10-23-2015, 03:35 PM
I couldn't agree with you more, Wes Mantoast - you do usually write more than you need to. 
Seriously, though, this really highlights something that I have had to deal with for much of the last 8 years. Frustrated and highly critical fans are still fans. Sure, some get carried away, but this team has certainly provided ample reason for fans to be frustrated and to be critical. I've said it plenty of times before - we all have different personalities yet one common love for this football team. It manifests itself so differently in so many people that a popular gathering place like this is inevitably going to have some clashes. Spoiler alert: there are plenty more clashes to come at some point in time in the future. For now, however, we are gradually getting the opportunity to truly enjoy this connection we have because - while we may not all agree on how to get there - we all have the same ultimate goal for this team. The closer the Bengals get to achieving that, the more connected we become.
It's nice to have this opportunity now because we cannot know just yet if it will be fractured by our injury luck running out or the playoff demons dragging us down once again. Just maybe, though, we'll see this team evolve beyond its current reputation and take us somewhere we haven't been in almost 3 decades. Even moreso, it would be the first opportunity for us to experience such a run since we've had the opportunity to grow even closer via the internet and communities like this one. I've been fortunate enough to see this team reach two Super Bowls previously, albeit from the isolation of my own home with no other Bengals fans to enjoy it with. I cannot imagine what it would be like to share that experience - and, hopefully, a championship - here with all of you....but I'm eager to find out.
Who Dey!
Seriously, though, this really highlights something that I have had to deal with for much of the last 8 years. Frustrated and highly critical fans are still fans. Sure, some get carried away, but this team has certainly provided ample reason for fans to be frustrated and to be critical. I've said it plenty of times before - we all have different personalities yet one common love for this football team. It manifests itself so differently in so many people that a popular gathering place like this is inevitably going to have some clashes. Spoiler alert: there are plenty more clashes to come at some point in time in the future. For now, however, we are gradually getting the opportunity to truly enjoy this connection we have because - while we may not all agree on how to get there - we all have the same ultimate goal for this team. The closer the Bengals get to achieving that, the more connected we become.
It's nice to have this opportunity now because we cannot know just yet if it will be fractured by our injury luck running out or the playoff demons dragging us down once again. Just maybe, though, we'll see this team evolve beyond its current reputation and take us somewhere we haven't been in almost 3 decades. Even moreso, it would be the first opportunity for us to experience such a run since we've had the opportunity to grow even closer via the internet and communities like this one. I've been fortunate enough to see this team reach two Super Bowls previously, albeit from the isolation of my own home with no other Bengals fans to enjoy it with. I cannot imagine what it would be like to share that experience - and, hopefully, a championship - here with all of you....but I'm eager to find out.
Who Dey!
