The 2013 reader picks for best local athletes, teams and recreational sports spots around town.   

From Joey Votto's cool hitting style to the local coaches, teams and recreational spots we enjoy all year long.   

Is Dalton the quarterback who can lead the Bengals to a Super Bowl? For now, at least, his coach is sticking by him, so that’s about all that matters.   

Orson Charles had no idea that the Bengals hadn’t won a playoff game in his lifetime. Yet, it’s true. The Bengals rookie tight end was born Jan. 27, 1991 — just three weeks after the team’s 10-7 victory over the Houston Oilers on Jan. 6, the franchise’s last playoff victory.    

For too long the denizens of our fair city have identified themselves as losers because of the struggles of our professional sports teams, but perhaps we turned a corner in 2012.   

If a win isn’t televised, does it make a sound? Perhaps not, but coupled with a breather of a stretch, a couple of wins for the Bengals could at least return the team to TV in Cincinnati soon.   

I don’t believe in curses. I don’t believe in voodoo, hexes, sorcery or jinxes.  I don’t believe in any of those things in regular life and I certainly don’t believe in them in sports.  

One of the biggest questions coming out of the Bengals training camp was whether or not the team could find a second receiver to complement A.J. Green — for at least one day. In the Bengals’ 34-27 victory over the Browns, Cincinnati had some weaknesses exposed, but the receiving corps certainly wasn’t one of them.   

Robert Geathers is entering his ninth year with the Bengals and is now the most tenured member of the team. He was drafted in the same class as Chris Perry, Keiwan Ratliff and Madieu Williams. He’s been a member of all three of Marvin Lewis’ playoff teams, seen the high times and low, but has rarely been in the spotlight. That’s pretty much how he likes it.   

For a few months the Pirates were a nice, uplifting story, but deep down everyone knew the Cardinals were the real threat, the real enemy of the Reds.