(11-30-2015, 07:14 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Personally, I see more caution than depression. That caution will gradually disappear as the team continues to accomplish things (winning division, reaching playoffs, getting a first round bye, winning first playoff game in decades, etc.).

People are different. Some get excited early. Some don't get excited until after the team has achieved something. Most of us lay somewhere on the spectrum in between: a little optimism, a little caution. Nothing wrong with that.

This is a great post and sums it up very well.

We all have to work on ignoring the extremes either way. In this case we have the over the top we are going 16-0 crowd and the Bengals do no wrong. Then we have the Bengals will never win anything crowd and are waiting for a loss or bad performance to solidify their feelings.

But, even both extremes are fans and have the right to voice their opinion. We may not agree with them, but they are fans and even the ones who are very cautious are cautious for a great reason, no playoff wins in going on 3 decades.

I hope we can finally get the monkey off of our back in 2015 and feel if we can avoid injuries to our studs the rest of the way, we have a very good team and capable of beating any team anywhere.

(11-29-2015, 08:50 PM)thegimp Wrote: I like to come here and read some different perspectives.  The debate is fun and some (emphasis on some) of the people here have some interesting insight into the Bengals.  I cannot believe how negative and cynical the tone is though.  I was following the gameday thread today (which I very rarely do) and people were complaining that the bengals only had a 17-7 lead at the half?!?!?  I think many of you need to realize that you can't have a $20 million/year player at each position.  In fact, it is my belief that one of those types of contracts can seriously hamstring the future of a franchise in most instances.  My point is that this team is 9-2 and has very good depth and quite a few superstar caliber players.  Enjoy it!  I always want my teams to improve but the critical nature of this board is over the top...

Because of the past, fans of this team will always be cautious and lose their minds when something goes wrong during any game. Fans of this team are waiting for that other shoe to drop and are afraid that it will soon or in a most important game. You can't blame any fan of this team for feeling the way they do with so much disappointment over a very very long time.

There will always be something in the back of fans minds that won't go away until the Bengals finally reach the Promised Land and wins a Super Bowl. It may even take two for that feeling of being snake bit goes away.

(12-01-2015, 01:40 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: This is a great post and sums it up very well.

We all have to work on ignoring the extremes either way. In this case we have the over the top we are going 16-0 crowd and the Bengals do no wrong. Then we have the Bengals will never win anything crowd and are waiting for a loss or bad performance to solidify their feelings.

But, even both extremes are fans and have the right to voice their opinion. We may not agree with them, but they are fans and even the ones who are very cautious are cautious for a great reason, no playoff wins in going on 3 decades.

I hope we can finally get the monkey off of our back in 2015 and feel if we can avoid injuries to our studs the rest of the way, we have a very good team and capable of beating any team anywhere.

the thing that gets old is one bad play and people are harping on it all freaking week. if not longer or holding it against the player the rest of his career.

Mistakes happen... they are human.

(12-01-2015, 01:46 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: the thing that gets old is one bad play and people are harping on it all freaking week. if not longer or holding it against the player the rest of his career.

Mistakes happen... they are human.

True

But again those posts are the extremes and more fans objective than over the top critical in my opinion.

We have fans who will never forgive MB even though he has fielded a darn good team now for a very long time, paid his players well and got them to stay and helped make the NFL season a lot of fun again. It is their right to chastise him for 20 years ago, I don't agree, but I try and see why they are so butt hurt over his decisions over the years.

(12-01-2015, 02:41 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: True

But again those posts are the extremes and more fans objective than over the top critical in my opinion.

We have fans who will never forgive MB even though he has fielded a darn good team now for a very long time, paid his players well and got them to stay and helped make the NFL season a lot of fun again. It is their right to chastise him for 20 years ago, I don't agree, but I try and see why they are so butt hurt over his decisions over the years.

if someone is still hurting over the 90s then now is the best time ever to be a bengals fan and you should be enjoying it not still living 2 decades in the past.

(12-01-2015, 02:41 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: True

But again those posts are the extremes and more fans objective than over the top critical in my opinion.

We have fans who will never forgive MB even though he has fielded a darn good team now for a very long time, paid his players well and got them to stay and helped make the NFL season a lot of fun again. It is their right to chastise him for 20 years ago, I don't agree, but I try and see why they are so butt hurt over his decisions over the years.

How do you think the players on this team feel?  Five straight years (more than likely) of postseason appearances.  A good group, on and off the field.  Yet, they must feel like the majority of their town hates their owner because of the 90s (which a LOT more teams would be in jeopardy of experiencing right now if not for the rookie wage scale which minimizes the impact of draft busts) when they have put such a great team on the field.  

Again, I won't tell others how to think, but holding these players responsible for things that happened decades ago is just plain stupid.  

(12-01-2015, 02:32 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I became a fan in '93. I've seen all the lean years and 0 playoff wins. I respect almost all takes whether they're deemed positive or negative because I realize that there's more than one way to be a fan.

While I may not agree with many posters here on a variety of subjects, I don't question anyone's fanhood or make condescending remarks about Madden. I think 90% of the posters here know this team quite well. We just all have different takes. Some more negative than others, but that comes with the territory when you're riding a 25 year streak without a playoff win and struggling in prime-time.

As much as I dislike Rodney Harrison and so many in the media who doubt this team, they all do so with good reason. Same with the more jaded members of these boards. Hopefully this team breaks the streak. When that happens, I think plenty of the doubt will be erased. Maybe then we'll see fewer people telling others how to post. Then again, probably not.

I would never question someone's fanhood on an Internet message board. Seriously, we all love the Bengals around here. We just love them in different ways. I don't really post in the GD thread because I'm one of those roller coaster emotional people when watching a game. I was all over the place during the Seattle game.

I find it confusing when people attack each other over "homer" and "hater" issues. We all want to arrive at the same destination (hoisting the Lombardi), but we all have different takes on how to get there.

I'm along the lines of Shake here. I became a fan in 98, didn't really follow in-depthly until 2005 when I joined the original boards and learned so much. However, I still rocked my Bengals gear during the late 90s and early 2000s and took so much verbal abuse from people.