EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly column from former sports reporter and editor Mike Bass. Bass will be contributing to The Enquirer by offering advice for sports fans, athletes and youth sports parents and coaches through a weekly Q&A. You can reach him at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.
Today I am a Cincinnati Bengals fan.
It is a perfect and sunny Sunday, Bengals versus Browns, Battle of Ohio. This is my first game at Founding Father Stadium in some 20 years, my first ever as a spectator here. I want to watch through a Bengals fan’s eyes, to see what you see.
I want to Who Dey.
Tailgaters are lining the lots, continuing their rituals, focusing on today and not the stinking Jets loss. They are toasting and laughing, eating and drinking, and they seem to be everywhere. I mean, WE seem to be everywhere.
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I meet Bengals fan power couple @BengalsCaptain and @thewhobae in person for the first time, and I say hello again to Chicago tailgaters such as @TonyDaTiger96 and @NastyNati740. I feel part of something.
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I take a selfie, and a Baker Mayfield jersey-clad fan shows up in the background. I am not happy. I am happy that I am not happy. I am starting to feel like a Bengals fan.
I appreciate that these are not Art Modell’s Browns, but these still are Cleveland’s Browns, and beating them still means something. This is always for you, Paul Brown. I liked PB. (I like Mike, too, but please don’t tell anyone, or I can’t be a Bengals fan today, can I?)
Inside the stadium, I sit with Griffey consigliere Brian Goldberg. Watching with a friend who is a Bengals fan makes this more fun. The helicopters fly over, Chad Johnson returns as Ruler of the Jungle, and I am ready.
Welcome to the Jungle!
The Bengals drive down the field, and then ... OH, NO. A 99-yard Pick-6. I am stunned. We are all stunned. (Did I really say, “We”?) Except the Browns fans, of course.
The Bengals come right back and tie the score. PHEW.
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The Browns score. AARGH.
The Bengals turn over the ball on downs, and Mayfield throws a 60-yard touchdown pass on the next play. UH-OH.
The Bengals fumble, Cleveland kicks a field goal and it’s 24-7. WHAT THE ...
A Bengals field goal before halftime feels like a consolation prize. I mope as I look for food, groan when I see the lines. Some of you had advised me on Twitter to tailgate (did that), eat nearby first (blew that), and beware of parking and beer prices (the lament of fans everywhere). You know your stuff. I will Who Dey for you.
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The optimist fan in me says the Bengals are down by only two scores, and Joe Burrow inspires hope because nobody transforms a team like a quarterback. I watched Boomer Esiason lift the Bengals to a Super Bowl, and David Klingler and Akili Smith lead the Bengals to oblivion.
So much for hope, as Nick Chubb rushes for a 70-yard touchdown early in the third quarter, Burrow is intercepted and another Browns field goal makes it 34-10. THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING AGAIN.
I am having a flashback. A bad one. This is like watching the David Shula, Bruce Coslet and Dick LeBeau Bengals I left behind. Goldberg often is spared some of the ugliness by looking away and typing on his phone, conducting agent business on the first day of baseball free agency. I look directly into the trap. I refuse to be afraid.
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A Burrow touchdown pass provides a little solace, even with a missed two-point conversion, but a Bengals turnover on downs sends Brian and his other friends to the exit. I stay because I like it here, but the Browns score a couple of minutes later, and 41-16 is enough to send me roaming around the stadium and thinking about all of this.
Once the game turned runaway, I moved more into my head, trying to be analytical and realistic. Following the Jets debacle with this clunker proves ... what? The Browns figured to be good this year and might be better off without the Odell Beckham Jr. drama. The Bengals already have more wins than last season at 5-4 but are headed ... where? I have no idea. It is hard to say now.
I can easily channel the optimist fan, who wants to believe the 5-2 start was more indicative of where this team is headed, who hopes the bye will fix whatever is wrong, who is just happy to have the Bengals in their lives today.
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I also can easily channel the pessimist fan, who felt skeptical of – or duped by -- the 5-2 start, who loves the team but sees today as just the same old Bengals.
“I’ve been dealing with this for 30 years,” a fan laments to a friend while walking away from the stadium.
Either way, I can see what you see today, in my Bengals fan debut. I am not emotionally detached as I leave because I hear Cleveland fans chant, “Here we go Brownies, here we go, woof, woof!” or whatever they say, and it annoys me. Are Browns fans annoying? Not so fast.
“Little Bengals fan was celebrating his bday at the game,” @jpderkin tweets later. “Started crying because of the score. So #browns fans around him started cheering him up and even gave him money for his birthday. He was laughing & smiling & enjoyed the rest of the game. It’s how you treat ppl that matters.”
Can I get a Who Dey and a Woof Woof to that?
Email Bass at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com.
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