12-24-2021, 11:33 PM
(12-24-2021, 04:15 PM)BengalFanInNJ Wrote: The 2006 Christmas Eve game against the Broncos was one of the top-5 most frustrating games I watched. Back and forth game with the Bengals screwing up many chances to score. Palmer throws a TD pass to Chris Henry late in the game only for Graham to miss the PAT. We lose 24-23.
I was in New Jersey visiting family and at a country club that night having dinner. My wife, brother and I walked up to the bar to get drinks for our group but we stayed there to watch the game while waiting for our table. Based on my comments, the bartender and other patrons figured I was a Bengals fan. When Henry grabbed the TD pass, they other people looked over towards me and nodding their heads and sayings things like “there you go”. The miss the PAT and the whole place was quiet except for one guy laughing hysterically (me). My brother took the bottle of beer I was drinking away from me.
I got up and said something like “That right there is life as a Bengal fan” and went to the bathroom. I came back to the bar to settle up since our table had been ready for 15 minutes and noticed 6 upside down shot-glasses where I was sitting. Bartender told me everyone wanted to buy me a drink. Said “tough one today. Drinks are taken care of. Merry Christmas.”
Palmer actually threw the TD pass to TJ and it wasn’t Graham who missed the XP, it was Brad St. Louis with an atrocious snap.
I’ll never forget that game. It was my senior year of high school, and I just turned 18 a few months prior. I had a hand-me-down Nokia flip phone that blew up soon after that botched snap (apparently that game was nationally televised). Not a single person gave me any grief that Christmas Eve, only words of sorrow and genuine concern from family and friends. This was definitely against the norm.
Also, I made a semi-famous thread on the old mothership board about the Bengals ruining my relationship after that game. My girlfriend at the time immediately dumped me and stormed out after my outburst from that loss. That thread blew up way more than it should have. It turned into many fellow Bengal fans griping about their significant others, and pretty much became a long-winded therapy session.
16 years later, that girl and I parted ways for good. We briefly reconciled “as friends” or whatever the hell that means
but she eventually went to college at Syracuse and married someone from Greece (I think). Last time we spoke (about 4 or 5 years ago) she brought up my outburst from Christmas Eve 2006… hard to believe she retained that memory.
