Justin Williams

One of my favorite scenes from the Cincinnati Bengals stint on HBO’s Hard Knocks a few seasons ago was the-artist-formerly-known-as-Chad-Johnson having a discussion with head coach Marvin Lewis about his finances. The moment exemplified so many aspects of how professional athletes handle their wealth. Despite having more money than the rest of us, the majority still have no clue exactly what to do with that income in terms of investments and such—just like the rest of us. But there is also the moment when Lewis instructs Chad to investment his money in "$200,000 blocks," to which Chad replies, “That’s nothing.” Oh.

There are plenty of reasons why Bengals fans—and NFL fans in general—love Geno Atkins. This is simply another thing to add to the list.

In the end, Orb crossed the finish line first, the field favorite winning the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby in just over two minutes’ time. Mud caked the horse and his jockey, Joel Rosario, who rode the young colt to victory for trainer Shug McGaughey and the Phipps family owners (cousins Ogden Mills Phipps and Stuart Janney III) on a day that saw steady rainfall and very little else. Despite their prominence in the horseracing industry, Orb's triumph on Saturday was the first Derby victory for both parties, a fact that was obvious on their faces in the post-race press conference. Taking the Triple Crown is the sport's only higher achievement, and that can't be done unless you win the Derby first. For these men, who have devoted decades upon decades to this very honor—this two-minute stretch that ultimately occurs while they stand and watch—there is no greater joy.

My 8th grade math teacher, Mr. Callahan, had a go-to saying for every situation, and any time one of us “Podunk, Joe-everyday slob-like” students forgot our homework, he'd simply shake his head and mutter, “Well it’s not tragic, but it’s not good either.”

Jay Bruce struggled at the plate in last night’s 2-1 loss to the Cardinals, going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. It’s a struggle that has stretched throughout the first month of the season, with Bruce currently hitting .252 and slugging only .339, with just one homer thus far. Evidently, this has spurred numerous “fans” to hound Bruce via his Twitter handle (@JayABruce) about his lack of production at the dish in 2013, as if Bruce wasn’t already aware of these things himself.

As any Reds fan is well aware, Dusty Baker has always been a popular target when it comes to questioning whatever bumps in the road the team may experience. At times, this white-hot ire of fandom is actually somewhat warranted. Other times, it’s a bit much, particularly for a guy who has led the club to a pair of NL Central titles in the past three seasons. But what we haven’t heard enough of is fans considerately requesting—nay—pleading for Dusty to lead his team to its first World Series title since 1990. And even when we have heard it, it certainly hasn’t sounded this good.

The Bengals received widespread praise over the course of this past weekend regarding the team's selections in the 2013 NFL Draft. And while we’ll still need a few years before we can determine if that praise was made in good judgment, the organization has clearly made marked improvement in the past handful of drafts when it comes to recognizing and selecting talent. However, the recent stretch of strong picks isn’t the only draft-related accomplishment worthy of applause.

When the Bengals finally nailed down a contract with former Steelers linebacker and Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison late last week, I began exchanging emails with my fellow Bobcat grad and Bengals Blog compatriot, Adam Flango. A video producer for CBS Sports, Flango is a die-hard Steelers fan. Being a hard-core Bengals fan myself, we both deemed ourselves intelligent enough to discuss our thoughts on the Harrison signing. Whether we were ultimately correct in assuming this is an entirely separate matter.