In Cincinnati, Jungle Fever is Alive

For 14 years, it's been lurking beneath the city's grass and pavement amidst the infamous Cincinnati cicadas. Waiting. Scheming. Hoping. For 14 years, it's been overlooked, criticized, beaten, worn down, and laughed at. For 14 years, it's been waiting for this September of 2005. As soon as the leaves change and fall to alert the city of the beginning of football season, it will peek out from beneath its hiding spot, seizing the city and all innocent passersby that will become hosts when bitten.

"Jungle Fever," as it was once known, has been idle and depressed for too long, and there's only a one-month period that will decide this year whether that fever is here to stay for a while or subject to another 14 years of underground oppression.

So we know that Jungle Fever has been hiding, but where have all the Bengals fans been hiding out? Not counting the select batch of diehards, it appeared as if Cincinnati was a bandwagon sports town. The Reds don't get much attendance when they're not playing well, and the same goes for the Bengals.

But for each of the three years that head coach Marvin Lewis has been running the ship, Bengals fans have continued to come out of nowhere, setting regular season home attendance records with every season. Last year, Cincinnati reached the half-million mark for the first time with all eight sellouts. Is it the new uniforms? Is it the new stadium? Is it the new mindset of the team? Is it the proven winners that Lewis has brought in? Is it the more noticeable faces and fan-friendly stars on the team?

I've been working at Cardboard Heroes in Cincinnati for a part-time this summer selling jerseys, hats, and other sports collectables for the company that has stores around the Ohio area. On Wednesday, August 17, a man wearing large black sunglasses and a low hat came in asking about a job and talking quite loudly. There were four of us working, and on that day, there was no one else in the store.

So we were talking and joking around amongst ourselves, and we pulled out an application for him while continuing our own conversation. The man seemed very offended, and he said, "I actually have to fill this out?" We were all thinking how rude this person was because of course he'd have to fill out an application to work here! We thought, well, who does he think he is?! He shook his head in disbelief, muttered to himself, and walked out the door.

We really didn't understand what that was all about. Why should he get special treatment? However, the next day, we learned that it was, in fact, Bengals' loquacious wide receiver Chad Johnson. The otherwise hard-to-miss Johnson, known for his elusiveness on the field, definitely played up his trickiness in the store that day.

But how could we not recognize Johnson and his 1,274 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns last season? The Oregon State grad considers himself the entertainer on the team, and some have labeled him a milder version of Eagles receiver Terrell Owens. Yet while Owens rips down signs in stadiums and trash talks his own teammates, Johnson, however, trash talks opposing teams.

He is notorious when it comes to pranks, including the one in which he sent in 2004 to the Cleveland Browns' four defensive backs a care package of Pepto Bismol and a greeting that the medicine will come in handy for them after he's finished in the game against them. Unfortunately for Johnson, the Bengals ended up losing that contest in Cleveland by a final of 34-17 before 73,000+ fans. Johnson himself had only three receptions for a total of 37 yards. If anyone needed the medicine, it was he.

But as the Bengals' training camp concluded, perhaps that "how-can-you-not-recognize-me" attitude was descriptive of many of Cincinnati's players, with a couple of flashy receivers, a former USC quarterback, a Pro-Bowler cornerback, and proven Georgia linebackers. But the group still remains down to earth, signing hundreds of autographs after practices.

Having been 14 years since their last playoff appearance, it is now officially do-or-die time for the team previously referred to as the "Bungles." In fact, it's even been 14 years since they last had a winning preseason record. However, things didn't look so great from the start in the Bengals' first preseason game against the defending champion Patriots. Quarterback Carson Palmer's first play ended up as an interception, but what does preseason even count for, let alone the first preseason game? The Patriots have one of the best quarterbacks in the game right now in Tom Brady, and what did he do on his first play in the most recent game against the Saints? Yeah — interception. Maybe Palmer is taking after the right guy...

And the whole team is taking after the right coach. Lewis has taken this franchise in a complete 360-degree different direction than his predecessor, Dick LeBeau. LeBeau's team in 2001 was 6-10, but the following year, they plummeted to a gruesome 2-14. Enough was enough — LeBeau was out like a mullet.

Enter Lewis, former Redskins and Ravens defensive coordinator. In his first season in Cincinnati, he coached the most improved team in the league and finished second to New England's Bill Belichick for Coach of the Year. The Bengals have only risen with each year and are looking to burst out of gate with a bang. The 1-4 start in 2004 put a damper on things early on, so the best thing for this team would be to avoid that altogether and set the tone immediately.

It didn't help, though, that the top story out of training camp was the contract holdout of their top draft pick, David Pollack. It didn't help that the Georgia boy who had 36 career sacks in college held out for 21 days, 24 practices, plenty of meetings, scrimmages, games, and precious bonding time with teammates. It didn't help that he missed the most important time for a rookie. It didn't help that he would be switching from defensive end to linebacker, but the Bengals are used to these situations. After all, in 2001 defensive end Justin Smith didn't sign with the team until the day before the regular-season opener.

Not to worry. Lewis has said it before, and he'll say it again — the team does not revolve around one person. This Bengals team has a solid core of receivers fighting for jobs, and after a breakout year last season, T.J. Houshmandzadeh combines with Johnson to form one of the most potent one-two punches in the league. A healthy Peter Warrick is also back on the radar at receiver, who faces competition from draft pick Chris Henry from West Virginia.

They've also got former Auburn running back Rudi Johnson, who is facing competition from second-year player Chris Perry from Michigan. Perry has been arguably the brightest star to emerge from training camp, looking to prove himself following an injury-ridden season. He had more carries in his first preseason game than all of last season combined. If Cincinnati can keep him healthy and win the big games at home, the AFC North won't know what him them.

But will this be the year? They've got the coach. They've got the explosive offense. They've got the playmaking defense. Now, they've got the fans.

I'll tell you this — the Fever has definitely come out. And it's not stopping at 8-8.