Black Bengal fans and Joe Burrow

[BengalRed]

I was at the game last night and was pleasantly surprised to see that many black Bengal fans were wearing Joe Burrow jerseys. It seems that in the past they mostly wore jerseys of black players, Chad Johnson, Dunlap, Mixon, Atkins.

I don't recall seeing Andy Dalton jerseys on the backs of black Bengals fans. Maybe it shows the respect they have for a player from a southern school (LSU) and/or the connection he has with Chase.

Either way it's nice to see the whole city showing love to our QB.

[reuben.ahmed]

It's because Andy wasn't very good, it's not because they're black or not. Chad, Dunlap, Mixon, Atkins...maybe they know football better than "white" fans. This post is not good lol.

When choosing between Andy and AJ Green, I bought a Green jersey. I also have an Esiason hoodie. Burrow is GOAT, they may recognize it better.

I know Cincy thinks they're Kentucky in the way they think, it shows in the way many of the people in this forum post.

[Interceptor]

Burrow has "it". You look at his face and you see "we got this".

[Nickslycat]

(10-02-2021, 09:02 AM)Interceptor Wrote: Burrow has "it". You look at his face and you see "we got this".

Joey Franchise was one of the first to voice his outrage over the George Floyd murder.  It was not ingenious, you could feel the hurt he felt for his teammates and brothers who were truly in pain.  

[*pally*]

It is 2021 so it feels weird to have to say this. Black people wear the jerseys of their favorite players just like white people do whether they be black, white, Hispanic, or Pacific Islander. The players you listed were the best players on the team. Those jerseys were very popular among everybody. Burrow is a dynamic popular player thus everyone wants his jersey. Ja’Marr Chase is very popular lots of people want his Jersey.
It has NOTHING to do with race!!!!

[Sled21]

Geeze, talk about lumping people together.  I'm an old white guy who wore a Samoan's jersey, and way before that I was a young white guy wearing a Mexican's jersey. Where do I fit in?

[Interceptor]

(10-02-2021, 09:48 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Geeze, talk about lumping people together.  I'm an old white guy who wore a Samoan's jersey, and way before that I was a young white guy wearing a Mexican's jersey. Where do I fit in?

You want to talk about lumping people together? If it's a Bengals jersey, you're good.

[masonbengals fan]

Been to the stadium for many games over the years & can't say I've ever looked at my fellow fans and thought about the color of the guy whose jersey they are wearing verses the color of the fan.

Perhaps Joe is just a whole lot more inspiring than Andy.

[*jason*]

(10-02-2021, 10:26 AM)Interceptor Wrote: You want to talk about lumping people together? If it's a Bengals jersey, you're good.

That's really all that needs to be said on this matter.

[J24]

WTF

[Johnny Cupcakes]

As the kids say…

Cringe.

[2MinutesHate]

Anyone mind if I put my 2 cents in?

[Fan_in_Kettering]

We all bleed orange, black, and white. If you’re a Bengals fan then you’re my friend forever.

[GodFather]

I have to say with all the crazy posts and arguing back and forth between weeks and seasons, nothing comes close to this thread.

This isnt a Pittsburgh Steelers forum... yank this shit..

[Luvnit2]

(10-02-2021, 12:25 AM)BengalRed Wrote: I was at the game last night and was pleasantly surprised to see that many black Bengal fans were wearing Joe Burrow jerseys. It seems that in the past they mostly wore jerseys of black players, Chad Johnson, Dunlap, Mixon, Atkins.

I don't recall seeing Andy Dalton jerseys on the backs of black Bengals fans. Maybe it shows the respect they have for a player from a southern school (LSU) and/or the connection he has with Chase.

Either way it's nice to see the whole city showing love to our QB.

I was a season ticket holder for a long time. I wore Dalton's jersey. I wore Green's jersey. I never looked at the color of someone's skin to see whose jersey they were wearing.

Everyone is this forum bleeds orange, white and black. We are united and race has zero to do with it not should it. I find this thread very disturbing.

[*bfine32*]

IF a fan wants to identify with players based on common ground why should we care. I'm sure many Hawaiians wore Mariota Jerseys, many Tongans wore Ngata jerseys, Hispanics wore Gonzalez jerseys, gingers wore Andy jerseys, potheads wore Ricky Williams jerseys, drunks wore Maualuga jerseys, rapists wore Big Ben jerseys, murderers wore Ray Lewis jerseys, wife beaters wore Ray Rice jerseys, ect...

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

Yo....can we get a mod in here?

[CJD]

If someone wants to do a statistical analysis of what positions (and races of those positions) people bought based on their race across the NFL, then maybe we can have this conversation. That would show if black people, generally, favored only black players or if they favored good players. For example, if black fans of Indianapolis had nothing but Reggie Wayne jerseys during the Manning years but black fans of Seattle overwhelmingly wore Wilson jerseys, there may be something to discuss.

Until then, it's just confirmation bias and anecdotes.

Dalton jerseys were not common around the Bengals fandom because he was purely mediocre player (he was fine. But not someone you would spend 100 dollars to represent anywhere). He didn't wow people with his escapability, his arm, his personality, his leadership or his swagger. He was, all in all, the perfect personification of an average QB.

Before Dalton was Palmer and, while Palmer had all the potential in the world, he really only showed it in 2 years back in 2005 and 2006. A pretty small sample size, so it's understandable if fans, white and black, didn't fully embrace him for very long before or after that 2 year stint. And, granted, I didn't watch press conferences back then because I was in high school and the internet wasn't what it is today, but I would not be surprised at all if Palmer came off as an asshole in his pressers. He certainly does whenever he talks today.

And then before those two, we had a cavalcade of mediocre and bad QBs all the way back to the early 90s.

I think what you're seeing is the whole fan base embracing Joey B because he's a star, but your confirmation bias is causing you to only focus on the black fans who you perceive to not have been supportive of white players in the past.

And, for what it's worth, most people buy jerseys of skill position players. QBs, TEs, WRs, RBs, etc. because they are, more often than not, the faces of any given franchise. And QB is the only skill position on an NFL team that are more often than not white, with TEs maybe being 50/50 (with the obvious exceptions being the occasional white WR or RB like Christian McCaffrey or Wes Welker). So rooting for a team that hasn't had a genuine star QB in 15 years (and that star QB was a bit of a flash in the pan and a douche bag off the field) or at TE ever, really, I don't think it's unrealistic that ALL fans of the Bengals have worn the jerseys of black players at a higher degree than white players. Over the last 15 years if I were to have bought a jersey, I know it would have been either Chad Johnson or AJ Green and I'm a white guy.

This OP is cringe.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

God made one race: Human.

With that being said we must acknowledge discrimination took place in most aspects of society but it was sports which was instrumental in catalyzing the change we needed to make. Paul Brown was a pioneer in this effort and he receives zero credit from the national media.

Before Branch Rickey began the integration of Major League Baseball by signing Jackie Robinson in 1947, Paul Brown had signed the NFL’s first two black players to play for the Cleveland Browns in 1946; he did this without fanfare or national acclaim. Like Jackie Robinson in baseball, Bill Willis and Marion Motley were among the best players in the game. Willis was a run-stuffing defensive lineman and Motley was a two-way player who excelled at both fullback and linebacker.

I literally don’t care what color one is. It indicates nothing about one’s intellect or one’s character. In every ethnic or demographic group there are saints, sinners, losers, and winners.

I have a Joe Burrow jersey but if Mike Brown would have drafted Tua Tagovailoa instead I would wear his jersey proudly.