Have you ever been to Paul Brown Stadium?

[*Awful Llama*]

I've only been to four NFL stadiums in my life, and three of them (Pontiac Silverdome, Riverfront, RCA/Hoosierdome) no longer exist, so my sample size is small. Having said that, PBS is the best of that lot.

I was a STH from '00 through '21 (just cashed out this year) and spent about half of those years in the upper deck and the second half on the club level. The upper deck was devoid of stimuli apart from the game, and you're exposed to the elements, so on a freezing day your only refuge is a 55-degree men's room. And, you can only hang out in there so long before people start drawing the wrong conclusions about you. Food choices are pricey (natch) and vey mediocre, so we always made an effort to hit a restaurant on the way down.

When I finally moved to the club section, I felt like I'd been paroled from my concrete prison and into civility. Padded seats, a climate-controlled lounge with big TVs and numerous food options awaited. There are screens everywhere, and if the Bengals game has gone sideways, you can watch a few other out-of-town games. They would often have memorabilia silent auctions, and on occasion they'd have ex-players in for a chat and to meet the fans. Jim Beech seemed to be there about every other week. Saw Munoz stroll through a couple of times over the years. The cheerleaders would often do a walk-through, and the (west) lounge has a nice view of the river. And, as mentioned before, there are better food options. It's the usual fare, plus spendier takes on hamburgers and sandwiches, and they usually feature one special item each week (Sheppard's pie, crab cakes, and whatnot). There is huge bar and numerous libations.

So, all of that was to illustrate how different the experiences can be depending on where you sit. I'd guess when sizing up the NFL, PBS is probably a middle-of-the road experience. Those with more stadium experience may disagree.