Bleacher Report writer and longtime suffering Bengals fan Donovan Estridge has penned a three-part series on WDR, the Bengals and the year ahead.
In the first article, he discusses WDR, our cause and goals. The second part talks about the Bengals recent struggle to sell tickets in the current financial climate. The third part compares the Bengals with the Colts.
The bottom line is that, despite what most "experts" are saying about the strong Bengals off-season, none have actually played a down in the NFL for the Bengals. So lets go easy on the whole argument that "What would a GM have done better this offseason?" WDR is going to side with 18 years of failed history before we go easy on Mike Brown and the Bengals management structure. Good offseasons on paper have to lead to wins on the field, maybe a playoff win or two or heck, a Super Bowl? Is that too much to expect from a professional football team?
"Dear Bengals, Please Hire a GM. Love, Your Fans" is just as needed today as it was 6 months ago.
did you all see this one? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/185808-i-hate-myself-for-loving-the-bengals
Posted by: me | June 04, 2009 at 09:53 AM
Great set of articles, even the one ME posted (well except for the fact that I hate when people pull out that "true fan" crap).
I love the Bengals, and I want them to be great. But, much like having an alcoholic relative, sometimes you have to confront the one you love and try to force change for the better of all parties.
Posted by: Danno | June 04, 2009 at 12:17 PM
me: It's gotta be difficult to find die-hard Bengals fans younger than about 27 though. The memories in the "I hate myself" article are all pre-Mike Brown era. But the fact is all the young kids in Cincy have only known the Mike Brown era. The Bengals must have an aging fan base -- I wonder if anyone has studied that.
Posted by: MikeBrownIsAPsychopath | June 05, 2009 at 08:37 PM
"...as mentioned earlier, efficient and prudent salary cap management does not ensure a winning product, if your talent evaluation and selection is poor."
Basically, teams that draft and acquire talent well can afford to spare cap space to roll over, which leads to better free agents, which leads to winning, which leads to better free agents, which leads to playoffs, which leads to championships, which leads to happy fans, happy tax payers, happy coaches, happy owner? Who knows. Wouldn't 5 or 10 more scouts making less than a million total be worth the investment?
Posted by: mdccclxix | June 06, 2009 at 04:30 PM