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Longtime fans: Do you have a last straw?


Bearcat1975

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If so, what is it?

If you have stuck with them this long, obviously it would have to be something of enormous ineptitude.

For others, no matter what, they will stick with the orange and black.

I was thinking about it the other day and mine is a strange one but with good reason.

If Marvin Lewis leaves the Bengals to become Pittsburgh's new DC, replacing the retiring LeBeau...that will be the last straw for me.

Thats fine if Mike Brown doesn't feel he needs a real scouting department, a GM, or an indoor practice facility. But if I see one more coach driven to the competition by the Bengals ineptitude, that's going to about do it for me as a Bengals fan.

A close 2nd is if Willie somehow went to the ProBowl as a Raven. While the cap money saved by cutting him still goes unspent.

If both happened? I've been a fan since the early 80s and I wouldn't even look back at that point. Take a team like the Reds. They lose every year too. But with the Bengals, as more and more facts come out, it becomes more and more clear that we as fans are being taken advantage of.

Anyway, everyone has their last straw. That was mine, what's yours?

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I've been a fan since I can remember (around '73) and at this point, there is next to nothing that would cause me to stop being a fan of this team. If you were a fan of the Bengals through the 90's why would any of us consider leaving now. It would be hard to reproduce that period in our sports history. Seriously, it would be hard to do.

I just can't see NOT being a Bengals fan. Won't happen...

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Anyway, everyone has their last straw.

I beg to differ Bearcat. I remember the years before Cincinnati had an NFL team, and I was reduced to being a Cleveland fan. (Keep that on the down low! :blush: ) Then in '68 that all changed with the birth of the Bengals. I immediately became a fan. Now here I am 30 years deep in an addiction that makes crack seem like coffee. I have no hope of getting this monkey off my back!

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If you were a fan of the Bengals through the 90's why would any of us consider leaving now.

First of all, great responses from everyone. Anyone on a Bengal Message Board at this point I would think would be in it no matter what.

But to address the quote above, the big difference between now and the 1990s is the availability of easily verified information.

And the deeper that one digs, one realizes more and more that Mike Brown is pretty much just milking the NFL for profit. The question then comes that, regardless of loyalties past and present, doesn't it start to seem a little silly to root for a team that isn't really even trying to win?

I still root them on, but I have been "experimenting," lets say. Case in point, if anyone knows me, they know my depth of hatred for the Steelers. So just for fun, I bet against the Bengals and for the Steelers last week. Two things I would NEVER do.

And what happened?

Bengals got blown out and the Steelers covered the spread via a last second INT returned for a TD. It was strange. It was like, as a long time Bengals fan, I got a taste, just a small taste, of what life was like on the other side.

Call me a bandwagon fan if you like, but I'm about done with the Bengals, I admit it. If Lewis walks to the Steelers or if Willie goes to the probowl or (I'm going to add one more) if the Bengals draft a WR or RB on day 1, that's gonna about do it.

I guess what it comes down to is, I don't expect the Bengal Front Office to be brilliant. But the next REALLY REALLY STUPID thing they do will be the last straw for me. I was just curious if anyone else still following the Bengals at this point felt the same way.

So far, no. B)

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How funny would it be if a bunch of Bengals fans filed a lawsuit against Mike Brown for false advertising? Telling season ticket holders and fans that he is committed to winning and yet all we get is losing. If he got a summons for a class action lawsuit where all the fans demanded their money back for all the tickets and food bought at PBS, along with all the money spent on merchandise and Directv packages, he would poop a brick.

I guarantee this would garner some national television exposure...so Greg you want to be a man in the news reel clips played all across the nation? B)

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You can't have a last straw. Your team is your team. It's a conundrum really. North American sports can be a catch-22 if the right mix happens. Closed league, revenue sharing and an owner incapable of putting a winning franchise together, for whatever reasons. The competition itself means that the owner doesn't have to worry about catastrophic consequences (in sporting or financial terms at least). Not much the fans can do. Piss and moan and keep on hoping or abandon the team altogether and see it move to another city if the profits disappear. Not really a choice is it. Having a pro team is more than many football fans in the States can dream of.

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You can't have a last straw. Your team is your team. It's a conundrum really. North American sports can be a catch-22 if the right mix happens. Closed league, revenue sharing and an owner incapable of putting a winning franchise together, for whatever reasons. The competition itself means that the owner doesn't have to worry about catastrophic consequences (in sporting or financial terms at least). Not much the fans can do. Piss and moan and keep on hoping or abandon the team altogether and see it move to another city if the profits disappear. Not really a choice is it. Having a pro team is more than many football fans in the States can dream of.

Well said.

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Once again, after being a fan for SO LONG, I can't see one pick, one trade, or one anything making me NOT be a fan of the team I have made a part of my life since as far back as I can remember. I share memories of Bengals games with family and friends and going to a game every here and there brings all of that back for me. I can remember tailgating with my brother before he was killed and him taking my son tailgating while I was deployed. Going to the freezer bowl and the Superbowl with my Dad when I was 10. I just can't see not having that in my life.

It would be like the Reds as well. My Dad took me to the World Series when I was 6 and 7 years old. I don't care if the Reds get pummeled, going to a game with my Dad (Which I do as much as I can) is usually one of my best days when I come home to visit.

Being a fan of our home town teams is more than following sports, it's part of who not only myself, but my family is.

I don't see anything changing that...

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Been a Bengals fan since '84

The final straws for me would have to be a combination of :-

Moving the team to Quebec

Making it compulsory to shout "Who Dey Think Gonna Beat Dem Bengals?" in French

Not having a winning season for the rest of my life

Covington getting an expansion team called the Kentucky Tigers who go on to win 3 superbowls in a row

Mike Brown pulling the old "dropped soap" move on me in the shower block whilst effecting a French accent

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Been a Bengals fan since '84

The final straws for me would have to be a combination of :-

Moving the team to Quebec

Making it compulsory to shout "Who Dey Think Gonna Beat Dem Bengals?" in French

Not having a winning season for the rest of my life

Covington getting an expansion team called the Kentucky Tigers who go on to win 3 superbowls in a row

Mike Brown pulling the old "dropped soap" move on me in the shower block whilst effecting a French accent

You had me at Quebec. Move this team to Montreal in the middle of the night and I start the petition for a new Bengals team, ala the Brownies.

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I compare being a Bengals fan to having a kid in prison.......or France. You are always going to love that kid, but damn what were you thinking!

Nothing makes me feel more ignorant than the fact that I am a Bengals fan. We all know that the team can not succeed under the current leadership. That is why I refuse to help the man that is soley responsible for the suckdom by buying his tickets. It's like buying dope.....or a beret for your kid.

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If Marvin Lewis leaves the Bengals to become Pittsburgh's new DC, replacing the retiring LeBeau...that will be the last straw for me.

Your last straw will be a long time coming. No way in hell Pittsburgh makes ML their DC. EVER!

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