Optimism?

OK, let's admit it. The Bengals blew it.

After starting the season with more momentum than anyone expected, the team basically disappeared at the end of the year. This trend continued into the playoffs, although their final effort (minus Shayne Graham at least) wasn't completely embarrassing.

But when you look at the overall picture, you see a young team with a few serious weak points. And these things can now be addressed seriously without worrying about losing any major players.

We certainly don't need to lose sleep over Cincinnati's running back stable, linebacker corps, or starting defensive backs.

Unless the speculation that Carson's elbow is indeed still damaged from last season's injury, we shouldn't have to worry about quarterbacks either - and even if he is hurt, he has another offseason to recuperate. We could probably get a better back up, but this isn't critical.

I figure there are three main areas to improve, and another three that could use tweaking. The most important is wide receiver. Chad Ochocinco (I have a strong feeling that last name will be changing again soon) is still solid, but probably not the elite guy he was from about 2003-2007. I figure to see two more good seasons out of him. After that, the Bengals have close to nothing. Andre Calwell shows flashes and is probably a good third option, but maybe not starter material. Coles isn't close to being worth the money we'll owe him, and I expect him to get cut. Anyone else is just a footnote so far.

There's a chance that both Anquan Boldin of the Cardinals and Joshua Cribbs of the Browns will be available this offseason. The Bengals need to aggressively pursue these guys, or any other type of number two wide receiver that becomes available. The Bengals haven't done a good job of developing young WRs in recent years (see: Jerome Simpson - 2nd round pick, 1 reception in 2 seasons), and we need someone who can step up right away - like Coles was supposed to this year.

The next most pressing need is nickle cornerback. Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall did as good a job as any team should need shutting down the number one and two WRs as any defense should need, but the slot guy made the Bengals pay time and time again. With the risk of losing one of them to free agency in the next few years, having a young guy to develop wouldn't be a bad thing.

Defensive line is also worrying, as it seems injury prone. Antwan Odom and Pat Sims both ended their seasons early. Domata Peko and Robert Geathers both missed games to injury. Tank Johnson seemed to end up on the injury report every other week. This unit frequently didn't generate the kind of pressure it needed to late in the season. This is supposedly a D-line heavy draft, and then Bengals should pounce on one of these guys as early as round one, depending of course on who's available.

First on my list of secondary issues is tight end. The big question marks here are who will be back and what kind of offensive scheme Cincinnati will run next year. If they're looking for more of a pass catching tight end, maybe last year's pick, Chase Coffman will be up to NFL speed. Although not signed for next season, it seems likely the Bengals could bring Reggie Kelly back. I expect J.P. Foschi to be back, but probably not Dan Coats.

Safety is a position where the Bengals defense could improve. They've got pretty good starters in Roy Williams, Ndukwe and Chris Crocker, but if their is an outstanding rookie safety available, I have to think they'll got after him.

Last I have offensive line. This unit probably over-performed this season, and if the right guy is available in the draft Cincinnati should take him. The current offensive line is good, but it does stand room for improvement in pass protecting. Hopefully the further development of Andre Smith leads to this need diminishing.

So, I figure the Bengals draft will look something like this:

Round 1 - Defensive Tackle or End
Round 2 - Cornerback
Round 3 - Safety
Round 4 - Offensive Lineman
Round 5 - Wide Receiver
Round 6 - Tight End
Round 7 - Kicker

It will be interesting to see if I get any of these right

Ginobili is so sick

Just sayin...

While I'm on the topic of the Bengals...

The latest from Chad Ochocinco's Twitter acount: "My birtday present-super truck."

Who gave it to him? Unfortunately, I don't know.

Asleep on the job, Teenage Mustache? I'm doin' your work for you now, huh? Go figure out what Ron Artest is doing for me, would ya? You owe me one.

Stakes is High

The moment of truth has arrived, and hopefully it won't be the last for the Bengals during the ensuing NFL Playoffs. After an embarrassing 37-0 blowout by the Jets last Sunday it's hard to remain optimistic, but I'm trying my damndest to have that glass-half-full outlook that has been so hard to maintain throughout this season. Obviously the Bengals didn't go all out for last week's game. Starting running back Cedric Benson was out, as well as key defenders Domata Peko, Robert Geathers, and Chris Crocker. But still, it's just really hard to go into this game feeling confident in this team. It's been a draining season for us Bengals fans, despite a winning record and the first playoff berth since the 2005-06 season. Let's just hope this team can at least manage to make it out of the first round. Anyhow, enough ranting from someone who knows hardly anything about football. Let's get ready to go out there and show the Jets why the Cincinnati Bengals are the AFC North Champs! I'll be in attendance doing my best to cheer for the entire Dank Game community. I'll also be wearing my new Jeff Blake jersey. Wish me and the tigers luck!

Put some points up on that board and win the game for Cincinnati!

R.I.P. Slim... This one's for you!

Heartbreak Heat

This season's Miami Heat team has been a huge flirt. They start the season out strong at 6-1, and before you know it they fall back into a middling team struggling to remain above .500. Then they have those games when they look poised to turn a corner, only to be put in their place by a buzzer beating freak shot by the best finisher in the game. Then they come out and get embarrassed by the Grizzlies on their home court. Less than a week after that, they blow out Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic at home.

And then there's games like last night, when they trade runs with the KG-less Celtics and let a sizable lead in the 4th quarter disappear, putting the game up for grabs in the waning moments. And then, when Wade seemingly has the game sealed after a an improbable steal and dunk putting them up by 2 with .6 seconds remaining, Paul Pierce executes a perfect mid-court inbounds alley oop to Rajon Rondo for a tip-in that would tie the game and send it to overtime. And of course, the Heat collapse in overtime. What makes this even more heartbreaking is that the game should have ended after Wade's dunk. The time keepers mistakenly stopped and restarted the clock after a Celtics turnover with about 8 seconds left, as they anticipated the Heat to call timeout. I don't know how much more of this I can take, and when you factor in the Bengals' gut wrenching season, I'll probably be going grey by the time the NBA Playoffs roll around... but I digress.

Dwyane Wade seemed livid after this loss, and you can't blame him. Dude posted a season high 44 points and basically had the game won only to see it go to waste because Mario Chalmers couldn't keep up with Rajon Rondo on that final play in regulation. In a season that's been all about assessing the Heat's youth, you have to wonder if this single play has made Chalmers' future with the Heat all the more questionable. While Chalmers did have a few big plays (mostly steals), he shot poorly from the field and crumbled on defense when it mattered most. Is this really the type of running mate Wade is hoping to spend the rest of his career with? Can Chalmers really contribute to a championship team? The answer to those questions is seeming more and more like a resounding "no."

As for the rest of the Heat's youth movement, Dayton's Daequan Cook has basically been banished from the rotation as he still struggles to find his shooting stroke, which he lost all the way back at last year's All Star break. Dorell Wright has been pretty solid this year, but it's doubtful Heat management will resign him unless he's willing to settle for a meager contract. Michael Beasley still looks to be an All Star in the making, but you have to wonder if he can maintain consistency in the playoffs if the Heat do retain Wade and become contenders with a big free agent signing this summer. I even have my doubts that Beasley has what it takes to contribute throughout a single playoff series, although I'd like to think otherwise. If only coach Spoelstra would give Beasley minutes when the games matter most so we could have a better idea. Lord knows his offense could've been used last night in overtime. With that said, you can't blame Spo for sticking with Haslem last night as Udonis had the hot hand in the second half, nailing baseline jumper after baseline jumper to finish with 19 points.

And so Dank Gamers, I'll end this long overdue Miami Heat rant with more or less no conclusion, because it's hard to make any sense of this team thus far. Maybe the inevitable return of Rafer Alston (who's contract was bought out by the lowly Nets) to South Beach can bring some perspective to this motley cast of characters, or maybe he'll make the roster all the more confounding. I just hope Pat Riley has a better idea of where this team is headed than the rest of us Heat fans.

Really, Gil? (UPDATE)

For those who haven't heard, Gilbert Arenas is under investigation by federal authorities for having guns in his locker, which he claims to have brought to the arena to keep away from his children. Apparently he set the unloaded guns next to Javaris Crittenton's locker as a joke (which is actually believable considering it's Gilbert Arenas) after Crittenton had said he would shoot Arenas' oft-injured knee following a gambling dispute. The whole thing sounds like a joke that was taken way too far. From what I've read, it seems that Crittenton may have actually been upset over the money Arenas supposedly owed him. Arenas claims the two are still friends, though.

Arenas has taken the whole thing as a joke, and judging by this photo from last night's game against the 76ers in Philadelphia, he's still not taking it very seriously. Arenas claims that he was asked to do this pre-game dance, and that it was a play off of a touchdown celebration from "Any Given Sunday." I have a feeling things are going to get a lot less funny for Gil real soon.

Despite the ongoing distraction for the Wizards, Arenas scored 19 points and dished a season high 14 assists to rally from an 18 point deficit. Guard Nick Young scored 21 points to help fuel the comeback. Legal troubles notwithstanding, the 76ers are at an even lower low than the Wizards after this loss. And to think, I predicted these two teams would make the playoffs. At least I had them as the 7th and 8th seeds.

UPDATE: It has been reported that Gilbert Arenas has been suspended indefinitely by NBA Commissioner David Stern. Although Stern originally planned to wait out the federal investigation before assessing his punishment for Arenas, Gilbert's "ongoing conduct has led [Stern] to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game." For more on this, check out J.E. Skeets' post on Ball Don't Lie. On the very same blog, NBA sportswriter/blogger Kelly Dwyer has written an interesting post criticizing Gilbert's behavior throughout this whole mess.

Shaq Effect

I love the Shaq trade for the Cavs. All they gave up was a rusty Ben Wallace and Sascha Pavlovic, who is not really even a rotation player. Shaq makes the Cavs bigs so much better by being the starter. He allows Varejao and Ilgauskas to come off the bench, which is great because they are both starting caliber players. Shaq doesn't need to do much because the bench players are actually better. Shaq gets the other team's bigs in foul trouble because you still almost have to foul him when he catches it deep. We all know Lebron can get him the ball with deep position and that equals fouls. Getting in the bonus is extremely important and Z doesn't draw fouls like Shaq does as he is more of a jump shooter. I can't even imagine what it's gone be like when Leon Powe gets healthy. Remeber, Powe was Kevin Garnett's back up in Boston and he was a dog man. He had great per minute stats for the Celtics. Granted he didn't play that many minutes, but who would backing up KG?