I honestly don't know which is more agonizing, being a Bengals fan in the off-season or a Bengals fan during the regular season. For most teams, hope springs eternal in the off-season. The wait-til-next-year mentality usually spurs interest for the fan base. But here in Cincinnati, it's a never-ending case of disappointed drafts, head scratching free agent moves, lack of free agent moves, off-the-field troubles, and players shooting their mouths off about wanting out of town.  All of this is a mounting frustration for fans. It almost makes you yearn for the season to start, just so we can have the distraction of yet another disappointing season of missing the playoffs and to hear Marvin Lewis' lies and smugness. Instead we get to hear Marvin's cronies (revolving door of coaches and coordinators) try to convince us that they were right about Jerome Simpson and EVERYONE ELSE was wrong and that it wasn't a reach to take a 4th-round projected WR from a two-bit college so early. No, trust us, and drink this Kool-Aid, and while you're doing that, keep buying up the tickets for the season because this is the year.

No, the Bengals franchise is an absolute laughing stock. Abysmal ownership, poor coaching, poor drafting, poor personnel decisions, poor performance which leaves all of us fans angry and poor from paying for tickets and merchandise. And for what?