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It was Oct. 2, 1968. In St. Louis, Bob Gibson and the Cardinals squared off against Denny McLain and the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series. In Denver, Broncos coach Lou Saban announced that Marlin Briscoe would start Sunday’s AFL game against the Bengals, making Briscoe the first Black quarterback to start in the Super Bowl era. A preseason basketball game in Flagstaff hardly registered, but it provided a glimpse of what the NBA, then a league of two divisions and 14 teams, was like six decades ago. The night started with the Suns and Lakers sharing a bus from the hotel to the gym. It ended with Chamberlain, riding back to Phoenix with injured Suns forward David Lattin, changing a tire off of Interstate 17, a moment hard to believe and a story seldom shared.
ESPN canvassed 136 teams in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB and NHL from November 2023 to July 2024 on whether they offer accommodations that fans with invisible disabilities say would make their game-day experience better. Of the 136 teams, 120 responded. In the NFL, the Broncos, Texans, Patriots, Cardinals and Bengals did not answer questions. In MLB, the Brewers, Pirates, Mariners and Cubs did not answer. In the NBA, the Timberwolves declined to answer and the Clippers responded before their move to the Intuit Dome. In the WNBA, the Lynx declined to answer. In the NHL, the Panthers, Sabres, Jets and Senators did not answer. (The Utah Hockey Club was omitted because of the team's impending move to Salt Lake City.) Some teams did not answer every question in the survey.
Phoenix Suns players Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are at Paycor Stadium for the Cincinnati Bengals' home opener against the Baltimore Ravens, sitting in Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's suite. Burrow, Booker and Durant all attended billionaire Michael Rubin's Fourth of July "White Party" in the Hamptons.
Stan Kroenke's sports empire has produced an NFL, NHL and now NBA champion in three consecutive seasons. His latest title came Monday night when the Denver Nuggets won their first championship 47 years after joining the NBA. His Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the Super Bowl following the 2021 season, and his Colorado Avalanche hoisted the Stanley Cup last summer after dispatching Tampa Bay in six games.
Stephen Curry picks Bengals to win Super Bowl
Kylen Mills@KylenMills"Joe Sheisty is that his nickname? I'm going with the Bengals. I'm going with the Bengals." -Steph Curry says he's pulling for the Bengals to beat the Rams in the Super Bowl, says Joe Burrow will have to play out of his mind. @kron4news #SuperBowl #Dubnation #RuleItAll
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Former Cleveland Cavaliers star Brad Daugherty and former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis have joined Octagon to co-lead the sports and entertainment agency’s new career-development-and-transition division, alongside seasoned agents Mike Liut and Eddie Pope—both former professional athletes themselves.
In one of the roughly 20 scrapbooks in Reggie Williams' den, there's a picture from 1997 of Williams and former NBA commissioner David Stern standing on the midcourt logo at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, which wasn't open yet. In the photo, Williams cuts the same figure he had as a linebacker for 14 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. Williams recalls talking to Stern about the possibility of the NBA playing at the innovative facility. That vision is fully realized as the NBA resumes its season this week inside the complex that sprawls over 225 acres. It's also another part of a post-athletic legacy that arguably surpasses what Williams did during his NFL career.
Joe Burrow is the most famous man in America today. The former LSU quarterback was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on Friday (AEST) by the Cincinnati Bengals, with the hopes of the struggling franchise now firmly on his shoulders. Simply put, he’s a big deal. And big deals need big heroes. Step up, Matthew Dellavedova. Yes, really. The Australian point guard is Burrow’s favourite player “in the world”. “I saw him [Dellavedova] dive on the floor and punch someone in the face, and it got me going,” the Ohio native told cleveland.com back in 2016.
One of the bigger NBA names who’s still unsigned is former defensive player of the year and two-time All-Star Joakim Noah. While Noah is weighing his options, he has been training in Los Angeles and talking with Terrell Owens, who relayed his experience of playing with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals at the end of his Hall of Fame career. “I told him about the end of my career when I was with Dallas and looking to sign with another team and Buffalo came to the table,” Owens said. “That’s not the most desirable place to play football, but I didn’t allow that environment or what people said about it to deter me from going there. [Noah] might have a chance to go to Detroit, which isn’t a desirable destination, but I said be a bright spot in a not so great environment. It doesn’t matter. Just rededicate yourself and be the best basketball player you can be.”
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Jeff Goodman: Idaho State junior guard Ethan Telfair (20.2 ppg) has declared for NBA Draft, but will not hire an agent, Bengals coach Bill Evans told ESPN. And yes, Ethan Telfair is Sebastian's younger brother.
Among current pro athletes who have professed a fear of flying are Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox, the NBA's Delonte West, James Harrison of the Cincinnati Bengals, Cortland Finnegan of the St.Louis Rams and pro golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez, who once said: "I hate flying. Sometimes I go into such a sweat, it looks like I've poured a bucket of water on my head."
No D.C. team was that bad off this time around, so the headline goes like this: ESPN the Magazine says the Wizards have the worst fan relations in major pro sports. Yup, that’s right, the Wizards ranked 122nd in the “Fan Relations” category, one spot behind the Cincinnati Bengals. Yikes. That includes rankings of 122nd in players acting professionally, 121st in player accessibility, 107th in players and ownership showing appreciation to fans, and 87th in providing avenues for fan feedback.
James needs neither the money nor the bruises — to his knees, elbows or ego — that a journey into the NFL would bring. We presume he's smart enough to know that the NFL is a fast, violent game, too violent for a guy who has enough time to make hundreds of millions more playing basketball to get any closer to the field than a third-level luxury suite. The thought that he could give it a shot isn't an entirely crazy one — and it certainly is an intriguing one. The thought he could last, however, is a different story. "It wouldn't be easy," Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Leon Hall said. "I recommend he keep his NBA contract and just play the Madden video games if he misses football."
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