I'm not sure how many of you got to see them this morning, but now that ESPN has fully embraced Internet technology, we have video. According to the First Take site, this is part one, meaning there's more where this came from. There's also a segment where Bayless reviews Chad's new book, and if it's anything like Rick Reilly's, I'd say he's not that impressed with it.

One thing's for sure:  Chad is certainly making the most of his bye week.  With so many appearances, I'm surprised he hasn't designed  "Ochocinco's Bye Week World Tour" t-shirts.

Do you think Skip would buy one?

It's been a couple of weeks since I made a Chad-related post, but with the bye week on hand, there's plenty to talk about.  Speaking of, what will you be doing this Sunday when the Bengals aren't playing? Catching up on housework? Mending that fence your significant other has been dogging you about? Going outside?  Whatever it is, ask yourself this:  Will I be as busy as Chad Ochocinco will be?  Doubtful.

Here's part of his itinerary, which should rack him up a decent amount of frequent flier miles:

Thursday morning, Ocho will be on ESPN's First Take, debating the host everybody loves to hate, Skip Bayless, followed by an appearance on Colin Cowherd's radio show. After that, Chad will be be on The David Letterman Show, where he will undoubtedly be discussing, among other things, his new book, which promises to give everyone who buys it the finger. 

If not two.

On Sunday, Ocho will be a guest on CBS' The NFL Today pregame show.  I, for one, can't wait to watch Chad, Shannon Sharpe and of course Boomer "St." Esiason discuss all things Bengals.

So yeah, the life of a popular NFL player can get pretty damn busy, although, I'm sure it's the type of busy we'd all enjoy.  Oh, there's one more thing I wanted to share with you:  Chad has peculiar tastes in music, something one of his endless amount of Tweets tells us:

Just went and grabbed Brian McKnight,Rick Ross (triple c),Creed, Micheal Jakson (this is it) and Lil boosie albums,jammin n the locker room

Wait a minute. Did he just say "Creed?" Are you kidding me? The same Creed fronted by Scott Stapp? Um, yeah. I didn't expect that one.

It was funny. After the Bengals beat the Ravens Sunday, I sent a friend a text saying, "Do you believe yet?" He responds, "Who-Dey Morpheus" (if you don't get the reference, watch the Matrix). Like most people, he's hesitant (my friend, not Morpheus) to get on board with the Bengals right now. It's the whole, they always break your heart defense mechanism. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me about 20 times, then shame on, well, Mike Brown? Are the Bengals going to make the playoffs? I'll bet if you ask yourself that, then the defense mechanism kicks into gear. "Well, we're only 4-1 and there's a lot of football to play." That's the funny thing about belief. Or faith. There's no reasoning behind believing what you believe in. You just do it. The more your annual belief is broken, the more you resist the urge to believe. So the question is now, do you believe now?

Apparently, many don't. Even with wins against the Browns, the Ravens, the Packers and the Steelers, the Bengals have announced that a blackout will be likely against the Houston Texans unless there's a "significant increase" in sales this week.

Without “a significant increase” in the pace of ticket sales this week, Sunday’s Bengals vs. Houston game at Paul Brown Stadium will not be a sellout, the team’s ticket office announced today.

Under NFL policy, if the 1 p.m. Sunday game is not sold out 72 hours before kickoff -- by 1 p.m. this Thursday -- the CBS television broadcast will be blacked out in the Bengals home market, which includes Cincinnati, Dayton and Lexington, Ky.

UPDATE: Joe Reedy writes that the amount of tickets available against the Houston Texans "is closer to 7,000"

UPDATE II: Now it's just getting embarrassing.

Let's see if we understand this one. The Cincinnati Bengals are one of the hottest teams in the league, perched atop the AFC North at 4-1, despite the presence of the Ravens and Steelers. After winning two hard-fought road games, the Bengals return home for a game against the Texans. And they might not sell out Paul Brown Stadium.

What does a 3-1 season do for you? Well, it makes you the toast of the town after a 4-11-1 season. It generates buzz. And in my case, it gives us the opportunity to comfort an ailing Steelers fan who can't understand why their team is 2-2. "It's alright, buddy," I say. "You get off to these great starts but fold in the end. But you're close. Look at what you did against San Diego. That's improvement. Instead of losing at the last minute, you just barely won in the last minute." I know. What are you doing? Trust me, I'm repaying the favor after years of being a basket case in front of my non-Bengals friends who felt nothing by sympathy for me for over half of our lifetimes. Whatever. That's a Kirkentangent.

The NFL announced on Thursday that the Bengals game hosting the Bears on Sunday October 25 is being changed from 1:00 PM to 4:15 PM. The NFL says "The change accommodates FOX broadcast patterns."

Is this a deal in which the Bengals and Bears being 3-1 right now has Fox shifting the schedule to increase viewership? Joe Reedy makes that case. Fox is scheduled for the double-header that weekend and typically the second game is as close to a national broadcast as you can get without actually being a national broadcast. It would be great for some of the loyal Cincy Jungle readers outside of the area to get another glimpse of the Bengals.

But for what other reason would the Bengals game be moved? They wouldn't change the schedule, especially with three other early games, just to free up viewership for their early afternoon game. Would they? There is one plausible scenario. The Steelers will be hosting the Vikings at 1 PM. Maybe FOX wants to increase viewership with that game while making their Atlanta at Dallas game the de facto national game and by moving the Bengals to the 4:15 PM slot, the Cincinnati area, who would likely tune in to watch the division rival, would help those ratings.

Who knows. Long story short. October 25. Bengals. Bears. 4:15 PM. Fox. Be there.

Even though the Bengals have more games with available tickets then sellouts, there's a growing feeling that Cincinnati could be in the playoff hunt this year. Hey, if you're a pessimistic, take your pessimism elsewhere. I'm talking playoffs baby. This all started when the Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and showed enough guts to rise above a less-than-stellar performance to beat in-state "rivals" in Cleveland.

Then, on Monday, the team announced another sellout against the Bears. You have to believe that tickets are starting to be sold. People are starting to believe.

Nielson ratings, how television programming is measured, has two known components that are generally used. Household ratings and household shares. A rating represents one percent of the total number of televisions available. Share represents the percentage of televisions tuned into the broadcast. The numbers would obviously only apply to the Cincinnati Bengals market and not the United States -- like you actually thought 61% of the country watched the Bengals beat the Browns. I think I'm close to explaining all of that. If not, do a Wiki search and bring us back some knowledge.

Long story short, because of many fans growing interest with the Bengals, shedding aside the Mike Brown anger for at least another season interest keeps picking up. Hey, what is that? That's the Cincinnati Bengals. And those boys have guts. It could be that the Browns and Steelers helped drive the ratings -- being division opponents and all -- or it could be that those games may have just made people realize how awesome watching the Bengals are. And by awesome, I mean totally aging 3-4 months in the span of one possession.

The guys over at City League Hoops have taken the time to produce and upload a video of Chad Ochocinco's greatest sayings on YouTube.  Good stuff.  Apparently, the man himself also likes it.  Since you can't fight it, you might as well embrace it -- that is, as long as he's being a productive member of the team.

Not only was Paul Brown Stadium rocking during the Bengals 23-20 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the game was the third most watched television program for the entire week, drawing in 18.2 million viewers. Two different versions of NCIS, whatever that is, won the top spots. In the Cincinnati market, the game had a household rating of 35.8 and a share of 57. Pittsburgh's market was dominated by the Steelers game, with 48.2 rating and a share of 72.

In 26 of 30 NFL markets, NFL games dominated last week, proving that the NFL is the most popular sport and television program going today.

Continue reading this post »

It's kind of hit or miss when a former NFL player takes a microphone and runs with it. Some are really good. Cincinnati alone has had a few good ones, notably Bob Trumpy, Dave Lapham, Boomer Esiason (if he's not playing the lonely former Bengal on CBS personality, looking all martyr) and Cris Collinsworth. All four make you smarter about what you're listening to, in their own way. Yes, even Collinsworth has a few gems, though Boomer hasn't always endeared himself to his old fan base. Then there's the other side. They talk way too much, incite a few fires, because their thinking is that if they're paid to talk, then they're free to talk about anything. Warren Sapp comes to mind. But so does Deion Sanders, Shannon Sharpe, Michael Irvin.

Maybe we should add Rodney Harrison to that list, who called the Cincinnati Bengals "a clown show." Harrison was on Artrell Hawkins' new show called "Two Deep Zone" on 1530 Homer. Some said that the show was mostly about Hawkins' glory days as a New England Patriots defensive back. Did anyone listen? I didn't get a chance to listen to it. My existing schedule for sports radio in Cincinnati is Lance McAlister and a side of Mo Egger. Actually, come to think of it. Aren't they the only two local sports hosts now? We are surprised to see that WDR is mum on the subject.