01-26-2022, 03:42 PM
Doc today...
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/blogs/daugherty-blog/2022/01/26/cincinnati-bengals-fans-bandwagon-growing-afc-championship-game-kansas-city-chiefs-spread-odds/9224929002/
I love Bandwagon fans. Let’s get that out there right away.
Bandwagon-ers are not to be looked down upon, sneered at or viewed as a lesser species of sports enthusiast. Don’t feel superior to someone with the guts to walk away. Applaud them. They’re a reason you’re enjoying fan life right now.
The line between loyalty and stupidity is so fine it can’t be measured. Sports exist to make us happy. When they conspire to cause us to smash our foreheads against the Man Cave wall, something needs to change.
Sports loyalty is a weird commodity we don’t apply to any other consumer product. If your favorite brand of, I dunno, sauerkraut suddenly stops pleasantly puckering the corners of your mouth, do you keep eating it? “I’ve been eating the same pucker-ing sauerkraut since my mom made me eat it when I was 6. I’m now 112. I’m too old to change.’’
Sauerkraut, Doc?
Maybe your first car was a ’64 VW Beetle, so you’re still driving Beetles, even as they’re no longer noted for reliability, if indeed they ever were. What’s your point? That you drive a mediocre car because you’re. . . loyal?
'Take the attitude':How D.J. Reader represents the Cincinnati Bengals defense
How to watch the Bengals:What channel is the Bengals-Chiefs game on? When is the AFC Championship Game?
Jason Williams: Don't miss the moment, cynical Cincinnatian. Savor Bengals' run to the AFC Championship game
The actual point is, companies wanting to sell you something, whether it’s Stay-Puft marshmallows or season tickets, are the folks who should be worried about your patronage, not vice versa. I recall when Carl Lindner owned the Reds, he said he’d consider spending more money on players if more people came to Reds games.
Nonsense. Cart before horse.
You are trying to sell me something. You are lucky that pro sports are largely monopolies. Unless I live in New York, Chicago or LA, I can’t go across town to watch the other club in town. I can’t switch teams the way I can switch baked-bean loyalties. I’m stuck. Or not. Not if I’m a Bandwagon-eer.
The onus was on King Carl to make me wanna come to games.
Which gets us back to Bandwagon-istas.
They force change.
One way to make team ownership pay attention is hit ‘em in the wallet. It’s usually the only way. Whether you stop going to games or stop buying your gas at UDF, jumping off the bandwagon hits them where they live.
Bandwagon-ites don’t tolerate.
Here’s part of an e-mail I got Tuesday from a Mobster. He was a diehard fan for the Bengals first 20-plus years:
Then came the ‘90s and the ‘00s. I tried to be a fan but they were so bad and it REALLY appeared the ownership didn’t care. Come on-who hires Dave Shula and keeps Marvin Lewis year after year? Since they didn’t care I stopped caring and joined my father as a Packer fan. Even bought a share of stock. More important I became an active bungle hater. Lots of posts and ridicule pointed at those fools who supported a team (and in some cases spent thousands of dollars a year) which didn’t care about them. We’ll…now they’re playing well, have likable players, and MAYBE ownership is turning a corner. I’m happy to see them do well and they are fun to watch and people are excited and…I’m in a moral quandary (a place I think many Cincinnatians are). Can I now support a team I laughed at for the better part of 20 years? Probably overthinking this but I keep seeing all these fans who say “I never lost faith.”
There’s a little bit o’ him in all youse.
I told him what I’m telling you. Be a proud Bandwagon-eer. The other guys are the ones who have it backwards. Loyalty isn’t bestowed. It’s earned. Trust is not a given.
Owners rely on “loyalty’’ even as they don’t return it. Owners depend on fealty and prey on a “marketplace’’ that doesn’t exist. Essentially, they run a supermarket that only stocks one item. And they’re the only supermarket in town.
Don’t fall for that. Hop on and off the sports-wagon as much as you like.
What say you?
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/blogs/daugherty-blog/2022/01/26/cincinnati-bengals-fans-bandwagon-growing-afc-championship-game-kansas-city-chiefs-spread-odds/9224929002/
I love Bandwagon fans. Let’s get that out there right away.
Bandwagon-ers are not to be looked down upon, sneered at or viewed as a lesser species of sports enthusiast. Don’t feel superior to someone with the guts to walk away. Applaud them. They’re a reason you’re enjoying fan life right now.
The line between loyalty and stupidity is so fine it can’t be measured. Sports exist to make us happy. When they conspire to cause us to smash our foreheads against the Man Cave wall, something needs to change.
Sports loyalty is a weird commodity we don’t apply to any other consumer product. If your favorite brand of, I dunno, sauerkraut suddenly stops pleasantly puckering the corners of your mouth, do you keep eating it? “I’ve been eating the same pucker-ing sauerkraut since my mom made me eat it when I was 6. I’m now 112. I’m too old to change.’’
Sauerkraut, Doc?
Maybe your first car was a ’64 VW Beetle, so you’re still driving Beetles, even as they’re no longer noted for reliability, if indeed they ever were. What’s your point? That you drive a mediocre car because you’re. . . loyal?
'Take the attitude':How D.J. Reader represents the Cincinnati Bengals defense
How to watch the Bengals:What channel is the Bengals-Chiefs game on? When is the AFC Championship Game?
Jason Williams: Don't miss the moment, cynical Cincinnatian. Savor Bengals' run to the AFC Championship game
The actual point is, companies wanting to sell you something, whether it’s Stay-Puft marshmallows or season tickets, are the folks who should be worried about your patronage, not vice versa. I recall when Carl Lindner owned the Reds, he said he’d consider spending more money on players if more people came to Reds games.
Nonsense. Cart before horse.
You are trying to sell me something. You are lucky that pro sports are largely monopolies. Unless I live in New York, Chicago or LA, I can’t go across town to watch the other club in town. I can’t switch teams the way I can switch baked-bean loyalties. I’m stuck. Or not. Not if I’m a Bandwagon-eer.
The onus was on King Carl to make me wanna come to games.
Which gets us back to Bandwagon-istas.
They force change.
One way to make team ownership pay attention is hit ‘em in the wallet. It’s usually the only way. Whether you stop going to games or stop buying your gas at UDF, jumping off the bandwagon hits them where they live.
Bandwagon-ites don’t tolerate.
Here’s part of an e-mail I got Tuesday from a Mobster. He was a diehard fan for the Bengals first 20-plus years:
Then came the ‘90s and the ‘00s. I tried to be a fan but they were so bad and it REALLY appeared the ownership didn’t care. Come on-who hires Dave Shula and keeps Marvin Lewis year after year? Since they didn’t care I stopped caring and joined my father as a Packer fan. Even bought a share of stock. More important I became an active bungle hater. Lots of posts and ridicule pointed at those fools who supported a team (and in some cases spent thousands of dollars a year) which didn’t care about them. We’ll…now they’re playing well, have likable players, and MAYBE ownership is turning a corner. I’m happy to see them do well and they are fun to watch and people are excited and…I’m in a moral quandary (a place I think many Cincinnatians are). Can I now support a team I laughed at for the better part of 20 years? Probably overthinking this but I keep seeing all these fans who say “I never lost faith.”
There’s a little bit o’ him in all youse.
I told him what I’m telling you. Be a proud Bandwagon-eer. The other guys are the ones who have it backwards. Loyalty isn’t bestowed. It’s earned. Trust is not a given.
Owners rely on “loyalty’’ even as they don’t return it. Owners depend on fealty and prey on a “marketplace’’ that doesn’t exist. Essentially, they run a supermarket that only stocks one item. And they’re the only supermarket in town.
Don’t fall for that. Hop on and off the sports-wagon as much as you like.
What say you?
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
