Being a fan of a NFL team that has never won a Super Bowl, (and hasn't been to one
since 1989, when I was 34 days old) the game has never held a real place in my sports fandom heart. I always end up at a party, with a drink in my hand. My focus mostly on the game but not completely because, besides a wager or two, I never had a real reason to invest any stress into a team that I truly didn't follow.
It never occurred to me that I look past this date on the sports calendar until a few years ago when it was brought up in conversation. A buddy and I went to a local sports bar to watch the annual rivalry us Cincinnatians call, "The Shootout." If you're not from Cincinnati, The Crosstown Shootout is just another game you may scroll right by when looking for something to watch in mid-December. If you are from Cincinnati, The Shootout is one of the hottest tickets in town and divides a city in half. Ok, half may be generous. University of Cincinnati basketball fans outnumber Xavier University basketball fans 10 to 1, and that's still being generous. This heated rivalry of schools just 3 miles apart has been my favorite day of the year since I was a kid. I mean favorite day as in favorite day. Not just favorite sports day. I would ignore my birthday and Christmas, just to keep Shootout day open on my calendar. Being a Xavier fan as a kid, it was always fun to stick one to big brother in Clifton. X had a strong 20 year run (X going 14-6 from '96 to '15) and now the game is a coin flip with both programs taking wins over the last few years.
As we sit in that bar, I bring up just how much I look forward to that day every year. My buddy (a UC and Green Bay Packers fan) and I (a X and Cincinnati Bengals fan) started talking about our favorite days on the sports calendar. The Shootout was one. Opening Day for baseball season another. Even the first weekend of March Madness came to mind. My friend then says, "Don't you look forward to the Super Bowl?!" I was dumbfounded. How had I not thought of the biggest sporting event this country has to offer? The answer was simple. I didn't really care. My team had never came close to playing in it during my lifetime. Unlike my Cheesehead friend, the game felt unobtainable. Even when the Bengals put together great teams and make the playoffs, the thought of making the Super Bowl still felt like a pipe dream.
I could sit here and complain about ownership or coaching or players. The truth is, a combination of everything is to blame. The Bengals have an owner that is stuck in his ways. It's rumored that one cold, rainy day this past season, Marvin Lewis came into Mike Brown's office to ask permission to take the team to the University of Cincinnati football team's indoor practice facility. He declined. His reason? He may want to ride his golf cart to the practice field across the street from the stadium named after his father. There is so much wrong with this story. Why does the mid-major college football program in your city have an indoor facility, and you don't? Why decline letting your team practice there? Then there is the coaching.
From burning early timeouts to drawing up useless, outdated schemes, the Marvin Lewis era was frustrating to watch. He did bring a team out of the darkness of the 90s, where they were the laughingstock of the NFL and it is greatly appreciated. On the other hand, the underachieving under his watch was epic. Maybe some of it was the bad luck of injuries but he didn't show us he could do any better with a healthy team when put under the lights of primetime.
Then there are the players. The epic meltdowns. The unnecessary penalties. The injuries. It all makes for a terrible experience as a fan. I know most of those men are trying their best and it's sad to see them penalized for something out of their control. There is a small sliver of players that seem not to care if they take a penalty, just to bark some extra words at the opposing sideline, or make a late hit out of frustration. That small sliver comes out in the worst times and proves some guys can't keep their cool under pressure. Those guys come and go but the stain they leave stays with us. The stain stays with the franchise and the fanbase.
It's all of these reasons that make a Super Bowl seem impossible. It might as well be a trophy in a league the Bengals don't even play in. When I see the Bengals playing in a Super Bowl on Madden, it doesn't even look right to me. Did Pacman Jones not scream at the opposing coach late in the 4th quarter? Did Vontaze Burfict not rip someone's head off instead of just making a simple tackle? Did Marvin Lewis not use his last timeout with 10 minutes to go in the 4th quarter? I know we're not the only fans that have dealt with constant frustration of falling short, but the way it has happened is a story worthy of its own 30 for 30.
Changes have begun though. Ownership is showing they want new, fresh ideas in the building. With that, they bring in a QB coach with no experience as a Head Coach at any respectable level. I have to admit, I was one of those people that wanted a new, young face as the head of my team. Then, when given exactly what I asked for, I raised an eyebrow and thought, really? A QB Coach? My hopes are that this guy is what the team needs. A new voice in the locker room. New ideas for a stagnant offense that seems to be wasting talented player's time. New ideas for a defense that put up historically bad numbers last season. Until I see improvement, I will remain a skeptic.
Maybe it's the pessimist in me. Maybe it's the fact that I never had to wait those two weeks after a conference championship. An excruciating wait, I could imagine. Listening to "experts" pick apart every little piece of my team, giving me hope or pissing me off. Maybe one day I'll have that feeling. Maybe one day the Super Bowl will make it's way on to my list of favorite days on the sports calendar. Maybe. Until then, it's just another football game.