Mike Brown, hot dogs, and a story you wont believe

[WeezyBengal]

A good friend of mine works for the Bengals. Im not going to mention a name or exactly what he/she does because I respect their privacy and I don't want them to get in trouble in case there is a minuscule chance someone from the Bengals organization actually reads these boards.

Anyway, I met up with my friend (lets just call him/her Doug Pelfrey) Friday night. Doug told me he was in a meeting with some of the upper management, vendor managers, and game day managers on Friday during the day. One of the main topics of the meeting was how "Mr. Brown" was upset that some of the vendors were getting free food during the day of Bengals games.

If you don't know, the Bengals outsource their security to other companies. Apparently some of the security staff were hungry from working the job all day and decided to stop by the concessions to get a hot dog. My friend told me that the Bengals throw out literally "hundreds" or food items after each game. That being said, some of the vendor managers got a lashing because they were supplying free food items to the security guards.

Here is the kicker: the total amount of free food given away to these guards was 15 hot dogs. 15 FREAKING HOT DOGS!

I can understand if "Mr. Brown" was upset if there were a bunch of security guards getting free food every game and there were hundreds or thousands of dollars being lost due to this.....but 15 hot dogs! I mean that is just comical.

It just made me realize that nothing has changed with our cheap ass owner. Sure, we have had a good team over the years, but this is still the same guy we had in the 90s.

[THE PISTONS]

"Numerous things that go on such as the way Houston interacts with my family; we're treated in a first-class way," Joseph said. "They helped us when my wife lost our baby daughter in a miscarriage. But they help with anything you ask of them because they are a very caring organization with positive attitudes about its players. In Cincy, we're told how much Gatorade we could take home. In Houston, we get what we request. You get soap and deodorant at your request. You don't have a roommate on road trips."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82a8fe64/article/johnathan-joseph-texans-are-a-firstclass-franchise?module=HP11_headline_stack

[Hammerstripes]

You should change the title of the thread. I totally believe that story.

[THE PISTONS]

Gruden or Cowher just can't wait to come here to coach!

Maybe Gruden will be Cowher's OC!!!

[Pat5775]

Hard to imagine the organization gets anything but better once Mike is no longer in charge

[OrlandoBengal]

We're talking about a guy who owns a business worth almost $2 billion, yet is known to take business meetings at Wendy's. A guy who does not buy towels large enough for the linemen to wrap around themselves after showers, who rents cable chords to guys checking in at training camp.

Yes, I completely believe that story. The only part unbelievable is that no one lost their job because of it.

[samhain]

I really don't want to believe that this is true. Ugh.

[Au165]

(11-21-2016, 10:41 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: A good friend of mine works for the Bengals. Im not going to mention a name or exactly what he/she does because I respect their privacy and I don't want them to get in trouble in case there is a minuscule chance someone from the Bengals organization actually reads these boards.

Anyway, I met up with my friend (lets just call him/her Doug Pelfrey) Friday night. Doug told me he was in a meeting with some of the upper management, vendor managers, and game day managers on Friday during the day. One of the main topics of the meeting was how "Mr. Brown" was upset that some of the vendors were getting free food during the day of Bengals games.

If you don't know, the Bengals outsource their security to other companies. Apparently some of the security staff were hungry from working the job all day and decided to stop by the concessions to get a hot dog. My friend told me that the Bengals throw out literally "hundreds" or food items after each game. That being said, some of the vendor managers got a lashing because they were supplying free food items to the security guards.

Here is the kicker: the total amount of free food given away to these guards was 15 hot dogs. 15 FREAKING HOT DOGS!

I can understand if "Mr. Brown" was upset if there were a bunch of security guards getting free food every game and there were hundreds or thousands of dollars being lost due to this.....but 15 hot dogs! I mean that is just comical.

It just made me realize that nothing has changed with our cheap ass owner. Sure, we have had a good team over the years, but this is still the same guy we had in the 90s.

This actually doesn't bother me. This is an issue that occurs often in the food service industry and the principal is simple, it's stealing to give product away even if it may end up in the trash at the end of the day. If you let them give them to security then should the vendors be able to eat for free? What about the field crew? Can you give them to the janitorial staff? What about vendors friends? If it wasn't in the negotiated contract with the private security company to eat for free then they shouldn't have been fed.

You can knock him for a lot of things, but if one of the vendors did this working for a normal fast food restaurant they'd probably be fired or reprimanded for it.

[Pat5775]

(11-21-2016, 11:06 AM)OrlandoBengal Wrote: We're talking about a guy who owns a business worth almost $2 billion, yet is known to take business meetings at Wendy's.  A guy who does not buy towels large enough for the linemen to wrap around themselves after showers, who rents cable chords to guys checking in at training camp.

Yes, I completely believe that story.  The only part unbelievable is that no one lost their job because of it.

Unbelievable. What a piece of s*** the man is.

You know, I met a couple from Cincinnati last year who know Mike Brown on a certain level and both scoffed and said, "he's one nasty SOB" and is "worse than Marge Schott  (whoever that is, I just know the UC baseball stadium is named after her). They said they'll never be Bengal fans as long as he's in charge. They feel for the players and fans but said "the last thing he deserves is a championship".

I completely understand 

[samhain]

(11-21-2016, 11:19 AM)Pat5775 Wrote: Unbelievable. What a piece of s*** the man is.

You know, I met a couple from Cincinnati last year who know Mike Brown on a certain level and both scoffed and said, "he's one nasty SOB" and is "worse than Marge Schott  (whoever that is, I just know the UC baseball stadium is named after her). They said they'll never be Bengal fans as long as he's in charge. They feel for the players and fans but said "the last thing he deserves is a championship".

I completely understand 

You really don't know who Marge Schott is?  I suggest you google it.  A horrendous excuse for a human being.  The Reds however, did mange to win a title when she was in charge.

[treee]

Yea, but he gives out travel size shampoo and body wash to the organization on Christmas. Talk about burning a hole in your pocket! I bet other players are jealous their team doesn't go all out for the players like 'ol Mikey boy does.

[OrlandoBengal]

(11-21-2016, 11:16 AM)Au165 Wrote: This actually doesn't bother me. This is an issue that occurs often in the food service industry and the principal is simple, it's stealing to give product away even if it may end up in the trash at the end of the day. If you let them give them to security then should the vendors be able to eat for free? What about the field crew? Can you give them to the janitorial staff? What about vendors friends? If it wasn't in the negotiated contract with the private security company to eat for free then they shouldn't have been fed.

You can knock him for a lot of things, but if one of the vendors did this working for a normal fast food restaurant they'd probably be fired or reprimanded for it.

The bothersome part is the fact that Mike Brown would even be aware of the "theft" of 15 hot dogs.  I get what you're saying, and completely understand that someone in the organization would bring it up to the vendor, "we became aware of this, please don't let it happen again".  For this to go all the way to Mike Brown though?  The guy runs an almost $2 billion company, one that is failing miserably this year, and he is concerned with $7-8 worth of hot dogs?

I would like to think that the General Manager of the team, and CEO of the organization, would have higher priorities and better things to occupy his time.

[Au165]

(11-21-2016, 11:26 AM)OrlandoBengal Wrote: The bothersome part is the fact that Mike Brown would even be aware of the "theft" of 15 hot dogs.  I get what you're saying, and completely understand that someone in the organization would bring it up to the vendor, "we became aware of this, please don't let it happen again".  For this to go all the way to Mike Brown though?  The guy runs an almost $2 billion company, one that is failing miserably this year, and he is concerned with $7-8 worth of hot dogs?

I would like to think that the General Manager of the team, and CEO of the organization, would have higher priorities and better things to occupy his time.

I'm not sure how it got to Mike Brown, and really the story doesn't say. Maybe it is part of a larger problem of vendor theft and it was an example used when talking about the larger issue? My point is this discussion is being fueled by a hatred for a guy during an emotional time when the team is losing, but from a business standpoint he is right.

I worked at Kings Island one summer years ago in the food area and this was big issue there. So much so, that the General Manager of the park held a meeting with all the managers telling them it would be a fire on the spot offense if caught giving or receiving free food. They then started sending out people to test the food service people.

[WeezyBengal]

(11-21-2016, 11:26 AM)OrlandoBengal Wrote: The bothersome part is the fact that Mike Brown would even be aware of the "theft" of 15 hot dogs.  I get what you're saying, and completely understand that someone in the organization would bring it up to the vendor, "we became aware of this, please don't let it happen again".  For this to go all the way to Mike Brown though?  The guy runs an almost $2 billion company, one that is failing miserably this year, and he is concerned with $7-8 worth of hot dogs?

I would like to think that the General Manager of the team, and CEO of the organization, would have higher priorities and better things to occupy his time.

My friend says that EVERYTHING in that organization is accounted for, EVERYTHING. Also, Mike Brown keeps his eye on EVERYTHING and every penny is completely watched over by him. 

[CageTheBengal]

Welcome to the world.

Food vendors and retailers throw out perfectly good items all of the time and punish those who try to put it to better use. It's common practice in this country.

When I worked at Best Buy we threw away perfectly good game systems because they were display, we would throw away USB cables on a daily basis that customers were required to trade in with their phones and the list goes on and on. If we would try to take anything and use it (Not just personal use even within the store.) we were told they would get us for theft.

[OrlandoBengal]

(11-21-2016, 11:35 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: My friend says that EVERYTHING in that organization is accounted for, EVERYTHING. Also, Mike Brown keeps his eye on EVERYTHING and every penny is completely watched over by him. 

I don't doubt this at all.  It also makes me think things won't be drastically different under Katie.  She has learned the business from her father and I'm sure has mimicked many of his ways (remember the Andre Smith draft negotiations?).

[Gamma Ray Tan]

Meanwhile at Patriots headquarters: This is from an October 2016 article on CNBC about Bob Kraft. I think Kraft would give away 1000 hot dogs a game if it increased his chances of winning.


Few owners in the National Football League have been as successful as New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft in the past two decades.

During CNBC's "Halftime Report" on Friday, he attributed the organization's consistency to a winning philosophy adopted by everyone in the building.
"Everybody in our organization puts winning first," Kraft said. "We have people check their ego in at the front door and do whatever they can do, whether it's the guy cutting the grass, or the young lady answering the switchboard, we're all putting 'team' first."

Under his leadership, the New England Patriots are currently the NFL's second-most-valuable franchise, valued at $3.4 billion, according to Forbes. During his tenure as owner, the Patriots have won more division titles (15), conferences titles (7) & Super Bowls (4) than any NFL team.

[THE PISTONS]

(11-21-2016, 12:28 PM)Gamma Ray Tan Wrote: Meanwhile at Patriots headquarters: This is from an October 2016 article on CNBC about Bob Kraft. I think Kraft would give away 1000 hot dogs a game if it increased his chances of winning.


Few owners in the National Football League have been as successful as New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft in the past two decades.

During CNBC's "Halftime Report" on Friday, he attributed the organization's consistency to a winning philosophy adopted by everyone in the building.
"Everybody in our organization puts winning first," Kraft said. "We have people check their ego in at the front door and do whatever they can do, whether it's the guy cutting the grass, or the young lady answering the switchboard, we're all putting 'team' first."

Under his leadership, the New England Patriots are currently the NFL's second-most-valuable franchise, valued at $3.4 billion, according to Forbes. During his tenure as owner, the Patriots have won more division titles (15), conferences titles (7) & Super Bowls (4) than any NFL team.

They of course, value winning enough...to stretch the rules too.

[grampahol]

These are petty squabble issues in the grand scheme of things . Everyone knows prepared food at restaurants or stadiums is marked up many times its original value . Just look at coffee as one tiny example . A 39oz can of coffee at full retail in the store is about $6_9.00 depending on brand and will make many cups at home ,but in a restaurant that same 6-9 bucks magically becomes a few hundred bucks and we've all had stale, old coffee from some nice restaurants . They hate to throw it out and damned sure don't give it away when they do . 
I'm far more upset that the ONLY product that the team has to sell , the ONLY reason people would ever bother to buy an overpriced hotdog in the first place , THE LOSING TEAM , is being left to rot on the vine.

[yellowxdiscipline]

(11-21-2016, 10:47 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: "Numerous things that go on such as the way Houston interacts with my family; we're treated in a first-class way," Joseph said. "They helped us when my wife lost our baby daughter in a miscarriage. But they help with anything you ask of them because they are a very caring organization with positive attitudes about its players. In Cincy, we're told how much Gatorade we could take home. In Houston, we get what we request. You get soap and deodorant at your request. You don't have a roommate on road trips."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82a8fe64/article/johnathan-joseph-texans-are-a-firstclass-franchise?module=HP11_headline_stack

Says it all. I don't think anyone is surprised by this. Mike Brown is a POS.