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WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18
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Bengals' mess is worse than ever
Brown can't get away with utter indifference to those who love team
What a discouraging article. :'(
The Jim Borgman cartoon is on the wall of my office at home, behind my desk. It is six panels of Mike Brown, the first three of which depict the Bengals president holding a small box and saying this:
"Here's a little present for you from the Bengals. It isn't much.''
"Matter of fact, it isn't anything at all. See? It's empty.''
"No front office shakeup. No coaching overhaul. No free agent bonanzas. No more wins. No plan. No hope."
The other three panels have Mike saying, essentially, "I want my new stadium.''
The cartoon has been on my office wall since Dec. 23, 1994.
At one point during that regrettable era, I got a call from Jack Brennan, the team's public relations director. He said Brown wanted to talk to me about how he might improve his public image. After I got over the shock that Brown actually thought about his public image, let alone cared about it, I agreed to do it.
What ensued was an amiable chat about being more responsive to fans and allowing them to see his good side, which was ample. Mike Brown is an interesting, pleasant guy. He really is. I've always said I'd like to have him as a friend.
But he has made a mess of his football team, in every way but financially.
Now, it's worse than ever.
Whatever purpose last Tuesday's press conference was intended to serve, it didn't. Whatever positive message Brown and Marvin Lewis intended to convey, they didn't. What could have been a 30-minute infomercial for a brand new day was instead a dirge to same ol', same ol'. It was awful. Seventeen years later, Borgman could draw the same panels this morning, same as I could write the same columns.
It could change. It doesn't have to be this way. It's insane that it is.
Is there another city in the country where any pro sports team is viewed with such absolute dislike as the Bengals are here? In Pittsburgh, the Steelers are at the center of civic pride. They reflect the best of what Pittsburghers think about themselves.
Can you imagine Green Bay without the Packers? Even though Jerry Jones, in his way, has been as inefficient with the Cowboys as Brown has here, Dallas still leans on its football team for part of what it loves about itself.
We used to do that here.
We can again.
The only real benefits a town gets from its pro sports teams is the feelgood they provide. The rest is balance-sheet smoke and mirrors. Right now, the Bengals are strictly feelbad. I cannot believe that Mike Brown is entirely unresponsive to that. He has lived here most of his life. This is home.
If Jack Brennan would ask me to talk to Brown again now – elephants will fly and rocks will talk before he does – I would say this:
You have a fan base that, incredibly, still seeks a reason to believe. They gave you 57 consecutive sellouts. You had a voting populace that agreed overwhelmingly to tax itself for your benefit. Why do you give them the back of your hand?
What do you feel is your civic responsibility, beyond hanging around? The Rooneys are beloved in Pittsburgh, because they win and they are part of the fabric of the community in which they prosper. What keeps you from doing the same?
Given mountains of evidence that strong organizations win championships, why do you insist they don't? How can you possibly declare your team's scouting to be "all right, I'm not going to apologize for it'' when you've become the fastest owner to 200 losses in the history of the NFL?
By the way: Do you really need a new scoreboard?
It's in the lease, yes. The crummy, lopsided, Manhattan-for-beads lease says you are entitled to a "next generation video screen'' if 14 teams have one, or if seven teams have one, whose stadium was paid for primarily with public money. But do you really need it?
Tough economic times. Essential services compromised. People are hurting. Can't a new scoreboard wait?
Come on, Mike.
Align your team publicly with a local charity. Create a charitable organization, the way the Reds have. Appear in public on occasion. Answer questions with grace and some heart. Bob Castellini dislikes press appearances, too. But he does them, with grace and heart.
Give the people who support you a reason to believe. It isn't hard. Fans fall easily and hard for their teams. Teams can get away with almost anything, except utter indifference to those who love them.
That's where you are right now, Mike.
This is a polite place. Friendly people. The letters they've written to the editor about you don't reflect the normal temperament of the town. Folks here don't like being this way. You've given them no choice.
Time to change. Time to expand the scouting staff. Time to engage the community in something beyond enforcing your legal entitlements. Time to show your generous and engaging side.
Put something in Borgman's empty box, Mike.
Life shouldn't be just a negotiation. When it is, you lose so much else.
Brown can't get away with utter indifference to those who love team
What a discouraging article. :'(
The Jim Borgman cartoon is on the wall of my office at home, behind my desk. It is six panels of Mike Brown, the first three of which depict the Bengals president holding a small box and saying this:
"Here's a little present for you from the Bengals. It isn't much.''
"Matter of fact, it isn't anything at all. See? It's empty.''
"No front office shakeup. No coaching overhaul. No free agent bonanzas. No more wins. No plan. No hope."
The other three panels have Mike saying, essentially, "I want my new stadium.''
The cartoon has been on my office wall since Dec. 23, 1994.
At one point during that regrettable era, I got a call from Jack Brennan, the team's public relations director. He said Brown wanted to talk to me about how he might improve his public image. After I got over the shock that Brown actually thought about his public image, let alone cared about it, I agreed to do it.
What ensued was an amiable chat about being more responsive to fans and allowing them to see his good side, which was ample. Mike Brown is an interesting, pleasant guy. He really is. I've always said I'd like to have him as a friend.
But he has made a mess of his football team, in every way but financially.
Now, it's worse than ever.
Whatever purpose last Tuesday's press conference was intended to serve, it didn't. Whatever positive message Brown and Marvin Lewis intended to convey, they didn't. What could have been a 30-minute infomercial for a brand new day was instead a dirge to same ol', same ol'. It was awful. Seventeen years later, Borgman could draw the same panels this morning, same as I could write the same columns.
It could change. It doesn't have to be this way. It's insane that it is.
Is there another city in the country where any pro sports team is viewed with such absolute dislike as the Bengals are here? In Pittsburgh, the Steelers are at the center of civic pride. They reflect the best of what Pittsburghers think about themselves.
Can you imagine Green Bay without the Packers? Even though Jerry Jones, in his way, has been as inefficient with the Cowboys as Brown has here, Dallas still leans on its football team for part of what it loves about itself.
We used to do that here.
We can again.
The only real benefits a town gets from its pro sports teams is the feelgood they provide. The rest is balance-sheet smoke and mirrors. Right now, the Bengals are strictly feelbad. I cannot believe that Mike Brown is entirely unresponsive to that. He has lived here most of his life. This is home.
If Jack Brennan would ask me to talk to Brown again now – elephants will fly and rocks will talk before he does – I would say this:
You have a fan base that, incredibly, still seeks a reason to believe. They gave you 57 consecutive sellouts. You had a voting populace that agreed overwhelmingly to tax itself for your benefit. Why do you give them the back of your hand?
What do you feel is your civic responsibility, beyond hanging around? The Rooneys are beloved in Pittsburgh, because they win and they are part of the fabric of the community in which they prosper. What keeps you from doing the same?
Given mountains of evidence that strong organizations win championships, why do you insist they don't? How can you possibly declare your team's scouting to be "all right, I'm not going to apologize for it'' when you've become the fastest owner to 200 losses in the history of the NFL?
By the way: Do you really need a new scoreboard?
It's in the lease, yes. The crummy, lopsided, Manhattan-for-beads lease says you are entitled to a "next generation video screen'' if 14 teams have one, or if seven teams have one, whose stadium was paid for primarily with public money. But do you really need it?
Tough economic times. Essential services compromised. People are hurting. Can't a new scoreboard wait?
Come on, Mike.
Align your team publicly with a local charity. Create a charitable organization, the way the Reds have. Appear in public on occasion. Answer questions with grace and some heart. Bob Castellini dislikes press appearances, too. But he does them, with grace and heart.
Give the people who support you a reason to believe. It isn't hard. Fans fall easily and hard for their teams. Teams can get away with almost anything, except utter indifference to those who love them.
That's where you are right now, Mike.
This is a polite place. Friendly people. The letters they've written to the editor about you don't reflect the normal temperament of the town. Folks here don't like being this way. You've given them no choice.
Time to change. Time to expand the scouting staff. Time to engage the community in something beyond enforcing your legal entitlements. Time to show your generous and engaging side.
Put something in Borgman's empty box, Mike.
Life shouldn't be just a negotiation. When it is, you lose so much else.