It's Wednesday! Go out and party...

Here's what I want to see Friday night when tbe Bengals actually hit some people other than the folks they shower with: Carson Palmer upright. If that happens, it 's a major improvement over last year's exhibition game against the Saints. Remember that one? That's the game where former Bengal, Kevin Kaesviharn sacked Palmer and bloodied his nose. What prelude to a bummer that was.

Palmer is the franchise. This team has little chance of contending for a playoff spot, in my humble opinion. But it has no chance without Palmer playing every game. For the record, see how things worked out last season in October and November with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

It's always what's up front that counts. And if this offensive line isn't any better this season than last, we'll all be immersed in Reds hot stove talk by Halloween. Does anyone else find it a little disconcerting that aside from Bobbie Williams and Andrew Whitworth, there isn't a single member of that offensive line that's logged appreciable time blocking an NFL defensive lineman.

And speaking of that, here's something else I'm looking for Friday night: heat on the Saints quarterback. The Bengals couldn't rush a fraternity last season. And despite all the happy horse s#@t we're hearing about how well the defense played last season (most of those stats were padded against bad teams at the end of the season) last year we saw this group get dragged up and down the field far too often. The heat is on (no pun intended) defensive ends Antwan Odom and Robert Geathers to get into the opposing quarterback's face.

Pre-season games are interesting for about ten minutes. Let's see if your Cincinnati Bengals can squeeze their 15 minutes of fame into that time period.

Finally....finally Carson Palmer has spoken out. I say finally because Palmer rarely says anything that close to noteworthy. He's a direct disciple of Marvin Lewis, the king of non informational comments. In this day of 'gotcha' journalism, I'm not sure I blame him. But it was refreshing to hear what Palmer said today regarding the latest Bengal to spend time behind bars, Johnathan Joseph. The rookie cornerback was arrested Monday night and charged with posession of marijuana.

Palmer said, "It has to stop. If it doesn't stop, we're not going to have any fans left." The Bengals quarterback went onto say about nine of his teammates being arrested in the past nine months, "It's ridiculous. We can't get through a month without getting a guy arrested."

The mere fact that Palmer is talking this way publicly may be the best indication that things will be getting better. For years, almost a decade, the Bengals have had no vocal leader in their locker room. Team management did a terrific job of extracting that from the equation, not wanting to be publicly embarrassed by something one of their employees said to the media. They traded that, I suppose, for being embarrassed by DUI's, drugs and resisting arrest charges.

A great way for the Bengals make the jump from pretender to contender is what Palmer finally did today: stand up and assume the responsibility of his position. Like it or not, the quarterback position is one of leadership. It goes with the turf. Look at the Indianapolis Colts, or New England Patriots, the Eagles. All have vocal leaders at quarterback. Let me ask you this: do you think for a minute any of this garbage that's been going on around the Bengals would be tolerated for a moment by Peyton Manning or Tom Brady? They may not have been able to stop it completely. But they'd be vocal enough to prevent some of it.

Palmer took a giant step today. He needs to take another. Next time something blows up on the Bengals, like their playoff hopes did this year against the Broncos and the Steelers, Palmer needs to name names. Nothing drastic mind you, just a gentle 'calling out'.

I could be wrong on this. But I think that may be as big to the general health of the Cincinnati Bengals, as any touchdown pass he'll throw.

Just posted on my web site, www.kenbroo.com is the latest Broo v. Broo. It's the hottest sports opinion show in cyber space. We're talking NFL playoffs, NCAA hoops and whether or not the NHL will ever be on the same level as Major League Baseball, the NFL or NBA.

When you get to www.kenbroo.com, check out some of my other interviews. Go to the menu bar on the left hand side and click "Podcasts & More"

Just back from the US Bank Arena where I caught most of the University of Cincinnati vs Miami, Ohio game. Miami would've won, if they could've made a shot in the first half. As it was, they had this game tied with about three minutes to go.

But the Bearcats were just too fast and shot a whole lot better than Miami (48%-39%). Big East rookie of the week, Deonta Vaughn struggled, only 2-9 from the field. But big man, Marcus Sikes turned in a nice effort: 15 points and ten rebounds in 34-minutes of work.

Up next for the Bearcats, a game in Cleveland Saturday night against Ohio. The Bobcats blew out an over matched Rhode Island team in Athens tonight.

Carson Palmer said the same thing today that Willie Anderson said on Sunday, after that loss in Denver. The Bengals need to make changes before next season begins. Carson didn't elaborate, but it's clear he's talking about personnel, philosophy and attitude.

I still don't see the Jets and Broncos losing Sunday, which means this season is over for the Bengals by sundown, New Year's Eve.

Just back from the Bengals vs Ravens game. Spent most of my time in the dining area and not the press box because the dining area has all the TV sets. I need to be there to monitor both the Bengals and the Ohio Bobcats in the MAC Championship game.

The Bengals game with the Ravens has a score that appears to suggest a boring game, 13-7 Cincinnati. But as far as defensive games go, this was pretty entertaining. Some observations:

1: Baltimore played far too passively on defense. It did little to disrupt Carson Palmer's rythym. I had the sense the Ravens felt this was a game they really didn't need to win the AFC North division. And if you look at their remaining games, you'll see why. It's a very forgiving schedule.

2: Carson Palmer is over his knee injury. We now have four solid weeks of proof of that. Against a terrific Baltimore defense, he threw well. Yep, the Bengals scored only one touchdown. But Palmer picked apart a very good Ravens secondary.

3: The win did nothing to appreciably help the Bengals playoff chances. They had to win this game to remain in the hunt. But they're still digging themselves out of the hole they were in a month ago. In their final four games, Cincinnati must go 3-1 to have any shot at the post season. And we know two of those games remaining are on the road at Indianapolis and at Denver. The odds are still against this team making the post season. But the Bengals are alive.

As for the MAC Championship game, it was a long night for the Ohio Bobcats. Their top quarterback, Austen Everson left the game early. He's not over his leg problem. And the Bobcats turned the ball over way too many times to expect to win. Central Michigan exploited the Ohio secondary and seems to attack the Bobcats at their strength: linebackers.

Tough loss to be sure. But this team played with a lot of heart. It never seems to give up, which is the greatest compliment you can give a head coach. With five weeks to go before their bowl game, I have no doubt Frank Solich will have the troops ready.

He's only a junior. But Ohio running back, Kalvin McRae has a chance to play on Sundays. He is the real deal.

Ken

Chad Johnson says when he sees Brian Russell this Sunday, he'll say only "sorry". He said it with a laugh today. Russell is the player that knocked Chad senseless when the Bengals played the Browns here in Cincinnati back in September. Johnson was left with a bloodied chin that required stitches.

Chad might say "sorry" for another reason Sunday. The past two games, he's amassed 450-receiving yards, a new NFL record. If Chad torches Russell, the "sorry" will fit.

The Bengals are still banged up. Levi Jones, Rich Braham, Kelley Washington all listed as doubtful for Sunday. Safety Dexter Jackson practiced today. He missed Sunday's game in New Orleans with an achilles heel problem. He's officially listed as questionable, which meands it's "50-50" that he plays.

Carson Palmer, named today the FEDEX player of the week. Well deserved.

More as the evening progresses here in chilly Cincinnati!

Ken