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This is the best day of the year to be an NFL fan, right?

Since your quarterback's complicated rating is 0.0, it's understandable, right?

You haven't suffered through any gut-wrenching, last-second losses that caused you to kick the cat and throw the remote through the big-screen TV, right?

Your team is undefeated, they have a chance to advance to the playoffs and possibly play in Super Bowl XLIII, right?

Life is good, right?

Well, unless you live in Ohio, where the highest rated football team plays in Columbus.

For Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns fans, the 16-game agony begins today, Sept. 7, when the Bengals travel to Baltimore and Cleveland hosts Dallas.

The Bengals finished last season, 7-9, and after a rash of injuries and questionable off-season player moves, there isn't much confidence along the Ohio River.

Even in Cleveland, where the Browns finished a surprising 10-6 last season, optimism isn't flowing down the Cuyahoga River.

Mark Fugate, a Bengals season-ticket holder for 11 seasons — one winning season — has become frustrated by his team's futility.

"I don't know if I'm a Bengals fan or a Browns fan," he said. "Right now I'm undecided and I've always been a Bengals fan."

He rattled off several of the Bengals weaknesses: the porous defensive line, the weak offensive line that got Carson Palmer's nose broken in the preseason, the release of Rudi Johnson, the injury to fullback Jeremi Johnson, the off-season antics by Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson.

Then he caught his breath.

"What's there to worry about," he said. "I mean, it's sad. There are a lot of question marks."

And if the Bengals don't show improvement this season, Fugate, of Liberty Twp., said he won't renew his eight season tickets.

Frank Satullo, president of the Cin-Dayton Lucky Dawgs, a Middletown-based fan club, laughed nervously when asked about the prospects of the Browns season.

He's concerned by his team's difficult schedule and the inexperienced and thin defense.

"You always hope to do well," he said, "but you expect the worse."

Then he said the Bengals and Browns have a lot of "similarities."

That's bad news for NFL fans in this state.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.