Three Things: Bengals At 50, A UC Fan Energized, And A Remarkable Comeback.

Every day there are three things, none worth devoting an individual post to, but each worth at least mentioning. 

1) The Bengals. Give up to them for doing the obvious, something that they don't always do.  They're using their 50th season as a way to recognize their past.  Yes, I wish they had announced something concrete about a team hall of game or ring of honor, and maybe warm and fuzzy feelings over the return of franchise greats will compel them to do something long-term, but baby-steps, you know?

If this season-long celebration of their best players and most significant moments is done well, it could be a lot of fun.  I mentioned last week that I had high hopes but low expectations.  My fear was that they've unveil a 50th season logo, announce some sort of online component, and call it a day.  Instead, they're doing something that fans like me (and probably, you) have been calling for them to do for a while.

Most importantly, they showed that they're listening to us.

At least in this regard.

Baby-steps, you know.

The schedule came out last night, and as much as I love to laugh at the spectacle that a schedule release has become, there is something exciting about finding out when the games are and what order they'll be played. The biggest questions for me were would the Bengals open at home (yes, finally), would I be crossing Lambeau Field off the bucket list when it was frigid (no, thankfully), and when's the Nashville trip (November 12th, which for reasons you don't care about, is bad). Now, if the Bengals can get some players who can help them win these games, that'd be great.

2) It feels like 2007 again.  I'm in the middle of writing about about how Luke Fickell has rescued me from the depths of being almost apathetic about UC football and made me as energized as I've been about the Bearcats since the offseason before Brian Kelly's first regular season game.  That blog entry may get done. It may not.  But with the non-stop onslaught of good news about the program, including a stead rise in the class of 2018 recruiting rankings, this feels like a good time to mention that the despair I felt last November about UC football has been flipped into a five-year-old on Christmas Eve kind of anticipation.

3)  Cavs comeback. LeBron James was fantastic, the Pacers absolutely gagged, and Tyronn Lue authored the best in-game coaching performance so far in this year's NBA Playoffs last night.  At one point down 26, Cleveland staged one of the most ridiculous comebacks I've ever seen, taking game three over the Pacers, and going up 3-0. James went for 43/13/12, guarded - as he often does - four different positions, and Lue went with the hot hands of Deron Williams and Channing Frye in place of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love - a ballsy move that many head coaches wouldn't even have considered.  The East is weird - Cleveland has looked more vulnerable than not in the postseason, yet the Raptors - who went all in this year - have been badly outplayed by Milwaukee, Washington is exceptionally fun to watch and will be a tough out if they can get to the conference finals, and I'm still not sure what to make of the Bulls because of how much the performance of their key guy - Rajon Rondo - in game two was such an outlier, and how much his busted thumb will affect their chances. 

I'm not exactly offering up amazing sports insight with this post, am I?

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