going through practice. We'll see Rudi Johnson's extensive car collection. And for some reason, ESPN thinks we're interested in watching a premiere of a new Kayne West music video. That's about the time you should hit the grocery store and buy ingredients for a tasty lettuce wrap. No, I don't like them either. However, I dislike West more.

Channel 9 (WCPO) is running a contest with WMAR pitting Bengals fans with Ravens fans. I have no idea why or what it's about. They only ask you send them photos of anything Bengals related. It's unlikely that the best photos will make the final cut because the FCC bans skin above the knees, farts, tobacco, Hu-Dey beer, Larry Craig, ugly people, chest hair, Buckeye fans jumping in manure for tickets and, most importantly, triflers -- not related to Tribbles.

If there's one thing in this world I tire of, it's the repetitive reminders of the road the Bengals have traveled. Yes, we've dealt with crappy teams. Yes, we've had it up to here with ownership. Yes, we were embarrassed when responding to the question, "who's your favorite team". And there's really no point in reminding us of our semi-trashy roots. It's deviates from recreation and it prompts ridiculous amounts of tyrannical responses.

Remove DUI's and small bags of pot, you remove the title of "posterchild" from the conscience of the self-righteous sports fan. The Bengals are similar with every team in that we have our off-the-field problems that superseded a stretch of schotty play. From a historical perspective, this team mirrors the history of nearly every franchise -- except we're viewed as taking losing and conduct to the extreme. And honestly, there's probably some truth to that.

Josh Nichols does a good job representing the team's future. While reiterating the tiresome summary of the team's golden brick road from 2002 to now, Josh spents his time setting up the stage of a 2007 Bengals that will simply, kick ass.