I, like many fans, take pride in (almost) never leaving a game early. Rain, snow, hot, cold, down by 10 runs, or 30 points: real fans stay until the end. Beat the traffic? I would rather have a beer or hot dog after the game and wait for the other fans to filter out. But everyman has his breaking point. I have left games early. December 19th, 2004, I left a game at halftime - and I have no regrets. In fact my brother still has function in all 10 of his toes thanks to our decision.
On December 19th, 2004, the Cincinnati Bengals were coming off a tough loss to New England and were matched up at home with the streaking Buffalo Bills. In his first year as a starter, Carson Palmer hasd been injured so Jon Kitna would be starting at QB. The Bengals were 6-7, still with a fighting shot of making the playoffs or maybe even have a winning season. The results were poor. In addition to Kitna forgetting that Takeo Spikes played for the Bills, it was cold. I know it was not Freezer Bowl cold, but my brother and I were woefully unprepared for the weather.
Quick sidenote - I love this whole interweb thing. In 30 seconds I found every detail about the weather
on that fateful afternoon. Kickoff, around 21 degrees with 23 mph
winds. By 2 pm, the wind was at 33 mph with almost 40 mph gusts. My
brother decided it would be a good idea to wear Vans with only thin
ankle length athletic socks to keep his feet warm. Usually, a few
adult beverages in the parking lot will numb my body enough to deal
with anything. Not this time. The first half my brother and I went
through at least 4 Warm Chocolate Waters each (they were sold under the
name "Hot Chocolate"), but we could feel our core body temperatures
dropping. Trips to the bathroom during timeouts to run our hands under
warm water only worked for a minute. After a piss poor performance in
the first half, which included the aforementioned Takeo Spikes Pick 6
and a blocked punt returned for a TD, the Bengals were down 27-10 and
my brother was in danger of losing some of his toes.
So we did it. We left. Got up and walked/ran as fast as we could to our car. I don't remember much about the walk because we were both trying to conserve energy desperately needed to heat our bodies. We made it to the car and took a few minutes to warm up before driving home.
The Bengals performance did not improve, but the feeling returned to my hands and feet. I may have missed two Ryan Lindell Field Goals and a TD pass from Kitna to Matt Schobel with 3:14 left in the 4th Quarter, but I did not care. I left a game and I did not care. I wasn't the only one. Yahoo! Sports summed it up quite nicely, "Only a few thousand fans stuck around on a windy, frigid afternoon to watch another Bengals season end badly."
Members of WDR, have you left a game early? When and did you regret it?
On a side note, it was over 9 blocks before I got feeling back in my toes and stopped tripping under the weight of my ice ridden feet. A tip to the wise, Vans bad, wool socks good.
Posted by: Brother with 10 toes | June 18, 2008 at 06:34 PM