09-30-2018, 01:40 PM
(09-30-2018, 01:12 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: We had a poster on here or perhaps it was the old board ? BritishBengal. Haven't seen him around lately ? Anyways someone asked him one day why the Bengals ? I forget his answer. Like you say you'd think it would be Patriots, Cowboys, Packers or some more successful/bigger market team.
So I'll ask you why the Bengals ?
Fairly long story, but for an Australian I have a fairly long history with NFL. As a child in the 80's I would watch an hour long highlight show of the NFL that aired in Australia hosted by an American entertainer who made it pretty big here called Don Lane but I didn't really follow a team. Around 89 I started playing the Madden series of games and learnt more about the game that way. Around 91 I started playing with the Bengals, in Madden, because the other team that is a passion in my life was the Rugby League Balmain Tigers and the closest NFL team to a Tiger is the Bengals, I started following the Bengals more but being pre internet days it was pretty difficult. During the Late 90's and early 2000's it became a lot easier to track scores and watch highlights because of the internet. Started downloading games in 2006, I didn't see my first Bengals game until around 2005 after around 15 years of following the team. I know watch all Bengals games live on NFL Gamepass and haven't missed a game since 2007, I even attended the season opener in Cleveland in 2011.
In the year 2000 my Rugby League team merged with another team to become the Wests Tigers (picture in my Avatar), The Bengals are now as big a passion in my life as the Wests Tigers and I never miss a game. Rugby League and American Football actually have a lot of similarities and are my 2 favourite sports.
Most people here follow the Cowboys, Patriots or Packers, The 49ers have decent following here as well because in 2015 an Australian Rugby League player made their roster and played a couple of games. I'd say the Eagles will get some support in the future as they recently drafted a former Rugby League player as well.
