All things SoP

[HairOnFire]

The more aggressive offseason was forced, I'm guessing, by Marvin, just like he did when he first got here and made moves for James, ONeal, Thorton etc..,

Actually, Marvin Lewis has said the exact opposite. He not only singled out Mike Brown for praise in regards to this years draft board, but has admitted how he was forced to operate using Mike's overall rebuilding strategy from day one in year one.

Marv may be a yes man when it comes to dealing with the public and press, but I don't think he's as lame or gullible as the previous 3 coaches, and is smart enough to know his career is on the line here, and not to let it get out of hand by not challenging ownership.

All head coaches challenge ownership from time to time, but Lewis has repeatedly admitted how he still operates under the limitations set forth by Mike Brown, including NOT having the final say on all player related matters.

I refuse to give Mike Brown credit for anything other than listening to someone else for a change.

Quite frankly, who cares what you think when your bias is so obvious? And how stupid do you have to be to believe Mike Brown only steps aside when things go well?

[ArmyBengal]

With the draft they just had and the need for continuity, I honestly think Marvin is only on the hot seat if the Bengals just totally blow chunks this season. Even with that being the case, he will be allowed to finish out his contract here.

[HoosierCat]

I'd prefer some long term, consistent success for a while, not these 18 year cycles of one winning season - it's ridiculous. Some things still have to change for that to happen.

Really? You do realize what we've experienced over the last six seasons represents the best football in Cincy since the late Eighties, right?

I guess that's why Mikey rants just don't hold the same fascination for me that they did back when I was playing Bearcat's role in this same movie back in the Nineties.

Then, the team really did suck, and Mikey really was siphoning off every dime in order to buy back shares in the team.

The best six-year run the Bengals had in the Lost Decade was 1992-1994, when they were 22-26, plus three years on either side (both ways you go get you 11 wins over three seasons). So that's a grand total of 33-63, or .343, over six seasons. In that span, they had 0 winning seasons, 1 .500 season, and 5 losing seasons.

Over the past six years, they're 46-49-1, essentially 1.5 games below .500. They have 1 winning season, 3 .500 seasons, and 2 losing seasons. They made the playoffs once.

To find as successful a stretch you have to go back to 1985-1990, when the team was 50-45, with 3 winning, 2 losing and 1 .500 seasons and two trips to the playoffs -- including their last Super Bowl appearance. And who knows how far they might have gone in 2005 if Kimo hadn't ripped Carson's knee off.

In short, what we have today is a Bengals club that's far, far closer to the great Eighties teams, and substantially far removed from the hapless squads of the 1990s.

So in the end, they whole Mikey rant is entertaining to me in a retro sense, but seems to bear little resemblance to the situation at hand.

[HairOnFire]

Really? You do realize what we've experienced over the last six seasons represents the best football in Cincy since the late Eighties, right?

No Hoosier, he doesn't know that. After all, he's Kid Steakhouse, the same guy who demanded Marvin Lewis be fired because he wouldn't play a broken and woefully unready Levi Jones. The same Marvin Lewis who managed to produce "the best football in Cincy" thing you're talking about. If Steakhouse had his way Lewis would have been fired years ago.

I guess that's why Mikey rants just don't hold the same fascination for me that they did back when I was playing Bearcat's role in this same movie back in the Nineties.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You and Bearcat never played the same role.

Then, the team really did suck, and Mikey really was siphoning off every dime in order to buy back shares in the team.

The Enquirer article from several years ago made it very clear how Paul Brown ran the team on a shoestring budget for years to falsely inflate profits. He then bought out early investors who were only interested in those previously mentioned short-term profits, including the Enquirer itself, thereby steadily increasing his share of ownership from a remarkably small 2% into a near-controlling interest. Making matters even more difficult the Enquirer claimed most of Paul Browns purchase options were considered unreachable at the time they were written, and were only included in his contract as a formality, and at his insistence. Furthermore, it is Paul Brown who was said to have developed the business model that Mike still uses, paying investors and shareholders a hard and flat percentage of the overall profits regardless of the teams performance or needs.

As for Mike Browns push for enough shares to gain controlling interest, the lawsuit involving the family of Austin Knowles acknowledges Knowles wanted out fairly quickly, for reasons undetermined, and sold his shares at below market value. So, knowing both the history of the father and the son, it's not suprising to learn how Mike Brown followed both his fathers shoestring budget example as well as doing whatever needed to make a controlling purchase of shares successful.

So in the end, they whole Mikey rant is entertaining to me in a retro sense, but seems to bear little resemblance to the situation at hand.

And here's the situation at hand, as I see it. This is the second team the "partnership" of Mike and Marvin have built during the Marvin Lewis era. The first one started fast, built steadily, crested, stalled, and then shattered into a billion pieces upon crash landing in 2007.

This is what comes next.

Finally.

[bobtom115]

wonderful! thanks for the info..

pret personnel

[TJJackson]

Still looking forward to the city-wide party when he passes on

[gregstephens]

Still looking forward to the city-wide party when he passes on

Wait, to Fredo that day may be as sad as 9/11!

(Oooh, that WAS a cheap shot, even for me and Fredo).

[Bearcat1975]

Still looking forward to the city-wide party when he passes on

Oh it will be a party. The "Ding Dong, The Wicked Bitch is Dead" party.

I'm still not sure if I will end up taking a dump on his grave or not.

That man has taken the collective football spirit of Cincinnati and used it for personal profit for the past 20 years and counting. What do you all tell your kids? (Assuming they aren't already fans of other teams) "Don't worry son... you'll get used to the losing."

If I had one wish for Mike Brown, it wouldn't be death. I would wish that Mike Brown gets a painful and debilitating disease that can only be cured if the Hamilton County taxpayers vote for the cure. But he has to suffer 18 years of agonizing pain before anyone gets to vote. After this season, it'll be 19.

My sympathy for Mike Brown ranks right up there with Bernie Madoff. If he died, I would throw a party. My only other hope would be that his medical expenses force the family to sell the team so that the next generation doesn't have to suffer under his demon seed.

I don't hate many people. I f**king hate Mike Brown and everything he has done during his tenure here. When he dies, I hope he suffers first. A lot.

[Jet23]

Still looking forward to the city-wide party when he passes on

Oh it will be a party. The "Ding Dong, The Wicked Bitch is Dead" party.

I'm still not sure if I will end up taking a dump on his grave or not.

That man has taken the collective football spirit of Cincinnati and used it for personal profit for the past 20 years and counting. What do you all tell your kids? (Assuming they aren't already fans of other teams) "Don't worry son... you'll get used to the losing."

If I had one wish for Mike Brown, it wouldn't be death. I would wish that Mike Brown gets a painful and debilitating disease that can only be cured if the Hamilton County taxpayers vote for the cure. But he has to suffer 18 years of agonizing pain before anyone gets to vote. After this season, it'll be 19.

My sympathy for Mike Brown ranks right up there with Bernie Madoff. If he died, I would throw a party. My only other hope would be that his medical expenses force the family to sell the team so that the next generation doesn't have to suffer under his demon seed.

I don't hate many people. I f**king hate Mike Brown and everything he has done during his tenure here. When he dies, I hope he suffers first. A lot.

I really think you should see somebody BC.......no, really...

[ArmyBengal]

I don't know, I can't get into wishing death upon someone. Even people I can't stand.

It just seems like bad karma...

[TJJackson]

I dont wish death upon him.

I just know it will come eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, and what a party there shall be that day

[Bearcat1975]

I don't know, I can't get into wishing death upon someone. Even people I can't stand.

It just seems like bad karma...

Again, I wouldn't wish death on him, or anyone. "Buuut if he told me he was drowning...I wooooould not lend a hand"

[ArmyBengal]

Fine, I can't get into being happy about someones death. Even people I can't stand.

While I may not be saddened by their demise, I won't celebrate it.

It just seems like bad karma.

[gregstephens]

Fine, I can't get into being happy about someones death. Even people I can't stand.

While I may not be saddened by their demise, I won't celebrate it.

It just seems like bad karma.

On a moral level, I agree completely.

On a practical level, the team goes to Katie, so...

[gregstephens]

I don't know, I can't get into wishing death upon someone. Even people I can't stand.

It just seems like bad karma...

Again, I wouldn't wish death on him, or anyone. "Buuut if he told me he was drowning...I wooooould not lend a hand"

Strictly from the practical aspects, if SoP tells you he is drowning, it's impossible that he really is.

[HairOnFire]

Let's face it....sometimes people laugh when others die.

They just do.

For example, if you told me Bearcat had choked on a sausage link and died I might be saddened. Then again, if you told me Bearcat had choked on the sausage while being told of the death of Mike Brown, well.....that's just funny enough to make me laugh.

For days.

[ArmyBengal]

I'm just coming from a different viewpoint, but understand the points made.

I'm by no means the "moral right" in any aspect, it''s just one of those things for me.

Death sucks and as Greg said, don't let the celebration lead you to forget Katie is taking over...

[TJJackson]

I cannot conceive of Katie, a potty-trained rhesus monkey, or even the combined braintrust triad of JoeWrong, agreen, and Pushy doing any worse.

and .....there'd be a finite chance of improvement

Hence, the celebration

[ArmyBengal]

I cannot conceive of Katie, a potty-trained rhesus monkey, or even the combined braintrust triad of JoeWrong, agreen, and Pushy doing any worse.

and .....there'd be a finite chance of improvement

Hence, the celebration

Well, maybe she actually knows the answer about knowing how hard it is to run an NFL team right ??

Wait a minute, isn't she part of the current front office ??

DOH !!!

[blueridge]

I forced myself to read every post in this thread. Now I feel like I need to take a shower or hug a puppy. I know from past experience that posts from Bearcat1975 and ShulaSteakhouse are nasty and unpleasant and monotonous, so I shouldn't complain. In fact, I should probably be glad that this board gives them an opportunity to reach out to humans while keeping them in their parents' basement and away from hardworking and law-abiding decent folk. However, just knowing they are out there is unpleasant to think about. I came to Bengalszone because I love the Bengals and wanted to read and talk about the team with other fans and without the snide and unpleasant anti-Bengals commentary that spews from places like ESPN and FoxSports. Fat chance. The above-named posters and their ilk ruin it. They are like a rotting whale carcass washed up on a pretty tropical beach. But worse. The whale carcass will eventually go away.

[BengalByTheBay]

I forced myself to read every post in this thread. Now I feel like I need to take a shower or hug a puppy.

Why choose? Do both.

Your point is well taken, but having our own in-house pissing & moaning club helps us "keep it real" you know. Besides, if it all gets too much there's this cool "ignore" function. I started Bearcat out on it for a 1-day trial run a month ago. I don't think I've missed a single interesting thing here. It's awesome -- I highly recommend it if you have the means. Cheers!

[Bearcat1975]

lol

[Bearcat1975]

ha

[HairOnFire]

Hilarious.

B3 writes about the joys of officially ignoring Bearcats posts....prompting the always clueless Bearcat to write a response the intended reader will never see.

Pwned.

[COB]

I don't know, I can't get into wishing death upon someone. Even people I can't stand.

It just seems like bad karma...

It is bad Karma. And it could result in all sorts of personality disorders. For instance you could be so out of touch with yourself you could end up being a "fan" of a team you absolutely hate. Then you end up going to a team message board and hacking out bitter, hate-filled rants that prove again and again that you are anything but a fan of that team.

Then instead of using those posts as a window into your true opinions of said team, you interpret your own blather as proving you are the only smart, enlightened "fan" of that team.

Finally, instead of realizing that investing time and emotional energy into something you detest is immersing you in sea of gloom and pessimism, you find relief by going to a mommy website and discussing diapering techniques with moms who don't realize you're some crusty 55-year-old repressed Steeler fan.

Yea, I'd say it's bad karma.