Our Best Stuff From the Week the Bengals Made the Super Bowl

Iran’s future, Joe Rogan, and Kevin McCarthy.

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Happy Sun-Dey. Please forgive me for taking grammatical license. It’s not every decade the Cincinnati Bengals make the Super Bowl. Buildings around the city are lighting up in black and orange, fans are planning Super Bowl weddings, school districts are canceling school for the day after the game, and by (in)formal decree, we have to change all -day spellings to -dey in honor of the Bengals “Who Dey” rallying cry. (At least one district that has already called off told parents it would be a “Snow Dey.”)

As a transplant to Southwest Ohio, I’m not a lifelong Bengals fan. But as an Ohio native, I’m definitely familiar with frustration and heartbreak. And so watching the Bengals improbable journey through the playoffs (including two overtime wins on the road, both coming on field goals from a rookie kicker) has been a treat. We watched the AFC Championship with friends, nervously huddled around the television as the Bengals lined up for the field goal that would send them to the big game. Watching that ball go through the uprights and screaming and hugging everyone was almost as special as watching the last moments of the Cavs 2016 NBA championship or Ohio State’s victory in the first-ever College Football Playoff. (But there is, of course, one game to go.)

What we’re seeing in Cincinnati right now is a good example of how sports can bring people together, and even instill civic pride. Coach Zac Taylor has been awarding “game balls” to local businesses that serve Bengals fans. When our superintendent announced the day off for Monday, February 14, he asked families to consider donating to our local food bank in honor of quarterback Joe Burrow, who used his Heisman Trophy speech a few years ago to call attention to poverty in his native southeastern Ohio (and raised a ton of money in the process). 

It’s a nice, heartwarming, feel-good story. And yet … On Tuesday, former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed an explosive lawsuit against the NFL that exposes how all is not well within the league. Flores was fired by the Dolphins despite posting a winning record in two of his three seasons with the team. He alleges that one reason he was fired was because he refused to “tank” back in 2019, when ownership wanted to finish with the worst record and thus get the top pick in the 2020 draft (to pick, coincidentally enough, Joe Burrow).

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  1. B Phillips

    Not todays topic, but is there a way you guys could notify us when one of you will be making a TV appearance? I don't typically watch those shows but I'd enjoy watching Jonah on CNN.

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    Kevin C. Smith

    I love the video of the Bengals fans celebrating! It reminds me very much of a certain October night back in 2016 when many Cubs fans were celebrating a trip back to the World Series.

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      Rachael Larimore vertical-nib Author

      Too soon! Too soon! (I was, as you may guess, rooting for the Indians.) I think it was Kipnis who hit a long fly ball to right in the bottom of the ninth that I thought was a game-ender and then it went foul. The fates were against the Indians that night, for sure.

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        Kevin C. Smith

        Oh now, c'mon! 108 years! And it took 10 crazy innings.. Just think, Kipnis is a Chicago native. If I remember correctly, his "heart" was with the Cubs. You couldn't tell by how he played, though.

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    There's been a meme going around that prior to January, the Bengals last playoff victor was in 1991 and the first text was sent in 1992, so no one has ever texted '𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆"!

    vs. KC after the bengals intecepted a KC OT pass, and as the kicker got onto the field I furiously typed (meaning I probably had typos) "𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒍!. The ball is snapped, the kick is up and as it sails through the uprights I hit send, to be the first person to ever text ""𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒍!.".

    Then it occurred to me. The kick is not good until the referees signal it is so. In a subsequent text I asked if I was first or did I incur a five yard illegal motion penalty. 2/3rds of my class voted for the latter. But they did love my zoom wallpaper. I downloaded an image of Geha Field (home of KC) with Harambe looking over the stadium's end zone. I pasted it into powerpoint added "𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲'!, saving it as a JEPG (so I could use it as a zoom wallpaper). I left it up for zoom meetings all week, my Dean loved it, grinning.

    And I am a colts fan (lived in Indy 20 years, grew up an hour NW, near Muncie). My wife has many Michigan relatives, who root for Matthew Stafford (go Rams), while we live in 𝒲𝒽ℴ 𝒟ℯ𝓎? country. Just to annoy my Saints friends, I heard Who Dey before i heard Who Dat!

    So whichever way it goes, I'll have some happy friends and family.

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    Paul Britton

    A delightful report, as always.

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  5. Bill Brockman

    Re the Bengals: We in New Orleans can relate. One Superbowl appearance (and win!) in 55 years of franchise existence. It's tough to be the Rodney Dangerfields of the NFL. Further, since your team's QB is a LSU FB grad, I have to believe most of the city, if not the state, will be pulling for the Bengals. I know I will. Just remember, though, the correct spelling is "Burreaux!"

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    David M

    I love this weekend roundup. I find things I missed at the Dispatch. Thanks Rachael.

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      Rachael Larimore vertical-nib Author

      Thank you!

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    Dennis

    Take all the license you need, Rachel. You do a superb job.

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  8. Hayes T.

    Great opener, Rachael. It was very relatable. I’ll be pulling for Joe Cool and the Bengals.

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  9. Karin

    Rachael thanks for wrestling with the knotty problem of how to deal with something that can have a positive impact on community - locally, nationally, internationally - but comes with a real cost, the expense of compromising our principles. I think we all know the right answer, but don’t make it because it is just too expensive, so we find ways to justify the wrong choices for ourselves.

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    Dave Conant - MO

    Great round up. Given McCarthy's financial largess to the impeachment supporters, do we now know the price of Congressional loyalty if they vote for him?

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