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Your First Bengals Game - The American Dream - 10-19-2021
Who can remember the first time we all saw our favorite team in person?
For me it was in 2001 when I was a freshman in high school. As I said in my intro thread my stepmom was from Cincy and I remember that we went up the first week of September to visit her family and me begging my dad and her to please take me to the home opener versus the Patriots. Luckily they did.
Nothing like walking into The Jungle for the first time and seeing so many other Bengals fans. Before we went to our seats, my dad bought me a shirt and a hat, and we just walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere before settling down.
My throat was raw by the end of the game but was totally worth it to see my team get the victory.
Getting all nostalgic now really focuses on me getting back up to Cincy to watch a game as haven't been to a home game since late 2018. Hopefully can at some point this season.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - JaggedJimmyJay - 10-19-2021
It was the 2004 game against rookie Eli Manning after Palmer had gotten hurt. Kitna led the team to a nail-bite victory, and we all threw snow all over the stands. Great time.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - J24 - 10-20-2021
1998 at riverfront vs Buccaneers.
Went with my Grandpa(RIP) to the game. Bengals lost 35-0 I was happy though because I was rooting for the Buccaneers. ( I was living in Tampa at the time and I was just a kid)
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Whatever - 10-20-2021
I don't remember the year, but it was in Riverfront against the Jaguars. Jeff Blake hit Jeff Hill for a TD in the final moments to prevent the shutout in a 49-7 drubbing.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Truck_1_0_1_ - 10-20-2021
Cowboys loss in 2012 (my dad has been a Cowboys fan since the 60s).
We led with (IIRC) 11 minutes left in the first and lost AT THE GUN.
Dunlap was called on a non-facemask (for a facemask) on a 3rd down sack (IIRC) and Nelson was called for the cleanest hit I've ever seen, that was called defenseless receiver; was an absolute SHOT to the chest, with his shoulder, on I believe Dez (could've been Terrence Williams).
That was the day after Josh Brent got his teammate killed when he crashed the car they were in and Rob Ryan went on to the field going apeshit.
Every game I've gone to since, they've won
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Forever Spinning Vinyl - 10-20-2021
1998
Neil O'Donnell fake spike against the Steelers
3-13 season
Swept the Steelers
Smashing success of a season
RE: Your First Bengals Game - BFritz21 - 10-20-2021
Don't remember specifically. I don't think I went before the wreck because that was mostly the 90s where we mostly sucked and I was into college football more than the NFL.
Started following them more in '03 when we drafted Palmer (even though he didn't play his rookie year).
Went to one or two that season and started going to every home game in 04.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - bfine32 - 10-20-2021
OCT 12 1975..I'm old.
I wasn't even a Bengals fan; it was a "reward" for our Little League (Baseball)winning the league. We traveled in a bus from Mt Sterling, KY.
I wish I knew what I was experiencing, but the only thing I remember is #37 (Casanova) jumping so high to stop a punt from bouncing backwards.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - GodFather - 10-20-2021
Jets in the 90s. Ive been to about 6 Bengal games and they lost every game in double digits!
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Tony - 10-20-2021
I have never been to a game, but I really want to go to one soon..
First game I ever remember seeing was icky doing the shuffle against Buffalo in the 88 season..
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Mobster - 10-20-2021
1983 Bengals vs Packers. Bengals win big.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - phil413 - 10-20-2021
Here were the highlights. They'll be new to you if you burned them out of your brain.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gyRhVvmKrU0
RE: Your First Bengals Game - phil413 - 10-20-2021
(10-20-2021, 12:51 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: 1998
Neil O'Donnell fake spike against the Steelers
3-13 season
Swept the Steelers
Smashing success of a season
I was there, felt like a road game. Great win!
RE: Your First Bengals Game - CalgaryBengalsFan - 10-20-2021
My first game is going to be November 21 against the Raiders in Vegas! Super excited to finally get to see them play live :)
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Forever Spinning Vinyl - 10-20-2021
(10-20-2021, 12:51 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: 1998
Neil O'Donnell fake spike against the Steelers
3-13 season
Swept the Steelers
Smashing success of a season
Ummmmm . . . Brainfart. That was my first Bengals game in Cincinnati.
My first time watching them live was smack dab in Jeff Blake mania in Seattle on my Birthday in 1995. Darnay Scott with the longest play in the AFC with a 1st quarter 88 yard catch and run on a 15/20 yard pass. I stood up when he caught it in stride and his man fell off "Yes!! He's gone! Nobody's catching him, he's gone! WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!! YEAH!!!!"
One of the Seahawks fans said "There's always one", to which I replied. "Hey, I'm a Bengals fan. I have to cheer early . . . my team doesn't let me cheer late!"
I didn't pay for any of my beers for the rest of the game and, in true Bengal fashion, Darnay Scott finished the game with 3 catches for 98 yards.
I remember Rick Mirer throwing up a floater that seemed to be in the air for 10 seconds and Robb Thomas catching it behind the Bengal DBs for 50 yard TD. After celebrating, everyone around me looked at me very confused. "How did your team not knock that ball away?" was asked by about 20 people in a five second span.
I also remember Tony McGee having a key 3rd down pass bounce off of his hands inside the 15 that would have almost ensured a Bengals OT with a FG or set them up with a chance to win with a TD with less than a minute to go. Instead, Pelphrey pushed it right by a foot on a 49 yard attempt. 24-21 loss, happy birthday.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - kevin - 10-20-2021
The problem with my first game is it means I am 66 years old.
Nippert Stadium 1968 with my Dad and Brother early in September. I was 13. We drove down from Miamisburg Ohio. My Dad said Paul Brown was great at Cleveland. Paul Brown was the Man in The Hat and Suit already in The NFL Hall Of Fame on the sidelines. The uniforms looked like The Cleveland Browns who were Ohio's team in The NFL. This was the AFL. Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers had blown away both games with the AFL and said they were not as good as the NFL. I knew little of football. I knew Jimmy Brown had been great. In late 1967 at age 12, I found it amazing The Packers and Cowboys were playing the NFL Championship in below zero weather and THAT was the Super Bowl, not that game where Packers pounded the AFL again. Johnny Carson had Bart Starr and Don Meredith on the next night, THAT was THE GAME. So the AFL was like second rate, but I was glad Cincinnati had a team, and my Dad took me. Joe Namath showed at seasons end that the AFL was not second rate.
I don't remember much from my First Games. Oh, the fans thought they could keep footballs kicked into the stands like baseball, but ushers would come after them. Fans would yell. " Put in The Swamp Rat ". John Stoffa was the quarterback, but some fans wanted Dewey Warren. Early in September the Bengals won, and Fans were yelling, " Super Bowl ". I got to see many games at Nippert. The Raiders just clobbered them the first year. So did The Jets on TV from New York. The AFL West was tough with Raiders, Chiefs who both had lost to Packers, and Chargers. Broncos were not very good, but they had a good running back. So did Bengals in AFL Rookie of The Year Paul Robinson. It was something to see him in the AFL All-Star Game representing Cincinnati.
The first real game that stands out is 1969 at Nippert and I am now 14. Greg Cook got injured against The Chiefs. Somehow they beat The Kansas City Chiefs of 1969. After the game The Chiefs were throwing and kicking their helmets, all of them, all the way to the exit. They could not believe they had just lost to The Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals then pulled another huge upset by beating the heck out of The Oakland Raiders in Cincinnati. The Bengals were better with Bill Bergey as our Dick Butkus at Middle Linebacker. On Offense FB Jess Phillips, RB Paul Robinson, TE Bob Trumpy and Greg Cook gave Bengals back to back AFL Rookie Of The Year in Robinson and Cook. They added a great kicker in Horst Muhlmann. The Chiefs already had Stenerud. so they traded us Horst, who was a major upgrade from Dale Livingston in 1968. Livingston taught me at age 13 that you can not miss field goals or have 10 yard shank punts. I think Paul Brown learned that the New Game demanded the Kicker can't be the Punter. He soon hired a Kicker and a Punter in the 2nd year.
Now the 2 games that stand out in New Riverfront Stadium in 1970 was beating THE CLEVELAND BROWNS of Leroy Kelly. Everybody expected The Browns and The Colts to Dominate the AFL Teams, and these teams hated being moved out of the NFL teams and put in with the AFL teams, The Steelers being the last place 3rd team from the NFL. The players carried Paul Brown off the field after beating his old team, The Cleveland Browns in Cincinnati. Then the last game of the year The Bengals beat Joe Kapp and the Boston Patriots, Kapp who had been in The Super Bowl for Minnesota the year before. On the scoreboard was THE CINCINNATI BENGALS WIN THE AFC CENTRAL. Outside Riverfront leaving, all the fans were saying, " I can't believe it. I can't believe it. In our first year in The NFL, We are in The Play-Offs. We are in The Play-Offs." Everybody young and old just Amazed in 1970. The 3rd year Bengals won the NFL AFC Central Division over Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Houston. They would lose to Johnny Unitas and The Baltimore Colts who won The Super Bowl over Dallas, but what a day that was in 1970 when Bengals in the first NFL year, Won The AFC Central. They had been 1-6, but won 7 straight games and 8-6 was good enough as they knocked off Browns, Steelers, Oilers in the 7 game streak. Outside Riverfront, fans just looked at each other and yelled over and over, " I can't believe it. We Won The Division ".
The AFC Championship Wins were great over Chargers and Bills in the 1980's and going Super Bowl. Still, those early wins and winning the AFC Central in 1970 stand out because I was 13, 14, 15 and with my Dad and my Brother who would go into the Air Force as opposed to being drafted during Vietnam the next month in 1971, and we would never be Kids and Dad again, so those were Great Memories, those early Bengals upsets led by Coach Paul Brown. I like to go on YouTube and pull up some of those highlights from 1968 to 1970, because they bring back memories of not just Bengals but My Dad and Brother.
My first Bengals game in 1968 is like my first Reds game in 1966 when I was 11. I don't remember much being so young, just that My Dad took me and my Brother to see them. I guess My Dad was the Hero on those first games to me. My Dad had seen Paul Brown coach Ohio State and Cleveland Browns to Championships. When he heard on the radio that Paul Brown was bringing a team to Cincinnati, he said, " If Paul Brown is coming here, We are going ". Now my Dad saying that on back porch as he heard the news listening to Reds on Radio, I remember like it just happened.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Jhowdy54 - 10-20-2021
2009 in Cleveland. Bengals escape with an overtime win. Palmer scrambles for a 1st down on 4th and 10 to set up the game winning Shayne Graham FG.
First Bengals home game was 2013 vs Baltimore. Was the last game of the year and Bengals were fighting for a playoff spot. They lost but still got the 6th seed in Andy Daltons 1st year.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - wanga - 10-20-2021
Never been fortunate to see them live but first watched them in SuperBowl XXIII on TV here in Aus and fell in love. Very little tv coverage of the NFL back then and very small market for it as well.
Ended in heartbreak of course but been a fan since that 88 season.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - Sled21 - 10-20-2021
My first one was Nippert, but I don't really remember which game it was. Went to a bunch at Riverfront.
RE: Your First Bengals Game - jason - 10-20-2021
I just remember it was early 80s... I wanna say 1983.... Anyway it was at Riverfront against the Baltimore Colts.