Paul Daugherty

@EnquirerDoc

If you write sports opinions for money, an important aspect of the job isn’t writing. It’s picking what to write. Folks who cover teams have that laid out for them, often. You cover a Reds game, say, you describe what’s in front of you.

My job is to write what isn’t in front of you, and sometimes I swing and miss like Adam Dunn.

Such as now, with FC Cincinnati.

The local side has won 10 in a row. It hasn’t lost since May, or been out of 1st place since June. It clinched the USL regular-season championship three games before the end of the regular season. It drewmore than 31,000 fans Saturday night, for what amounted to a meaningless game in the standings. Fans went for the celebration. The title had been won earlier in the week, at Richmond.

More:The top 10 moments from FC Cincinnati's championship season

Watch:FC Cincinnati celebrates regular-season title

More:FC Cincinnati's season-long dominance capped with regular-season title

Think about that.

If a team wins a title with games to spare, it uses those games as a breather. Alan Koch did that, using the depth of his roster Saturday. Fans exhale, too, then take a deep breath before the playoffs.

Not FCC fans. They set yet another attendance record (yawn) in what was, in the standings anyway, a meaningless game.

The local futbol club wins and throws parties. “One hundred percent carnival,’’ Koch described it. And that was before it occurred, in his remarks after the win at Richmond. The man knows his team and his adopted town.

Yeah, Doc. No kidding. Where you been, son?

Um, writing too much Reds, mostly.

Living pre-FCC, still.

The Reds and Bengals (and UC and XU basketball) have never had to earn media attention. They play, we show up. That’s not going to stop. They are who they are. But it’s going to change some. At least in This Space, and in the Traditional Media.

I’ve written about FC Cincinnati as a phenomenon. Its spectacular rise has been fascinating as a symbol of changing sports passions around here. In essence, I’ve chronicled the party, not the work.

Time to start chronicling the work. This is the most successful team in this town, basketball teams included. It has been big league since its inception, in the way it handles its business. It’s officially big league beginning in 2019, with its entrance into the MLS. It deserves the same patch of media turf the other big leaguers get.

Meantime, Johnny Soccer will flash his “expertise’’ in the playoffs that begin here Oct. 20. What I know about the nuances of the game I could write on the inside of a matchbook. Life is for learning. Viva, futbol.

Now, then. . .

THE NFL IS MAKING ITS GAME EASY FOR OFFENSES. Is that OK with you? Many years ago, the league made life more difficult for defensive backs. Even now, every deep-ball incompletion comes with the anticipation of a flag for holding or PI.

Now, the attention has switched to the front 7. I watched Denver’s Von Miller to the seemingly impossible last night v. KC. Miller changed directions seemingly in mid-flight toward KC QB Patrick Mahomes.

The players will adjust to the new rules. They have already, some. Penalties for QB hits were down this week.

Is the game better?

Do you like what’s happening?

It’s hard to complain about Monday’s game. It was terrifically entertaining, a 27-23 KC W achieved in the waning minutes. The Bengals game was the same way. The league needs great QB play. The new rules promote that.

Does any of it look a little hollow to you? Is something missing, something you’ve enjoyed?

Is the violence as much a part of the excitement as the touchdowns?

Do you need to adjust, same as the players?

This is an existential crisis for the NFL, and for football in general. It seeks the proverbial happy medium.

This about sums it up, from SI’s Tim Layden:

A sport once left unchecked to grow its own mythology through 16-millimeter homages to manliness has found itself under fire from a force of activists, researchers, media, even its own former players, all demanding that the game be made safe. It is, by consensus, both a reasonable and wholly unachievable mandate. “I mean, it’s football,” says backup Bears quarterback Chase Daniel.

Power rankings: Bengals move into top 10

NOBODY SHOULD BURY THE STEELERS after just 4 games, but they’re 1-2-1 with Atlanta coming into ‘Burgh this week. In Quarters 1, 3 and 4 Sunday night, the Stillers looked like they didn’t want to be there. The rumor now is L. Bell is coming back for Game 7 but given the anger directed Bell’s way by some of his teammates, his contribution is open to question. All we know is what we see, and what we see at the moment is the makings of a lost season and, possibly, the end of an era.

BARNWELL LOVES LAZOR. . . At the quarter pole, ESPN’s analyst says he’s the 2nd-best OC in the league, behind the Bears Vic Fangio:

Lazor is creating opportunities for Dalton to succeed.

Margus Hunt, whom I called The Experiment when he played here, is No. 2 Most Improved on defense: The SMU product already has four sacks and nine tackles for loss through four games, which are more than Hunt racked up during his four seasons in Cincinnati combined.

Tyler Boyd is No. 2 Most Improved on offense: Boyd has emerged as Andy Dalton's security blanket.

A WILD CARD SERIES. I love the idea of a wild-card team. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. I dislike the format. A team that grinds through the Big 162 should not be eliminated in one game.

The 1-game format tilts the scales too heavily toward the team with the better starting pitcher. That diminishes the success the whole team had for six months. In 2015, MPWS won 98 games. Their reward was to face Jake Arrieta, who was an absolute assassin that year.

That’s not right.

Baseball success across six months requires an effort from 25 players at least. To have a season decided because of one hot arm?

Make it best of 3. Give the team approach a small chance. Yeah?

Postseason rosters to include former Reds

ONE GREAT READ TODAY. . . My pal and frequent Hemingway Jay Brinker brought this profile of Bill Belichick to my attention. Sally Jenkins is the best newspaper sports writer in America. This is a deep and nuanced profile of a coach most of us simply knee-jerk dislike. TML sez ckitout.

TUNE O’ THE DAY. CCR wrote a couple songs about political rain. Both were excellent tunes and so very appropriate today. Who’ll stop the rain?