Bengals, Fever Pitch And 1982
The Cincinnati Bengals, the National Football League franchise to which I birthed my loyalty in the 70s, are 5-1. After the last 15 tiresome, troublesome and frustrating years, in which the Bengals failed to post a winning record, the games now matter. They're competitive. They're leading their conference.
Sure, there were naysayers along the way. During the long dark 90s, especially after the Sam Wyche years, family and friends urged me to move on. Get behind the Eagles, some suggested. I'd briefly met David Akers, then placekicker for the University of Louisville Cardinals,
by virtue of having worked with his fiance (at the time-they're now married). An all around good guy, he was a perfect match for his fiance, who was always a joy to work with. So I had a link. I could jump on the Eagles' bandwagon.
But I didn't. Don't get me wrong. I want Akers to make all his kicks and I pulled for him to win a ring last year. The Pro Bowler deserves all the accolades he earns. But the Bengals were my childhood team, the club I pulled for with my dad. Just as I'll be a Reds fan until I die, so too with the Bengals.
And now they're winning. I've been to every home game this year, and I even thought about making the drive to see them play the Titans. It's been so long, and as I always told everyone, "Someday the Bengals will start winning again, and when they do, it'll mean all that much more." That day appears to be here. And it feels real good.
Friday night I finally got around to watching Fever Pitch (the Farrelly brothers' version with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon). There's a scene in which Ben (Fallon) is defending his love of the Boston Red Sox. Lindsey (Barrymore) wants him to go to Paris, but Ben resists as he doesn't want to miss an important Red Sox homestand. They have an argument, and Ben asks an important and compelling question. He asks her, exasperatedly, if there's anything she's cared about for 15 or 20 years, the period of time he's been following the Red Sox. She, of course, says no.
I'd alway warned the wife she didn't know what it was like to be married to a real football fan, as the Bengals rarely proved worthy of actually traveling 180 miles in order to attend a game. That's all changing now, so household talk has turned to coordinating the logistics required to finance ticket purchases (all the games are sold out, so brokers -thank goodness for the Internet - are the only resort) and coordinate travel schedules. Unfortunately, just as Ben had to break it to Lindsey, I'm having to explain that traditional holiday plans may have to be changed this year (the Bengals host the Bills on Christmas Eve). That's not going over well, though, so here's hoping the Bengals lock up a playoff spot before Week 16.
We're off to our best start since 1982. That's a long time. Reagan was in office. The USSR was still a political entity. Gas was a buck a gallon. The Berlin Wall still stood. The Internet hadn't been invented. IBM's first 5150 desktop PC boasted 16 kilobytes of RAM and ran at all of 4.77 megahertz. Let's just hope the Bengals can make a run to the post season without having to endure another such drought. Who knows what news will transpire by 2028?
Sure, there were naysayers along the way. During the long dark 90s, especially after the Sam Wyche years, family and friends urged me to move on. Get behind the Eagles, some suggested. I'd briefly met David Akers, then placekicker for the University of Louisville Cardinals,
by virtue of having worked with his fiance (at the time-they're now married). An all around good guy, he was a perfect match for his fiance, who was always a joy to work with. So I had a link. I could jump on the Eagles' bandwagon.
But I didn't. Don't get me wrong. I want Akers to make all his kicks and I pulled for him to win a ring last year. The Pro Bowler deserves all the accolades he earns. But the Bengals were my childhood team, the club I pulled for with my dad. Just as I'll be a Reds fan until I die, so too with the Bengals.
And now they're winning. I've been to every home game this year, and I even thought about making the drive to see them play the Titans. It's been so long, and as I always told everyone, "Someday the Bengals will start winning again, and when they do, it'll mean all that much more." That day appears to be here. And it feels real good.
Friday night I finally got around to watching Fever Pitch (the Farrelly brothers' version with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon). There's a scene in which Ben (Fallon) is defending his love of the Boston Red Sox. Lindsey (Barrymore) wants him to go to Paris, but Ben resists as he doesn't want to miss an important Red Sox homestand. They have an argument, and Ben asks an important and compelling question. He asks her, exasperatedly, if there's anything she's cared about for 15 or 20 years, the period of time he's been following the Red Sox. She, of course, says no.
I'd alway warned the wife she didn't know what it was like to be married to a real football fan, as the Bengals rarely proved worthy of actually traveling 180 miles in order to attend a game. That's all changing now, so household talk has turned to coordinating the logistics required to finance ticket purchases (all the games are sold out, so brokers -thank goodness for the Internet - are the only resort) and coordinate travel schedules. Unfortunately, just as Ben had to break it to Lindsey, I'm having to explain that traditional holiday plans may have to be changed this year (the Bengals host the Bills on Christmas Eve). That's not going over well, though, so here's hoping the Bengals lock up a playoff spot before Week 16.
We're off to our best start since 1982. That's a long time. Reagan was in office. The USSR was still a political entity. Gas was a buck a gallon. The Berlin Wall still stood. The Internet hadn't been invented. IBM's first 5150 desktop PC boasted 16 kilobytes of RAM and ran at all of 4.77 megahertz. Let's just hope the Bengals can make a run to the post season without having to endure another such drought. Who knows what news will transpire by 2028?
posted by Erik Eckel at 10:10 PM
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