PALM DESERT, Calif. - Paul and Mike Brown thought it would happen and hoped it would happen from nearly the time the Bengals are founded 35 years and six NFL franchises ago. Yet today, here at its annual meeting, the NFL finally creeps ever closer to its realignment of eight divisions with four teams each in an effort to balance the schedule and the country. With Bengals president Mike Brown breathing a sigh of relief with the first concrete evidence his club will stay with Cleveland and Pittsburgh, he remembers those early days as he ducks back into today’s afternoon session.