FanPost

An Open Letter to Mike Brown


Mr. Brown, We have been a loyal fan base for all of your 20 years as owner/general manager of the Bengals. During that time you have rewarded us with a couple of playoff appearances, no playoff wins ans a multitude of losing seasons. We, the fans have done our part. You have a new stadium and a team that, even as poorly as it has performed, has more than doubled in value. You are wealthy and getting richer by the minute. I begrudge you none of that.

We deserve better than we have received. We have stepped up. Now it is time for you to step up because, though it may look like business as usual, it isn't. Down here in the fan's world there is genuine unrest. We are sad, tired and not doing as well financially as we would like for the most part. We are asking nothing more than what fans all over the country have. We want to be able to shed our troubles for just a few hours after we have worked hard all week, taken care of our families, helped our children with their home work, taken out the trash, mowed the grass, struggled under our car to repair it and everything else we are depended on to do. The Bengals are one of those things we look forward to - just those few hours on Sunday and a few minutes here on sites like this.

We do not have palacial estates and fancy cars for the most part. We live in modest homes, try to get another year out of a car that need replacing, eat meal we can make cheaply at home and cut coupons to try to stretch our dollar just to keep going.We have a lot of stress wondering if we can keep our jobs or even find one.

By contrast you have it pretty good. You should be singing and dancing as a happy man. You have wealth and security of a nature unknown to almost all of us. And you got all of it in one way or another from the pockets of none other than us. Is it too much to ask that you, after years of failed attempts, swallow just a little of your pride and admit that you can do better by hiring a good general manager, provide up to date facilities, hire a few scouts and make a true, real attempt to put a winning team on the field? You can do all of that and still be rich beyond the dreams of Averace. We as fans would like just once to root for a team that not only can have an occasional winning season only to fall back to mediocracy but can, like the fans in Pittsburg and Baltimore, have a few years of continued success. We are thirsty for it. We deserve it. You are the only one who can make it happen.

On behalf of all Bengal fans I am humbly asking you to step up, abandon the failed policies of the past and bring a new day for us. Bring in what you need, get an indoor practice facility, hire scouts, sign the players they recommend, let the coaches coach and bring in a good professional GM to tie it all together. If you don't want to do it for us - do it in the name of your father - a man we truly respected and loved. If you do, I promise you will gain something that you have never known - the respect and affections of the good people who root for the Bengals.

Respectfully, Junglejohn

P.S. Scroll down and read. I am confident that other of my Bengal fan bretheren and sisters will support what I have just said.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.