THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A RANDOM THURSDAY NIGHT

The great guessing game in Cincinnati these days is which, if any, of the Bengals assistant coaches are going away. The early line says, none. Don't kid yourself, Marvin Lewis would love to shake up his staff. He. like every Bengals coach since Paul Brown, has been forced to inherit assistant coaches from previous regimes. Lewis was forced to do that in 2003 for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was he was a rookie head coach desperate for a head coach's position.

Lewis wanted to make changes several times since taking the top job in Cincinnati. He got his wish on the defensive side of the ball, going through three coordinators in his eight seasons. Reportedly, two years ago, he wanted offensive coordinator, Bob Bratkowski out. Owner Mike Brown would let Lewis do that. Brown reportedly has a soft spot in his heart for the son of a former coaching legend, perhaps finding a little common ground with Son Of Zeke.

On the final day of the 2010 season, when all signs pointed to Lewis skating from the Bengals, he hinted that he wanted more say in a lot of things in Bengal-dom, including who was on his staff. Quickly, his tune changed. The offers he thought would be coming his way didn't. And by all indications, Lewis went back to Brown, hat in hand, trying to keep his job.

The bigger issue here isn't whether or not Lewis will get to make changes on his staff (he should, every NFL head coach should be able to hire and fire the people who will help determine his success.). The bigger issue is how will the Bengals organization sell a new season of hope to a fan base, which now has to be on the brink of complete disillusion. Hope and belief that better days are close at hand only works if you've given someone a clear indication that there may be some truth in the statement. Seen any of that around here lately?

So it should be no surprise to anyone if the Bengals way of doing business changes little this winter. Mike Brown has never been someone who's offered sacrificial lambs to his now dwindling fan base. And Marvin Lewis may have over played his hand.

Bengals fever catch it.

I'm happy the Reds addressed their left field shortcomings by signing a major league veteran like Fred Lewis. But I still believe Scott Podsednik would have been a better option. But neither are long term answers to that position. Nor is Jonny Gomes. The Reds must find out this summer if either Todd Frazier or Chris Heisey can answer that challenge.

I'm thinking Juan Francisco plays more than a few games at third base this season. Over/under I've got at 40. What are you taking?

We can talk all we want about which team did what this off season. Zach Greinke to the Brewers, Lance Berkman to the Cardinals, Matt Garza to the Cubs, etc. You and I both know the key element to a team winning a division title is health. If the Brewers lose Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder for any appreciable amount of time, they're toast. The Reds stayed relatively healthy in 2010 and won.

I'll take the Steelers over the Ravens this Saturday and the Patriots over the Jets on Sunday in the AFC playoffs. But I feel a lot stronger about the Pats than the Steelers...

NFC? I'm going with the Bears and Packers.

Lebron needs to let it go. He defeated Dan Gilbert last summer.

OJ Mayo gets into a fight with a teammate in a card game on the Memphis Grizzlies charter? Really? Trouble has been hounding him since high school.

I'm enough of a cynic to admit that I believe the soft schedule UC played leading up to their Big East Conference schedule will do as much harm and good come NCAA Tournament selection time. But you've got to give it to Mick Cronin for this: it built confidence for a team that was desperate for it.

But UC better win at least 10 regular season conference games if it wants to get in.

The paper had an article this week from some recruiting guru who thinks Butch Jones will have the best 2011 recruiting class in the Big East. He better. Broad-based interest in UC football is so fragile, it'll sink into the abyss again with another season like this past one.

UK wide receiver and utility man, Randall Cobb declared for the NFL draft today. He says he's been told that he'll go anywhere from rounds two through four. Whoever drafts him is getting a steal. I think his Sunday afternoons will be busy for a long time.

Among my guests this Sunday on 700 WLW will be none other than Sprint Cup driver, Joey Logano. He's won the Nationwide Series race at the Kentucky Speedway each of the last three years. You think he might be the favorite for the first-ever Cup race at Kentucky this July? You think?

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