Failing To Understand Criticism Over Bengals Pep Rally

The Cincinnati Bengals are planning to host a pep rally on July 26 at Paul Brown Stadium, marking the start of the 2012 training camp. The event will include former players, the entire Bengals team, a concert and a fireworks show. Season ticket holders were sent an email with the invitation, which costs $10 at the gate. Part of the letter sent to season ticket holders reads:

With training camp coming to Cincinnati for the first time, the Bengals are hosting a special event and inviting all of our season ticket holders for what promises to be a fun evening.

On Thursday, July 26, the Bengals will kick off training camp with a pep rally with the entire Bengals team, followed by a concert and fireworks show.

Paul Brown Stadium gates will open at 6 p.m., and alumni players will be on hand for autographs. The Pep Rally will begin at 7 p.m. and feature comments from Head Coach Marvin Lewis and players, along with player introductions.

After the players depart for their first meeting of training camp, beginning at around 8 p.m., the local band DV8 will perform rock and pop hits for 90 minutes. The event will conclude with a fireworks show beginning at around 9:45 p.m.

Some are criticizing the team, pointed out by the Cincinnati Enquirer's Bengals blog, citing Who Dey Revolution who writes:

I guess Mike Brown needs another Chevy Lumina. A disgruntled season ticket holder sent WDR an email this morning - and it shows even when the Bengals try to reward their most loyal stakeholders, they still can't resist squeezing out a few bucks.

They continue, calling it "another public relations bungle from a franchise who can't seem to do anything right".

We like the guys that run WDR -- they're Bengals fans and there's a lot that we have in common. But this is silly.

Ten bucks. Players and coaches will probably speak, former players will sign autographs, a local band performs (though I've never heard of them) with a fireworks show to cap the evening... for ten bucks. Think of it this way: On Sunday afternoon, the public didn't know that this pep rally was being planned. Now it exists and is planned. For ten bucks.

We try to be as fair and level-headed as anyone, but we just don't get the criticism. What if they just didn't offer anything. Would that make it easier, satisfied that the team that can't do anything right, bothers not trying in the first place? Wasn't that the initial criticism with the team's continued failure to honor their history, lacking a Ring of Fame, or Ring of Honor, or the absence of nostalgia throughout Paul Brown? It's not that they do it poorly, it's that they don't try.

That's not the case here.

And what event within major cities doesn't have some sort of auxiliary cost? Concessions. Yea. You'll have to pay for those. This isn't a city organized event, so you'll probably have to pay for parking as well.

Here's an idea if you're affronted from paying ten bucks. Don't go. Stay at home. Enjoy the night with a mojito, straw shorts and Jimmy Buffet classic CD. It's alright. Hey, that's one hell of a night too. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The team is doing their thing, you're doing yours. Any effort or desire for an understanding, or an ambition for peace, has long since become a Carson Palmer pick-six.