The Orange and Black Insider: Primetime in the Big Apple

If you feel like it’s been a very long time since you’ve seen the Bengals play some football, you’re not alone. The team is coming off of a bye after a disappointing tie in London against the Redskins and is looking to right the ship against the Giants after a 3-4-1 start to the 2016 season.

On this week’s episode of The Orange and Black Insider, we previewed the upcoming Monday night clash, while also nominating a new Bengals “Hater of the Week” (34:00 mark) and answered listener questions (49:00 mark). Some of the reader questions were very interesting this week, as they asked questions ranging from the Xs and Os-type of struggles from Cincinnati to over-arching effects of the recent election results on the NFL.

One query that piqued our interest was that of the state of California’s legalization of marijuana for recreational use (58:00 mark) this election season. The U.S. now has a number of states where marijuana is legalized including Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia.

Aside from the social aspect in the state and ramifications around the country, we also had to ask what’s ahead for the NFL with the increased legalization of the once-universally illegal drug. As of now, the NFL says it has no plans to change its policy of marijuana being a banned substance.

“I think it’s definitely going to be a big issue with the (drug) testing because you get to a point where it’s a league rule where the NFL says you can’t do it, but the state says otherwise,” co-host Scott Schultze said. “Probably in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, it will be brought up...It also brings up the dilemma of, say, a Rams player was using it legally, gets cut and then is signed by a team like the Browns and all of sudden, in his state it’s illegal.”

“The reason why players in the NFL are lobbying for marijuana...is because players are taking pills left and right for various ailments,” co-host Connor Howe said. “Go watch any sort of TV football show and you’ll see even high schoolers taking prescription pain medication for injuries. So, you see guys like Eugene Monroe, former Ravens left tackle, lobbying for medical marijuana usage in the NFL and now it’s becoming legal, recreationally, so is the NFL going to make a new decision?”

What are your thoughts on the issue and what might be coming for the NFL?

As always, you can shoot us questions and comments on our Twitter account @BengalsOBI and you can stream our material through various other platforms aside from here at Cincy Jungle. We’re on YouTube, SoundCloud and iTunes.