The Cincinnati Enquirer

Losing smacked Peter Warrick upside the head again, for the 38th time in his 50 games as a pro. If losing were a pie in the face, Warrick could be the Fourth Stooge. He sat at his cubicle in the little, dank visitors locker room in Oakland Sunday afternoon, dressed in street clothes, staring at the wall. "Mark my words," Warrick said, to no one in particular.

The rumor was that the Raiders' scouting report did not flatter the Bengals wideout. Warrick had changed that perception, catching eight balls for 109 yards and a touchdown. The Bengals lost anyway. "We're going to get this together," Warrick said, to the wall.

You didn't know if someone had asked him a question, or if he was answering his own. What was clear was that Warrick wanted it known that losing does not make him a loser.

As Marvin Lewis said this week, Warrick "wants to be held in high esteem. It's important to him, and to his family."

Warrick's Florida high school team won two state championships. He was the MVP of the 2000 Sugar Bowl - just a little better than an unstoppable quarterback named Mike Vick - a game that gave Warrick's team, Florida State, the national title. He might not have taken winning for granted, but he did expect it.

No telling what Warrick expects now.

"I don't want to get used to losing," he said Thursday. "I'm tired of it. I hate it."

In his fourth season, Warrick is learning some things: He doesn't have to score every time he touches the ball. If he's back for a punt and it drops inside his 10-yard line, he doesn't have to touch it at all. He has become a better blocker and a more dependable receiver. Warrick is becoming a pro. Part of that is Lewis; most of it is Warrick. He doesn't want the defeats to define him.

Imagine if you were a career Bengal. If you were Warrick or Brian Simmons or Willie Anderson or even Corey Dillon, though the Dillonator's impressive body of work has carved him respect around the league.

If you are a jock for a living, what you do and who you are often are the same. Pro athletes enjoy their notoriety. They trade on it for favors. Not the Bengals. The Bengals don't even like going to the supermarket.

An NFL Films special about football in Ohio contained a nugget from former Bengals fullback Lorenzo Neal, the team's only Pro Bowl player last season. Neal talked about seeing players exchanging team gear at the game. No one, Neal said, wanted anything he had.

For a player like Warrick, a champion until he got here, being identified with the Bengals has been four years of cut-blocks to the self-esteem. "It's something I never, ever want to get used to," he said. "My whole mind (is on) winning, whatever it takes."

The Bengals will rise or fall with mid-career players like Warrick, talented guys who can decide to play like winners, or just play. The coaches' attitude has been established. The players' mindsets are like the Reds' starting rotation: To Be Determined.

If enough players feel as Warrick does - if they're done being defined as losers-by-association - Lewis' job suddenly gets easier.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com

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