Sunday, September 19, 1999BENGALS INSIDER
BY Geoff Hobson
The Cincinnati EnquirerThe Cincinnati-Cleveland rivalry that has simmered in pro football circles for 30 years may now lack Paul Brown and Art Modell. But now there is Akili Smith and Tim Couch and canopies and concourses.
Jeff Berding, the Bengals director of community affairs, and Vince Cicero, the club's director of corporate sales and marketing, might have made a bit of history last Sunday when they witnessed two stadium openings in the same day.
They spent the afternoon watching the Titans open Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville against the Bengals and then flew to Cleveland to watch the Browns open their stadium that night against the Steelers.
“Everyone around here will tell you that Cleveland has a nice facility, one of the top in the country, and our fans that go watch us play up there Oct. 10th will be impressed,” Berding said. “But we still feel our building is going to break the mold.”
Berding feels the Bengals have improved on the Cleveland and Tennessee facilties when it comes to comfort, amenities, and architecture, starting virtually from the top. The Browns don't have an escalator to the upper deck, and the Bengals do. And Paul Brown Stadium has “significantly wider,” concourses than Cleveland's stadium.
Plus, the Bengals' luxury suites are inside boxes which have retractable glass windows so the fans can choose to sit in the open air or close it off if the weather is bad. In Cleveland, most of the suites have the seats outside the box. The other 30 boxes are permanently glassed in.
Berding also thinks the Bengals have improved on the entrance to the suites. In Cleveland, suite holders enter through a Holiday Inn-like hallway. At Paul Brown Stadium, the entrances to the suites overlook the lounge and a 50-foot high glass wall that offers a view of downtown and the new Reds stadium.
“We've been able to see what has worked and hasn't worked and that's helped us,” Berding said, shrugging off the mini-controversy over who designed what first.
There had been rumblings in Cleveland that the Bengals copied elements of the Browns' design, which was the exact opposite view in Cincinnati.
“They came up with a design that was not well received,” said Troy Bla ckburn, the Bengals director of stadium operations. “Then we unveiled our plans (in late 1996) for the sales campaign. After that, they came out with a revised design that looked shockingly similar.”
But Blackburn, married to Paul Brown's granddaughter, said he's not looking for a budding stadiunm rivalry with Cleveland.
“We're looking to build the best facility in the NFL, not the best facility in Ohio,” Blackburn said.
FISHER RECOVERING
The Bengals are still coping when it comes to rookie cornerback Charles Fisher, their second-round pick.Dr. James Andrews operated Thursday night on Fisher in Birmingham, Ala., and repaired his left knee that had a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a torn medial collateral ligament and a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament.
The PCL was partially intact, but the posterior capsule was blown out, said Bengals trainer Paul Sparling. Sparling said Andrews compared the injury to the one suffered by former Appalachian State cornerback Matt Stevens during the 1995 college season.
The 6-foot, 206-pound Stevens, now 26, had great speed and was one of the draft's top corners. until he blew out his knee. He went from a projected first-rounder to Buffalo's third-round pick in 1996, lasted there a year and is now on his third team in four years as he tries to hang on with the Redskins as a safety.
LATER THE BETTER
Bengals running back Corey Dillon proved he gets better the more he carries the ball after he had 66 yards on 21 carries last Sunday. Two of his three longest runs came at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Carry 15 went for seven yards and carry 16 was good for 15, his longest of the day. His 34-yarder that got called back for double motion would have been his 20th carry and came with 4:30 left in the game.“I was getting comfortable, but time ran out,” Dillon said.
SUPER SCOUT
Bengals secondary coach Ray Horton, who discovered indoor football veteran Rodney Heath on videotape, won't be turning guys away so quickly now.“Since Rodney's done so well, I've got a tape from another guy from another indoor league,” Horton said. “He sent me a bio and then said the defensive back was named MVP.
“I'll take a look at this kid,” Horton said. “It's like (cornerback) Ric Mathias. He was the best player in his conference, a Division III All-American (at Wisconsin-LaCrosse). If you're going to get a guy, get the best guy where he was versus just going out and finding guys. That way you know he's an athlete, and athletes at least have a shot.”
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