03-29-2018, 07:15 PM
(03-29-2018, 09:35 AM)dnkw Wrote: Yes, quite.
Looking back on it, since the rule change (2010) we've played Baltimore in our final game every time apart from once against Pittsburgh. Hadn't realized it was that bad.
Thank geezus you're bringing this up.
It has been my singular mission to inform anybody who will or won't listen that this supreme bias has been going on since the league instituted division play in Wk 17 back in 2010. (I call it the Gooney Rule - hence the handle.)
You're dead right that we've played the Ravens every single season but one, which means that Pissburgh has got to close with a practically guaranteed win and a 2nd bye for any potential playoff push as they've graciously been granted a final game nearly every single time against the Browns - worst team in football over that stretch.
But the real crime here is that this does not happen anywhere else in football. Only the AFC North. There is no other division in football - AFC or NFC - that has this kind of fixed scheduling in Wk 17. It's not even close. There's at least some semblance of rotation over the years in question for all the other divisions, but ours is about as blatantly rigged as you can get.
Forget conspiracy theories of actual outcomes fixed on the field. This is the kind of thumb on the scales, extra 5% here, 10% better odds there advantage that the league manages behind the scenes to gift the Gooney family year in and year out. What's incredible is that the Stealer B's have been able to do jack all with it since AJ and Andy entered the league.
In a sport designed for parity, the Bengals organization puts itself behind the 8 ball with a lot of the Brown family practices; we can all admit that. But it's not even debatable that our misfortune is also in part due to the fact that we play in the same division as the team owned by the family who hand selected Roger Goodell in 2006, and the inherent conflict of interest that fact entails and presents in many ways, not the least of which is this outright and outrageous kick in the teeth seemingly every time the schedule comes out.
Maybe this year we'll see what happens with the Browns and Ravens drafts and if Cleveland seems to be on the up, perhaps the league will offer Shittsburgh a little twist in their happy ending.
