Mike Brown has not spent a lifetime in football so he could leave it as a punch line. Paul Brown's son is destined to be diminished by his dad's long shadow, but he is not yet resigned to his own defeat.

        But if he cannot fix the family business, neither is he likely to flee it. Brown loves the game more than the money it has made him and enough to endure the misery it continues to cause. If he didn't, any sane man would have skipped town a long time ago.

Football over finance
        Contrary to some popular perceptions, Mike Brown is a lot more interested in football than he is in finance. He prefers the Spartan lifestyle of training camp to the lavish luxury suite. His heroes are old Browns, not old Brahmins.

        “I probably could retire and they wouldn't have to hold a benefit in my behalf,” Brown acknowledged Friday afternoon. “But I want to have an active life. There are a lot of things about this (game) that are enjoyable, even amid the most difficult of times. ... I would like to put it right, and I think we can.”

        History says Brown's hope is unwarranted. The Bengals are 45-111 under his stewardship — a record only marginally better than that of the 1962 New York Mets — and their future is fettered by contractual commitments to Akili Smith, a skeleton scouting operation and prevailing doubt about the franchise's direction.

        The Bengals' draft history is a trail of train wrecks. Their attitude about free agency falls somewhere between ambivalent and antiquated. Their inbred management and home-grown coaching staff raise questions of accountability. Their recent history would make mediocrity seem majestic.

        Dissident fans grow ever more organized. As of Friday afternoon, SaveTheBengals.com claimed 2,699 registered users (including 462 season ticket accounts) who are pledged to withhold future payments to the team pending a management reorganization.

"Ultimately responsible'
        Mike Brown remains unmoved. Whatever his flaws, Brown holds his ground like Takeo Spikes.

        “I am not immune to criticism,” he said. “No matter what we do, I'm ultimately responsible for it. But I think I understand what criticism really is. It's the opinion of others, and that opinion shifts. It reflects the emotion of the moment. I'm not going to make decisions in my life based on opinions other than my own.”

        Those who advocate Brown's ouster are appalled at his arrogance. Those who study the offspring of famous parents see a predictable pattern in his behavior.

        “Maybe he's so caught up in his identity that he doesn't see what damage he's done to the team,” psychologist Robert Butterworth surmised. “He's not seeing reality clearly. The reality is that he's not good at what he does. He's fooling himself. .. Maybe he's so caught up in it that he thinks his life would be worthless without it.”

        Probably, it's not that simple. But if you're waiting for Mike Brown to step down, pack a lunch.

        E-mail: tsullivan@enquirer.com.

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