You know this. You’ve KNOWN this.
It’s hard to miss.
The radio talks about it, local television tries to relate to it, and the interwebs are saturated with it. Sports Illustrated once called it The Nastiest Rivalry in the NFL, featuring linebacker Caleb Miller knocking out Hines Ward — the prick with a condescending smile who applied cheap tactics with blindside blocks — on the cover.
This cover story, mostly examining Cincinnati’s 28-20 win over the Steelers in late September 2006 (after which we asked if the “Steelers were feeling sorry for themselves”), came out long before Vontaze Burfict played in college, before Steelers players threatened to “paint that boi on sight,” before Joey Porter mouthed off at the Bengals, causing Adam Jones to overreact (actually he’s been doing that and jumping players like Levi Jones at Las Vegas casinos for a while), before Mike Tomlin jawed at Reggie Nelson — who had his hair yanked by coach Mike Munchak in another game.