…where I work within eyeshot of the Titans’ practice facility.

It’s difficult to continue Bengal fandom in the midst of so many powder-blue-wearing fans of that team with the Flaming Thumbtack logo — and, inexplicably, a large pocket of the Raider Nation on the same row with me in the office…hmm — but such is my crusade. The Bengals were MY team in the 70s when all the other kids had their Steelers bookbags lined up at the bus stop. They were MY team when they won the Froze Bowl AFC Championship game. They were MY team when they defeated Buffalo with the no-huddle offense that Marv Levy would somehow “invent” the very next season. They were MY team all the way through The Forgotten Decade and after a 2-14 ‘02 season, I was this close to dumping them for the expansion Texans (what a mistake that would have been…talk about “out of the frying pan…”), but I was happy to continue calling them MY team, even when I lived in the Lone Star State in the midst of How Bout Dem Cowboys Land, in 2003 when Marvin Lewis rode into town and changed everything…we thought! Now we’re right back where we were…[sigh].

They’re still MY team. The shiniest piece of hope that I have is that Mike Brown can’t own the team forever, and that perhaps the whole family will cash in and go ruin somebody else’s pastime someday. When that happens, I’ll be standing, front and center at the Super Bowl party, holding up a photo of my late father, the one who introduced me to Bengaldom, as OUR team holds up the Lombardi Trophy for the first time.

Waiting…

I wonder, what do people think of dopes like me that reads every article, listens to every show, and comments on all things Bengals more than my day job? Good lord. In the end, who cares. Right? I do what I enjoy doing, win, lose, or tie.

i think you need the old uniforms and another carl pickens. if the ravens aren’t playing i root for the bengals and browns. they’re always good games to watch with possibilities for monumental upsets; like if you were to beat the raiders or rams. Rudy Rudy. like i’ve said before-i want the bengals to get better to reduce the chances of pitt making the playoffs..i actually enjoyed your good (counting uh 1, err 2) years.

raised an oriole fan but have given up..angelos chased me away and the yankees/sox with their big pockets make it imposssible to compete. couldn’t bare to watch anymore.