Who Dey!
Anyone who knows me knows I love sports. If I had to pick a favorite team (besides my kids' teams of the moment), I would always pick the Cincinnati Bengals. For the last 33 years, I have been saying, "this is our year" to go to the Super Bowl. Of course, I knew I was lying to myself most of the time. Carson Palmer gave us hope a decade ago, and so did Andy Dalton after that, for a time. But the moment Joe Burrow was drafted two years ago, I meant it when I said, "this is our year." I became a believer immediately.
If you watch football, you know he was injured early in his rookie season, and we ended the year with a 4-11-1 record. Seeing him leave the field on the back of a golf cart was devastating. Well, now he is back, and clearly, everyone knows the Bengals are now in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989. My sister pointed out that was the last year our entire family lived in the same house. My brother is 51, I am 48, and my sister is 37. In the spring of 1989, my brother graduated from high school, but he was still in high school for the Super Bowl.
A few years back, I wrote about Joe Burrow before he was even drafted by the Bengals. He grew up in Athens, Ohio - the Appalachian town where I attended college. He went to Ohio State for three years and didn't play much before transferring and winning a National Championship for LSU.
One of my son's friends was over the other day, and he said, "you are only the second Bengals fan I have ever met." We are a rare breed - a unicorn of sorts in the NFL fan base. But we are loyal, and we love our Bengals, through thick and thin - and mostly it has been really thin. I thought I would once again share this article from two years ago. Joe Burrow is a true class act, a good human, and a great person for all young boys to look up to. Here is hoping it won't be another 33 years.
