BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The day Cincinnati honored his father, Mike Brown officially anointed the next generation.

Mr. Brown, at the heart of every key move in Bengaldom since the first Riverfront Stadium negotiations, spent Wednesday night helping wife Nancy baby-sit the grandchildren.

While daughter Katie Blackburn, 31, the Bengals' corporate secretary, and her husband, Bengals' director of stadium development Troy Blackburn, 30, slogged through final lease negotiations, Mr. Brown was getting splashed by 4-year-old Elizabeth's Barbie bath.

"They were doing what I did. They carried the ball. I'm taking the applause only because of my position," Mr. Brown said.

But Mr. Blackburn, the man to whom Mr. Brown always directed stadium questions, wasn't so sure. Mr. Brown almost always stayed behind in his Spinney Field office when Mr. Blackburn, and often Mrs. Blackburn, negotiated.

"Mike's giving too much credit," Mr. Blackburn said. "He was always aware what was going on."

Mr. Brown, 61, was Mr. Blackburn's age when he squared off against Cincinnati officials. But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

When Mike Brown sat down with his father, Paul, to sign the original lease in 1966, Paul was outraged at some changes. The Bengals seemed in jeopardy until "we convinced him to go along as gracefully as we could. It would have gotten done without me," Mike Brown said.

But last February, Mike Brown again played facilitator when Mr. Blackburn was incensed that the county wanted the Bengals to move the stadium a block west, to Central Avenue and Elm Street. The deal wobbled during a tense weekend, but the club finally agreed. "Mike never lost sight of the big prize," Mr. Blackburn said. "He said the goal is not to win every battle, but to win enough to keep a focus on the prize."

Mike Brown always labored in the shadow of his father, and has taken the brunt of the heat for the Bengals' 29-67 record since Paul died Aug. 5, 1991. Asked whether the stadium deal will be his legacy, Mike Brown said, "I just try to do the job at hand."

Asked what would mean more, a new stadium or a Super Bowl title, Mike Brown didn't hesitate.

"The Super Bowl."