The Bengals have once again made it on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  The cover features Pittsburgh Steelers Hines ward getting hammered by Bengals Linebacker Caleb Miller.  The magazine is slated to hit news stands today.  The article hypes the Bengals and Steelers as having the best rivalry in football.  Headlined “The NFL’s Nastiest Rivalry: Bengals crunch Steelers,”  SI staff writer Tim Layden says the Bengals “set themselves up as top cats in the NFL’s toughest division.”

The Bengals have been referenced on the cover of sports Illustrated twelve times since the teams inception in 1968.  They have been featured on the cover seven times since 1968. Those featured included Paul Brown, Cris Collinsworth, Ickey Woods, Boomer Esiason, Carson Palmer, and now Caleb Miller.  The seventh time they were featured was a photo from Super Bowl XVI game.  The last time the Bengals were featured on the cover was Carson Palmer’s story about his rehab from the injury he sustained in the Steelers playoff game last year.  That was the May 29^th, 2006 edition.   

The national press has definitely picked up on the Bengals continued success in both good and bad ways.  The recent arrest of Odell Thurman gained a lot of attention from the national media as well as the continued issues with Chris Henry and some of the other Bengals players.  Some even went as far as to say that the Odell Thurman arrest after Sundays game overshadowed the Bengals win against the Steelers this past week.  The Bengals have already seen Rudi Johnson win the FedEx Ground Player of the week award and TJ Houshmandzadeh win the AFC Offensive Player of The Week award in the first three weeks of the season.   

The national media always goes where the story is.  If the Bengals keep winning, Cincinnati fans can expect a lot more awards, a lot more covers, and a lot more scrutiny when things go bad off the field.   This is true not only with print media, but also TV and radio coverage.  TJ Houshmandzadeh was a guest on the Jim Rome’s national radio show on Monday, and Chad Johnson has been a constant media favorite as well as Carson Palmer.   With success comes coverage, and the Bengals can expect a lot more if they can continue to win.  Unfortunately this is also true if they continue to see off field problems arise with their players.  So the Bengal’s fans will have to learn to take the good with the bad when it comes to media coverage from here on out.    

J MooreWhodeycentral.com