Bengals 1981 NFL Yearbook

[membengal]

Came across this quite by chance on ESPN Classic earlier tonite. Missed the first ten minutes but caught the last 20.

I was 10 (turned 11 in December) in that magical year and seeing the Yearbook brought back a LOT of good memories.

1. I miss Phil Samp. I grew up listening to his call on the games many times over the years. He was simply phenomenal.

2. For young voters on the all-time polls in these parts, if you get a chance to ever watch this yearbook, please do. If you have any doubt as to why old fellaz talk about Pete Johnson like they do, this will help you understand. (Same deal for Max Montoya...seeing him lead on a couple of plays where he pulled from his G slot was a fond trip down memory lane).

3. Cris Collinsworth was far faster than I remembered him late in his career. Seeing some of his early highlights again was an eye-opener. Weird how time dulls memory.

4. Dan Ross was a spectacular TE.

5. I got kind of teary watching the shots of the crowd, particularly in the Freezer Bowl AFC Championship game. Talk about seeing a fanbase spring to life and grow teeth...that's one of the reasons I am so excited I think the merry-go-round of success is coming back again. Cincinnnati Bengals fans have been among the more loyal and ferociously zealous for their team in the league. That is something that only Bengals fans really know, but I promise you that most organizations could not have sustained the level of losing the Bengals did and still pull the attendance numbers the Bengals were pulling even in 2002. With the re-birth of a franchise achieving dominance starting this year (just watch), part of the joy for me watching from Memphis will be watching the Jungle finish it's re-birth and the team come into one of the more daunting home field advantages in football again. For you young'uns, there were a lot of years when opposing teams wanted no part of Riverfront...damn that place got loud.

Good times. You might scan ESPN Classic tonite in the overnite and see if that Yearbook will repeat...if so, Tivo that bad boy.

Peace.

[membengal]

TIVO ALERT!!

It comes back on ESPN Classic in 15 minutes. (11:30 EST, 10:30 CST)...

Also on again at 2:30 AM EST and 4:30 AM EST (1:30 AM CST and 3:30 AM CST) in the overnite.

So, again, for anyone with Tivo, grab it and enjoy.

[andybren]

Thanks for the heads-up. Cincy-centric highlights are so hard to come by, it makes me wonder why there always seems to be at least one poker tournament, spelling bee, or other stunt programming event on these national networks at all times. But hey, at least I get to see Terrell Owens bowling against Dwayne Wade.

[Indycat]

on again at 2:30 AM EST

Got the TIVO set. Thanks for the heads-up.

[derekshank]

Yeah I watched that thing too... That was the year after I was born, so a little before my time. '88 was my first year to really care about football, with the ickey shuffle and all.

Anyway, I've seen stuff on at '81 team before, but I really enjoyed watching that. I noticed a lot of similarities... like a no named defense that mastered the art of "Team", as I am hoping we do this year... and an already respected offense that gelled into stardom...

what I really noticed though was how great some of those Isaac Curtis catches were (Chad must have learned from him) and how skinny Collinsworth was. Those were some long legs.

I'd love to see the Bengals come out of nowhere like they did back in '81 and shock the league. Unfortunately we don't have new style helmets to make the whole league laugh at us... oh well, they laugh at us anyway. We'll show 'em.. Who Dey?!!

[HairOnFire]

Favorite moments....

A streaking Ike Curtis reaching down to the tops of his shoes to make an unbelievable catch against the Steelers without breaking stride. Without question it's still one of the single finest receptions I've ever seen made in the NFL.

It felt good just seeing the single-bar facemask of Ken Riley.

Louis Breeden picks off Fouts during the regular season and returns the gift 102 yards for a Bengal score. I can still remember that play as well as MomOnFire running into the living room to warn me to stop screaming about that play or risk waking up a slumbering DadOnFire. My response? Screw him if he wakes up, we're talking about 102 yards here. (He slept. I lived.)

Forrest Gregg on the sidelines screaming for a running play. "Gimmee a running play here. Stick 'um. Stick it in 'em!"

Visually, Pete Johnson is still the scariest ballcarrier I've ever seen. I can't imagine trying to tackle that guy. Plus, I met him in a Columbus bar once and I can add that he's pretty scary looking without shoulder pads that look to be 10 feet wide.

David Verser's 26 yards per catch average being touted while video shows him turning a short catch into a very long TD. The next image showed him making a great leaping TD grab over a defender. Sheesh, talk about your creative editing. I bet Verser didn't catch more than a half dozen balls the entire season.

Last, Phil Samp's loosely quoted remarks about the Bengals falling short of the ultimate goal..."but they climbed so high they left footprints on the summit."

[cincyhokie]

Came across this quite by chance on ESPN Classic earlier tonite. Missed the first ten minutes but caught the last 20.

I was 10 (turned 11 in December) in that magical year and seeing the Yearbook brought back a LOT of good memories.

1. I miss Phil Samp. I grew up listening to his call on the games many times over the years. He was simply phenomenal.

2. For young voters on the all-time polls in these parts, if you get a chance to ever watch this yearbook, please do. If you have any doubt as to why old fellaz talk about Pete Johnson like they do, this will help you understand. (Same deal for Max Montoya...seeing him lead on a couple of plays where he pulled from his G slot was a fond trip down memory lane).

3. Cris Collinsworth was far faster than I remembered him late in his career. Seeing some of his early highlights again was an eye-opener. Weird how time dulls memory.

4. Dan Ross was a spectacular TE.

5. I got kind of teary watching the shots of the crowd, particularly in the Freezer Bowl AFC Championship game. Talk about seeing a fanbase spring to life and grow teeth...that's one of the reasons I am so excited I think the merry-go-round of success is coming back again. Cincinnnati Bengals fans have been among the more loyal and ferociously zealous for their team in the league. That is something that only Bengals fans really know, but I promise you that most organizations could not have sustained the level of losing the Bengals did and still pull the attendance numbers the Bengals were pulling even in 2002. With the re-birth of a franchise achieving dominance starting this year (just watch), part of the joy for me watching from Memphis will be watching the Jungle finish it's re-birth and the team come into one of the more daunting home field advantages in football again. For you young'uns, there were a lot of years when opposing teams wanted no part of Riverfront...damn that place got loud.

Good times. You might scan ESPN Classic tonite in the overnite and see if that Yearbook will repeat...if so, Tivo that bad boy.

Peace.

I caught a little bit of it as well. I was 5 that year and I vaugely remember the Super Bowl. What the 81 highlight did for me though was remind of the mid-late 80's in Riverfront...man, that place got insane loud. And Phil Samp, that voice will always remind me of the good times in the 80's. The Bengals were never much of a road team, but damn, could they play at home.

You made some good points about the loyalty of the fan base here in Cincinnati. Most cities will never go through a test of 12 extreme years of losing, and we'll never know just how some of those fans in other cities would react to 12 years of nothing but despair.

Of course the consensus crack on the Bengals now is that ALL the fans are bandwagoners....we all came out of nowhere after 12 years of not following our team. The Browns fans are the worst about accusing the Cincy fans of being bandwagoners. Ehhh, I really don't care too much about it...I chose to stay away from the games from about 1998 to 2003 because it was just to painful too watch...as bad as they were I still got way to into the games and it just ruined my Sundays. I gave up not on the Bengals, but on Mike Brown. I think that is the difference that many other fans do not understand. I did not stop supporting the Bengals, I stopped giving my money to Mike Brown.

Things are definitely looking up and I think that even Marvin is going to be surprised on the spirit and attitude of the city come the 2005 football season...this town embraces a winner like none other.

[derekshank]

I chose to stay away from the games from about 1998 to 2003 because it was just to painful too watch...as bad as they were I still got way to into the games and it just ruined my Sundays. I gave up not on the Bengals, but on Mike Brown.

I gave up not on the Bengals, but on Mike Brown. Very eloquently put. I remember rooting against the Bengals after they were out of contention (usually about week 6) so that Mike Brown would see the need to hire a GM. Never happened. I guess Marvin is about as close as we'll ever get.

Also, in regard to not wanting to watch the Bengals and ruin Sundays... I got there too, and in order not to ruin the entire sport of football for me, I got into fantasy football. I still like fantasy football, but I will never root for one of my individual players to succeed against my Bengals. For some people there is a little too much conflict there, but my priorities are clear. I would gladly finish in last place in my fantasy league to see a playoff game in Cincy.

[Jet23]

Phil Samp was awesome. Cincy has been blessed with some great announcers. My all time favorite highlight clip is Phil & Dave Lapham's call of Stanford's Super Bowl kick return. 'GO STANFORD'.

Lap is a homer, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

[JungleFanatic]

Lap is a homer, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

My thoughts exactly :player: