01-04-2018, 12:16 PM
I am. I can't help but cheer for the team in tiger stripes. It's a compulsion that goes back to something that was ingrained in me at a very young age. Even the last four games when I knew that draft position was going to be negatively impacted by winning and a good showing meant Marvin was more likely to come back I still couldn't not pull for them. They're my team for whatever reason.
I'm staying the course for 3 specific reasons:
1. In my personal real world life the crappy management of my favorite football team is small in the grand scheme of things. I follow the Bengals (and Reds and Blue Jackets) because they're sometimes fun and even when they're not they're an ultimately unimportant distraction from real world BS. Even griping about something trivial like a football team, venting to friends about how stupid they are, while ignoring actual problems is fun in its own way. It's important to keep perspective. I used to get so angry at Bengals losses that I was basically useless until Tuesday. The ONE good thing about the loss to the Steelers in 2015 is I just stopped caring so much. I was a wreck for days, but it sort of broke me from caring. Ever since, win or loss, I just haven't been as emotionally invested and I move in a matter of minutes.
2. I love the city of Cincinnati, my adopted home town. I grew up in Columbus, I've lived in Seattle and Atlanta, and I travel a lot for work. Cincinnati is the easiest place I've ever lived. It took me living elsewhere and moving back to realize that we really do have it pretty good here. At the very least, it’s not worse than anywhere else and it’s getting better all the time. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In my life right now this is the best time to be a Cincinnati resident. I bring all of that up to say that it’s really cool that this nationally ignored middle-sized city in the middle of the country has an NFL team. When I lived in Seattle people had an understanding of where I was from because of the Bengals. Just having a team legitimizes us because only 30 cities in the world have a team. The clock is sort of ticking and counting down to 2026 and who knows what happens then. We may have a hard deadline to win a Super Bowl.
3. Going through these bad times makes us better than Steelers fans. Do you have any respect for Steelers fans? What about Patriots fans? I don’t. Every season they get to watch, at worst, very competitive football. They never have to question their loyalty, they never have to say things like “I can’t keep giving money to this crappy team”. They never feel the hopelessness of a bad owner. None of us have any control over what happens on the field, but things always work out for them so for them it's just easier and I can't respect that. Being a fan of those teams is a playing the game on Rookie Mode. We’re playing the game on All-Madden. I have respect for Browns fans, Bills fans, Lions fans, and fans of regularly crappy teams because I know what they go through. Look at the Bills fans right now. They're so happy just to be in the playoffs they've raised almost 300K for Andy Dalton's foundation. Can you imagine Patriots fans or Steelers fans raising any money for Andy Dalton just for getting them to the playoffs? No way. They’re too jaded and spoiled. No, wear these bad times like a badge of honor. We’re better fans because we’ve been through the suckage.
I'm staying the course for 3 specific reasons:
1. In my personal real world life the crappy management of my favorite football team is small in the grand scheme of things. I follow the Bengals (and Reds and Blue Jackets) because they're sometimes fun and even when they're not they're an ultimately unimportant distraction from real world BS. Even griping about something trivial like a football team, venting to friends about how stupid they are, while ignoring actual problems is fun in its own way. It's important to keep perspective. I used to get so angry at Bengals losses that I was basically useless until Tuesday. The ONE good thing about the loss to the Steelers in 2015 is I just stopped caring so much. I was a wreck for days, but it sort of broke me from caring. Ever since, win or loss, I just haven't been as emotionally invested and I move in a matter of minutes.
2. I love the city of Cincinnati, my adopted home town. I grew up in Columbus, I've lived in Seattle and Atlanta, and I travel a lot for work. Cincinnati is the easiest place I've ever lived. It took me living elsewhere and moving back to realize that we really do have it pretty good here. At the very least, it’s not worse than anywhere else and it’s getting better all the time. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In my life right now this is the best time to be a Cincinnati resident. I bring all of that up to say that it’s really cool that this nationally ignored middle-sized city in the middle of the country has an NFL team. When I lived in Seattle people had an understanding of where I was from because of the Bengals. Just having a team legitimizes us because only 30 cities in the world have a team. The clock is sort of ticking and counting down to 2026 and who knows what happens then. We may have a hard deadline to win a Super Bowl.
3. Going through these bad times makes us better than Steelers fans. Do you have any respect for Steelers fans? What about Patriots fans? I don’t. Every season they get to watch, at worst, very competitive football. They never have to question their loyalty, they never have to say things like “I can’t keep giving money to this crappy team”. They never feel the hopelessness of a bad owner. None of us have any control over what happens on the field, but things always work out for them so for them it's just easier and I can't respect that. Being a fan of those teams is a playing the game on Rookie Mode. We’re playing the game on All-Madden. I have respect for Browns fans, Bills fans, Lions fans, and fans of regularly crappy teams because I know what they go through. Look at the Bills fans right now. They're so happy just to be in the playoffs they've raised almost 300K for Andy Dalton's foundation. Can you imagine Patriots fans or Steelers fans raising any money for Andy Dalton just for getting them to the playoffs? No way. They’re too jaded and spoiled. No, wear these bad times like a badge of honor. We’re better fans because we’ve been through the suckage.
