Reader e-mail, NFL notes, a few personal notes

Here’s some new stuff for insatiable Bengals fans and a couple of personal asides.

Item 1: Apparently, Jay Leno is no longer making fun of the Bengals. An e-mailer says Leno’s phone call to YPCincy.com’s Bold Fusion event – in which he “officially jumped on the bandwagon – can now be heard on YPCincy.com.

Item 2: Some readers did not like the content or timing of the Oct. 4 story on Page A1 of The Enquirer in which we looked at the records of the Bengals’ remaining opponents.
Rosanna Martin (I’d guess she’s a fan) writes:
“Mark,
“Please let’s not speculate on the vulnerability of Bengal enemies … er … foes. PLEASE! I believe this could lead to complacency and you know how we've been there before. We could lose our edge. We could not try as hard. We might play more individually and less like the team we've become. There are many tough games ahead and we must keep playing like we have been. Please, please, please!!!”
John Fisher writes: “After squeaking out a home win against an awful Houston team, it is amazing you would pen such an article as this. I hope none of the players are reading The Enquirer. We will see how the Bengals hold up on the road at night against an extremely physical Jacksonville team.
And, from an anonymous e-mailer: “I am a bit tired of hearing that the Bengal’s first four opponents have a combined record of 3-10 and the remaining opponents are 6-17. We need to remember that four of those 10 losses are to the Bengals. To make the point simple – if this were the start of Week 2, would anyone have written that the Bengals’ first opponent was now 0-1? If the Bengal’s wins are subtracted from the equation the opponents are 3-6. I agree that the four teams the Bengals have played are not (at the start of Week 5) the best in the NFL. But no one thought we would be 4-0.”
(B y the way, after Green Bay lost Monday night, the teams with losing records remaining on the Bengals’ schedule dropped to a composite 6-18.)

Item 3: Some early notes on the Bengals and Jaguars from the NFL offices in New York:
-- With nine TD passes, QB CARSON PALMER leads the AFC. Palmer is aiming to become the third Bengals quarterback to lead the conference in touchdown passes (JEFF BLAKE, 28, 1995; BOOMER ESIASON, 28, 1988 and 1989). QB KEN ANDERSON completed a club-record 29 TD throws in 1981, leading the team to Super Bowl XVI……CB DELTHA O’NEAL leads the NFL with four interceptions and can become the first Bengal to top the league in this category for a season. The club’s single-season record of nine has been held by KEN RILEY since 1976.
-- In his 13th season, WR JIMMY SMITH ties for the second-most TD catches in the NFL with four. Smith’s best seasonal touchdown total is eight (1998, 2000). He leads the AFC with 146 receiving yards on third down……QB BYRON LEFTWICH is enjoying the best start to a season in his career with an 85.7 passer rating and five TD passes – both career bests through the first four weeks of a season……DEs REGGIE HAYWARD and PAUL SPICER each have a team-high 3.5 sacks. The club record for most sacks in a season is 12.0 by TONY BRACKENS (1999).

Intermission: There’s no more football after this point.

Item 4: Pardon this digression into baseball, but I can’t resist. Go White Sox! I’m a native of northern Illinois and a life-long fan of the South Side Hit Men. I had the pleasure of covering manager Ozzie Guillen as a player. I appreciate the way he wears his emotions on his sleeve. Now, only if their starting pitching can hold up …

Item 5: As much as I root for the White Sox, they are not my favorite team. The groups of athletes I respect, admire and root for most are the members of the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams at Roger Bacon High School. I’m proud to be loosely affiliated with them as a parent. The runners have big hearts, and I have manipulated as many road trips as possible this fall to make sure I can attend their races. It’s a thrill. I’m especially fond of a particular sophomore running on the boys’ team – my son Peter. Great job, Pete. Keep it up.

I also want to send best wishes for a continued speedy recovery to my football-playing son, Matthew. A fractured tibia forced him to miss his eighth grade season at St. Vivian. He had been named a captain and still goes to all the games and stands, wearing his jersey, on the sideline with his teammates.

Item 6: I recently picked up a re-mastered copy of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited.” The masterpiece marks 40 years since its original 1965 release, and it sounds fresher than much of what’s out there today. “Like A Rolling Stone” remains one of the greatest anti-establishment songs of all time.
A co-worker loaned me his copy of the soundtrack from the film “The Slaughter Rule.” I can’t stop listening to it.