That, Bengals fans, is a beautiful sight. Particularly the empty club seating level, which is non-shared revenue. I know it feels wrong to embrace the beauty of this picture. But make no mistake, it is beautiful. The only way the Bengals can get better is to make the home stadium environment worse. Don't fight it. Just go with it.
The hardest part for me is that all this sucks for the players, many of whom are very likeable, who are caught in a war between the fans and ownership. If crowds remain lackluster like this (and you should all hope they do) the Bengals will probably perform better on the road this season than in front of a depressingly empty stadium at home (gambling implications?). Just remember, the players will get paid whether or not you give Mike Brown your money. Find other ways to show the players love besides wasting your money on Mikey.
Who Dey everyone! Sunday's game should make you feel better, not worse.
SWB,
As the most active WDR member lately (which is akin to being the cliched Special Olympics champion), can you please clarify for me the current stance of the Revolution in terms of fandom? If the Manifesto as originally written still stands, then, first and foremost, we should not feel better as a result of Sunday's game, as it was a loss to a very beatable opponent. And while that certainly imports that the next game should feature even lower attendance, at the same time, as Bengals fans, losing should never be something to celebrate.
Posted by: Wyatt | September 26, 2011 at 10:10 AM
Attendance was so bad it warranted a mention by Peter King in MMQB today. Are the winds of change blowing in Cincy? Have the fans finally had enough? Wow.
Posted by: RedZeppelin | September 26, 2011 at 10:19 AM
I don't think anyone is celebrating losing. We're acknowledging progress made in the area of keeping people from going to the games in an effort to draw attention to our plight as long-time fans of a team whose ownership doesn't care to win.
Posted by: Steve | September 26, 2011 at 10:19 AM
I live out of market, so I have NFL Sunday ticket to watch the games. All of you poor bastards in the motherland should just be thankful that you didn't have the opportunity or compulsion to watch that abortion of a game yesterday. It was absolutely awful and boring as hell. At least last week's loss was entertaining.
As far as the crowd (or lack thereof goes), even in Cincinnati you eventually reap what you sow. I think all of the preseason talk of the 2010 Bengals being competitive for the Super Bowl and then going 4-12 is really what did it. Maybe the Family has finally run the franchise into the ground.
In the mean time, the shenanigans of Pacman, Benson, Palmer and now Simpson just remind us what a lousy organization this is and reinforce whatever poor opinion the city has of the team.
Posted by: Rich | September 26, 2011 at 10:36 AM
It's not celebrating losing. It's celebrating a stadium that shows fans get that Mike Brown is an evil scumbag.
The losing was going to happen regardless. This is a very bad football team coached by a babbling Bengalized in-over-his-head coach.
Besides Whit there are few Bengals who would be starters for other good teams.
Posted by: GetRidofMikeBrown | September 26, 2011 at 10:55 AM
I think NOW is as good of any time to revolt! To stand up against the tyranny and stupidity of Mike Brown! By the way, did anybody here what happened to that soldier who said he would sit outside PBS and picket? Apparently it wasnt news-worthy. Someone needs to contact the television media if this guy actually went through it and continues to week after week.
Posted by: Tyler from Cincy | September 26, 2011 at 11:11 AM
I'm also curious about the soldier who said he was going to picket outside the stadium. Did he get cold feet?
Posted by: Steve | September 26, 2011 at 12:01 PM
I watch the blacked out games on illegal feeds online, and yesterday was definitely not worth the risk of a $250,000 fine or 5 years in prison.
Posted by: Kevin Jones | September 26, 2011 at 12:08 PM
I cheated. I was in Tahoe having breakfast and beer at 10:00 AM, (NFL sundays on pacific time are good) and I watched the opening drive. Very impressive. Then I left and it seems like that was the only drive worth watching.
Don't like the losing, but LOVE that empty stadium. Still 43,000 or so folks paid Mike handsomely and as usual he gave them poor return on their investment.
We can't help the team win. We have to stop helping Mikey get rich.
Posted by: JM | September 26, 2011 at 01:27 PM
It's not enough to just not buy tickets. People who pay for tickets should be shamed. Seriously, they should be made to feel like a criminal defendant being taken for a perp walk when they're headed to the gate with their tickets. Mike Brown is robbing the county and the people who attend, and enable him, are his co-conspirators.
Posted by: Dan R. | September 26, 2011 at 02:36 PM
Thank you, JM - you said what I was trying to say with this: "Don't like the losing, but LOVE that empty stadium".
Posted by: Wyatt | September 26, 2011 at 03:03 PM
I have Sunday NFL ticket, so I watched most of the game.
The lack of committing to the run, lost them the game. Which amazes me for a few reasons.
1. Rookie QB
2. Benson is better the more carries he gets
3. Marvin Lewis is 26-2 when a RB has 25 or more carries (or something close to that)
Marvin is a terrible game manager. Always has been. And, they only targeted Gresham 8 times. 4 on the last drive.
So for 3 quarters and about 12 minutes, he was thrown to 4 times. JOKE
Love that nobody went to the game. Hope it continues.
Posted by: TJanns | September 26, 2011 at 07:55 PM
My point being, close game, at home, and your defense playing well against a lousy opposing offense, you need to RUN THE BALL
It's the same reason the Colts BLEW that game last night about the Steelers.
Adhai averaged over 5 yards a carry, but they threw 29 times with Kerry Collins in 3 quarters. This league is getting way too pass happy
Posted by: TJanns | September 26, 2011 at 07:58 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhKvXMS2fM
Posted by: TheSlushovsky in NYC | September 27, 2011 at 12:45 PM