I Hate Mike Brown

Hate is a strong word. Which is why I use it here.

This post was originally only about Willie Anderson in his new starting role with Baltimore. But as I dug deeper, and clicked from Bengals story to Bengals story, I grew angrier. I have been boycotting the Bengals this entire season, refusing to waste any part of my Sunday on Bengals TV, radio, and certainly not tickets. (On Mondays, sometimes I read the recaps.) But first, back to Willie.

If you need further evidence of what ails this team, look no further (emphasis mine):

Anderson resisted throwing jabs at the Bengals. But he did say the same pipeline that he said fed Brown bad information about him has been feeding him inaccurate information about players for many years.

"People in the organization continue to mislead him about players," Anderson said, though he would not elaborate.

Another comparison: The Ravens have their personnel and personal issues, too, Anderson said, but the situation in Baltimore is nothing like it is in Cincinnati.

"We have our issues; every organization does," he said. "But here it's all about football. You can concentrate on football here. There are not nearly as many non-football issues here as there were in Cincinnati."

I wish Willie had not been so coy. I wish he had held up a loud, blinking sign that said: "Mike Brown is the problem."

Then, this very morning came a story about a class-action suit against the Bengals by fans who bought season tickets before PBS was built. They thought they were buying Charter Ownership Agreements at $150 per seat per year for 10 years. The Bengals contend they're on the hook for the full seat price per seat per year for 10 years. That's the difference between hundreds of dollars and tens of thousands of dollars, depending on when a season ticket holder attempted to cancel their tickets. I don't know which is worse. Is it worse that the Bengals are once-again saying "fuck you" to some of their most loyal, longest-season-ticket-holding fans, including one guy who has held four season ticket seats every year the Bengals have been in existence up until 2003. Or is it worse that the Bengals in cowardly fashion, are not even fighting the suit, but trying to run out the clock by delaying the case in court until the contracts expire in 2009 anyway. Pathetic.

On a Bengals-bashing roll, I found my way over to WhoDeyRevolution, a blog I've been following for a while. (See their take on the same Willie Anderson story and class-action lawsuit story.) I have glanced at many Bengals blogs in the past couple years, and while many of them have been critical, they all lack that visceral, scathing contempt for Mike Brown. WhoDeyRevolution has that contempt, and more. It's the only blog that focuses more on the real problems of this team, and not just who they're going to draft next year.

So I read this post about the non-Bengals side of Mike Brown:

The plans to build the stadium were underway in 1996, over 12 years ago, for example. And the plan to develop the Banks seems to just now be gaining traction. While many parties are at fault here, it is not like you ever heard of the Bengals being a proactive force. Nope, from what I have heard they were mostly unhelpful and satisfied to earn parking revenue rather than encouraging development that would likely make them more wealthy, successful and popular in the long term.

The post also contains a quote from an apparent source in-the-know that Mike Brown has zero involvement in any local business, charitable, or civic causes. Nice.

Digging further, I was reminded of the original sweetheart stadium lease, "one of the most generous to a team in the NFL," that continues to pay the Bengals dividends for producing one playoff season in nearly two decades:

The team gets all income from concessions and advertising in the stadium.

The team can refuse to let the stadium be used for events it feels could damage the field.

The team pays game-day expenses only; the county pays all other maintenance costs.

The team pays $1.7 million in rent in 2000 - an amount that drops by $100,000 each year until 2009, when it drops to zero.

...Development of county-owned land around Paul Brown Stadium is restricted based on height, appearance and other factors. For instance, the lease forbids an auditorium seating 3,000 or more people from being built just east of the stadium.

The team and the county split the revenue from all non-Bengals-related events 50-50.

:::

As I said at the beginning, this post was originally about Willie and the on-field performance of the Bengals. But it turned into more. Not only has Mike Brown poorly influenced football decisions that have led to one good season in nearly two decades of ownership. Not only has Mike Brown repeatedly given the middle finger to fans who have been season-ticket holders longer than I've been alive. Not only has Mike Brown enjoyed a stadium lease that is so one-sided it is nearly criminal and probably is, Mike Brown has also shown to be a disruptive force in the progress of our city.

At a time when the city of Cincinnati is struggling to distinguish itself from similar cities as a destination, as a place young people want to live, as a place entrepreneurs want to start businesses, as a place where families do not hesitate to send their kids to the public schools, as a place where nearly everyone who cares about where they live agree we need a strong downtown; at this time, Mike Brown is becoming a dead weight. Mike Brown is like the kid on the block with the rich parents and the nice toys, who doesn't play with anyone else. Sure, he's a nice kid, but when the other kids see his toys and want to play too, he just takes his toys inside.

At the risk of sounding cliché, Mike Brown does not realize that everything is connected. Everything is connected. When he forces the county pay for artificial turf, after he insisted on building the stadium with real grass because "football should be played on grass," it leaves less money for a new small business. When he puts such a piss-poor product on the field, less people will come downtown before and after the game. When he spends more time reminding everyone involved with the Banks that he has veto powers and less time actually coming up with ideas, he only increases the wait before anything but a hole in the ground is built around his stadium.

The Bengals are doing more harm than good. As a football fan, I wish they would just leave.

Who... Dey...

The head coach is under attack for some questionable decisions and clock management. The star wide receiver has as many drops as catches. The high-powered offense has scored one touchdown in eight quarters. The defense just lost another starter to a serious injury.

Sound familiar? At first I thought that was about the Bengals, but it's from a story about the Browns. The state of parity in Ohio pro football is strong!

I had a serious post about the Bengals in mind, but really, what's the point?

Passing The Time

Big Willie Anderson has been keeping a diary of sorts for the Enquirer at Bengals training camp. I liked the one, quoted from below, where he thinks back to when he entered the league.

I was looking at the roster the other day and noticed all of the young guys, born in 1981, '82, '83, '84, '85 ... damn. We have a lot of '80s babies.

It's weird to look at the roster and see all of the young guys. It's interesting to look at when I grew up, in the hip-hop generation. I still remember my first road trip as a rookie in the regular season, and I went in a suit. I was a 1996 draft pick. Joe Walter and those guys were 1980s linemen. They wore boots, jeans, flannel shirts tucked in. I remember getting laughed at so hard. I said, "Those guys are old. They don't know what's going on."

I am thinking a lot about the passing of time. I've got a backpack filled with vitamins and minerals I put in my water. Your second or third years (in the NFL), you learn it's survival. I remember telling Levi Jones when he was a rookie, "Hey, man, tape your fingers. Take care of your hands." He said, "Man, I'm young. I don't do that." By the end of the year he had a cast on every finger.

I think a lot about the passing of time too these days. Not in a negative way, though. I guess it's because I've now been working longer than I ever spent in school. I spent a few years in college, a few years in graduate school. And now I've been working longer than any of those periods of my life.

Time passes by so fast now. It's August now, and I think back to January and I can't even remember what occurred in the months in-between. Where did all those months go?

I hate that feeling. Like months have gone by and I didn't even notice. There are things I do to combat that feeling - keeping this blog is one of them.

Another thing is - what I've found is that it's only when I do the same things every day that time goes by fast. When every day is different, and holds new challenges, it actually seems like time goes slower. At my previous job, I worked on the same project for two years. I didn't dislike the project, but it was just so repetitive I barely remember what I did those two years.

But in the year I changed jobs, bought a house, and got engaged all at once was the longest year of my life. I felt like I lived two years worth of life instead of one. Every day and night was packed for months. It stretched me and pulled me in all sorts of directions.

It's not a great thing though. It's stressful and anxious, and I can't even say I would do things the same way if I could do them over again.

The last few months have been pretty calm, thus they've passed with barely a glance. But things are picking up. It feels like I've had plans every evening for the past two weeks (some of those plans involve happy hour, but nonetheless.) This week, I have errands every morning, and meetings and work every evening. I guess time is about to slow down again.

Re: Chad Johnson

Sherry Brabham, mother of two sons, 17 and 12, summed it up best in this Paul Daugherty column:

"All of us, at some point, would like to be someplace else," Brabham said. "But there's a process. It's how you do things. Chad wasn't crying when he signed that contract for all those cool millions."

Cueto, Henry Leave Fans Speechless

The Bengals cut Chris Henry after his fifth transgression with the law in the last 28 months. I say good riddance. He was a walking punchline off the field. On the field, he had some spectacular plays, but he wasn't clutch.

What's especially disappointing is that Henry was a model player and teammate, behavior-wise. There was an ESPN article on Bengals' off-field problems a while ago:

But inside the Bengals' locker room, Henry is regarded as a model teammate. And therein lies the difference between the kind of character that matters to teams and that which matters to fans. Henry's coaches and teammates say he shows up on time, pays attention in meetings and goes about his football business as quietly as a mouse. When he does speak, Henry addresses coaches with barely audible "Yes, sirs" and "No, sirs." He works hard in practice, has played through injuries and has quickly developed into the Bengals' No. 3 receiver, with 29 catches for 451 yards (15.6 ypc) and 7 TDs, the same number as Chad Johnson.

That tells me that Henry was for the most party a good person, but makes bad, really bad, snap decisions, and has a bit of a temper, when in social situations and not beside a coach.

In Reds news, Johnny Cueto made is major league debut yesterday. His line in a 3-2 win:

7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO, 92 NP, 1.29 ERA

I'm sure I join thousands of Reds fans when I say:

"...!"

Cue CuetoMania.

What A Real Owner Thinks

So I've been watching a lot more cable TV lately. On CNBC, they're running a show called "Touchdown: The Patriots and the Business of Winning," about the New England Patriots and their owner, Bob Kraft.

Kraft bought the team in 1994, a year after they went 5-11 and had just lost something like 34 out of their last 50 games (IIRC). Three years later, they were in the Super Bowl, losing to the Green Bay Packers. Sometime around 2000, he hired Bill Belichick away from Cleveland, and drafted Michigan quarterback Tom Brady. And they haven't looked back since.

There's a video clip from the show on the site, where Kraft says:

"If you're in the sports business, to me, making money isn't the first thing. It's about winning. Your customers don't wanna hear that it's not about winning. And if you're not passionate about winning, get out of the business. There's easier ways to make money."

There's another part in the show, where Tom Brady says that Kraft takes care of everything non-football related for the players and coaches, so they can focus on football, but I couldn't find the video of that online.

State Of The Bengals = Crap

So the Enquirer wrapped up a pretty interesting feature Sunday with the results of its inaugural State Of Our Sports survey. For some reason, I couldn't find the link to the raw results online anymore, but fortunately I was able to find it in my history.

I only want to comment on the Bengals' report, who have a, whether real or perceived, serious image problem on their hands. John Erardi writes about the Bengals:

"Given the expectation that the Bengals would mount a lengthy playoff run - instead of not even starting one - a nearly irrefutable case can be made that the recently completed season is the most disappointing in team history."

The survey results reveal a lot of anger and frustration - most graphs looked like this one.

In all but one question's results, the most negative or pessimistic choice was picked the most.

The open comments at the end were pretty funny. I liked these two the best, and couldn't agree more.

"What is your opinion on the state of the franchise? What is the most important issue facing the franchise? What is the biggest obstacle to success? (Limit 250 words)

- I don't need 250, all I need is two: Mike Brown.

- The franchise is like it was 17 seasons ago...a failure. The most important issue facing and biggest obstacle is the Brown Family. In 17 years, players have come and gone, coaches come and go and its the same result. 0 playoff wins in 17 years. 1 winning season in 17 years (everybody catches lightning in a bottle every once in a while). Marvin was successful in Baltimore, Chuck B. was successful in Oakland, Leslie Frazier has been successful in Indy & Minnesota. The ONLY constant in 17 seasons is the Brown Family. The only variable that hasn't changed is "how the ORGANIZATION is run from the top." Until they sell the team, this will NEVER change as Mike Brown proved in the papers last week. I am only 30, so I was hoping to outlive the Browns, but I don't think it will happen."

Who. Dey.

I think most people underestimate the role of injuries in the Bengals season that recently came to a close. Enough has been said already of the small army of linebackers the Bengals went through. But the linebacker corps is just the start of it. If you believe what they say, 2nd-year DB J-Joseph came on strong at the end of the year, as if the stress fracture in his foot was a real problem earlier in the year.

And that's just defense. On offense, it seemed like there wasn't a week when you could guess who was starting at left or right tackle. The constant instability of the O-line was a problem. When the O-line is not productive, the running game will suffer. Not to mention that their top three backs (Kenny Irons, Rudi Johnson, and Chris Perry) have either never played a full season or had lingering injuries. When there's no running game, defenses can sit on the pass. No wonder that T.J. set a record for receptions and Carson Palmer set a record for completions this year - there was no running game! With more attempts and defenses sitting on the pass, Carson threw for a career high in INT's.

Does this mean that the Bengals stand pat? Hardly. Get rid of the players that can't stay on the field. Get rid of players who have put in their time but maybe have now lost a step. Get rid of coaches who have never shown any ability to adjust (how come we can never cover tight ends? Or pass to our own tight ends?)

And above all - if there is only one change to make this offseason - hire a GM!!! Look at Holmgren in Seattle. He went 31-33 in four years without a GM. Then they hired a GM, and Seattle went to the Super Bowl (losing to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL).

I Love/Hate Chris Henry

Busy weekend! Sarah and I got tickets to the Bengals vs. Cardinals game from Mike. They outplayed the Cardinals, but with two interceptions returned for touchdowns, it's hard to win. Chris Henry hauled in a 30-some yard TD pass today, but he has got to be the pansiest receiver in the NFL. Whenever he feels like he's going to get hit, he drops the ball. He killed two drives today by dropping two balls that hit his hands. One was over the middle. One was on the sideline, but his back was upfield and he felt the DB coming before catching the ball.




And my stitched panorama didn't turn out so well in the cloudy weather.

Stupid Bengals

In 2005-2006, when the Bengals won their division and went to the playoffs, many fans including myself thought that it was the start of something great. Apparently, that's all we get.

So every 15 years, we get 1 playoff game. Perfect. Who dey!