Senin, 21 Februari 2011

Game Journal: Redskins at Bengals, 12/14/2008

A good friend in the Cincinnati area, the Redskins playing at the Bengals, why not a road trip? The two day excursion continues, on day one we visited a bona fide Bengals bar, shopped downtown and drank whiskey out in the country. Day two was all about the game...

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So much for sleeping in on a road trip away from the kids, like me, my good friend Lee from the old school of Charlottesville who relocated to Cincinnati where he got a good job and his wife's family lives, has three kids and he was sure to send them in at first light, there was fresh coffee, eggs and toast, we shook off the effects of a late night before packed our things for the game.


Our tickets and parking pass, note the distinctive pink color of the pass.


Lee's wife, she can fieldstrip a guinea fowl and grind wheat berries for bread at the same time, if it ever come to a The Road type situation I am headed to her house, she has canned enough food to last a year on full rations.


Lee's mascot for his 1-11-1 football team, and a plastic tiger.


Lee rocks the Volkwagen Eurovan, after taking it cross country from Charlottesville Virginia to Union Kentucky, around the time my own family was in the market for our first minivan, Lee gave me a summary review: A good car except for the high maintenance costs, rough ride and terrifying sway of the elevated center of gravity on hard turns or in high winds. So basically an expensive, uncomfortable deathtrap. As I was processing this information I could have sworn I saw him checking my expression out of the corner of his eye, leaving me later to wonder if the Eurovan is not an awesome car that all owners are sworn to keep secret through lies and misinformation.


Lee's wife's brother arrives and the party is ready to roll. As an fyi to the reader, most of the photos in this Game Journal, including this one, were taken with my crappy Nikon seven megapixel point and shoot, the balance of them were taken with Lee's awesome ten megapixel Canon point and shoot with the bigass lens, it should be obvious once we get to the game which are which, and a big thanks to Lee for letting me download his pictures before I left town.


As we were heading down the road from Union Kentucky to Cincinnati Ohio, we listened to the local pregame station, 102.7 FM, this video captures the end of a bit where one of the hosts plays at being a crazy young dude, after every silly thing he says we hear the sound effect of a beer can opening, it was really funny and unfortunately does not come across well on video. The second half of the video is some pregame statistics on the Redskins, Clinton Portis' last game against the Bengals was while he was with Denver in 2003, he had 120 yards and two touchdowns, also to this point Clinton's teams are 33-10 when he has 100 yards, as for Jason Campbell at this point thirteen games into the 2008 season, he has only six interceptions, during the 6-2 run to start the season Jason had eight touchdown passes and zero interceptions, in the 1-4 streak since, Jason has had three touchdowns and six interceptions, all six interceptions coming in the four losses.

The trip in to the stadium continues...


A view from Interstate 75 northbound heading into Cincinnati from the Kentucky side of oblivion. Despite the overcast skies and attendant dull grey appearance of everything, the weather was shaping up smashing for a December football game.


In this video I record the approach to Cincinnati from the south, picking up from the moment of the photo above. We see the sights of riverside Covington Kentucky, cross the Ohio River into Cincinnati Ohio, then circle toward Bengals Stadium, which is conveniently just off the highway. We admire the design of the stadium, witness Bengals fans shuffling dejectedly and observe a high concentration of Redskins attire before Lee runs a red light right in front of Cincinnati's finest. Throughout this video the printed hardcopy of Curly R's game preview for this game can be seen reflected on the dashboard.

We circled and parked in lot D and rolled out our tailgate, which consisted principally of four bottles of bourbon and a small tin of mixed nuts.


First thing I saw, couple of locals enjoying a beverage with the keepers oh the peace.


Your author, photo by Lee, pretty sure I was banging out a text message to lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery who would be settling in to watch this 1:00 pm ET game, his beloved Eagles would not be playing until the next night, Monday against the Browns.


Your author again, with the John A. Roebling bridge in the background, see the day one game journal prelude for more detail on this major Cincinnati architectural feature.


Lee's wife and your author.


Your author with his hosts, Lee's wife and Lee, note Lee's holiday appropriate jackass headgear.


Continuing my perusal of the parking lot here we see a Redskins flag flying proudly at center and at right a dude in the back of a pickup wearing tiger striped pajamas and a hard hat talking on a mobile phone. Are you starting to get what kind of awesome Cincinnati is?

Three great photos coming here, all of Lee's wife's brother and Lee's wife with the Cincinnati skyline in the background:


Number one...


...number two, the classic me taking a picture of Lee taking a picture of his brother in law and wife...


... and number three, the picture of his brother in law and wife that I was taking a picture of him taking.

Moving on, I poured another drink and wandered the lot looking for Redskins fans.


I found these guise pretty quickly, let us break this one down:
  • Optimistic young dude superfan in a Redskins hoodie and Sean Taylor woolly hat? Check.
  • In burgundy and gold Redskins logo kicks? Check!
  • Wearing burgundy and gold Mardi Gras beads? CHECK.
  • Driving a 1993 Jetta with Redskins paint scheme and no hubcaps? CHECK!
  • WITH MOUNTED LOUDSPEAKERS? CHECK!
  • Bag of trash no extra charge.


With a Dallas Sucks Virginia license plate? FLAWLESS VICTORY GENTLEMEN!


The 93 Jetta was accompanied to the game by this old VW bus in full Redskins regalia, this shot from the left...


... and from the right...


... and from behind with the full on BOSS HOGG imprimatur.


Bye bye burgundy and gold bunch of helium balloons, see you on the other side.

Checking my watch I see it is very close to kickoff though I do not believe we have consumed our rations of whiskey. I head back toward the tailgate.


A good look at the stadium from our tailgating spot, it really is a good looking stadium, wide open at both ends, so the upper decks do not connect like many modern football stadia, with a cantilever on the edge roof that recalls the multiuse stadiums from the 1960s, of which Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and Washington's RFK Stadium were two.

Endgame for the tailgate, time to put up, toss back and head in.


That is not Lee in anger, it is Lee after a straight pull off a bottle of whiskey that he then proffered to me saying, try it, it's great.


Last drinks before we head in, Lee shares two of his favorite whiskeys with me, the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and the Pritchard's Double Barrel. As our party is passing the last round, two marketing goons from Cleveland based Key Bank approach and give us dollar bills in bank envelopes. Once in the stadium I spent that dollar first.

At last, with the game already under way behind us, time to head in. We made last second adjustments for the balmy weather and made for the stadium.


Lee and Lee's wife heading in to the stadium with Covington Kentucky across the Ohio River in the background.


One sad little Bengals glove, lying on the concourse all alone, missing its mate.


First of four obligatory I'm taking a picture of you taking a picture of me taking a picture of you taking a picture of me pictures.


Number two...


... number three...


... and mercifully number four.


The Hogettes were in town to root on their beloved Redskins, or at least a midwest facsimile of the Hogettes, I was not able to get a quote.


Still heading to our seats, now down under the upper deck on the way to our section we ran into this couple of Bengals fans, including the guy with bag reading BUNGALS over his head, they were more than happy to pose for the Redskins blogger.


Finally down to our seats, section 111, row 8, nine minutes left in the first quarter, Washington was already down 7-0.


I grab a quick pano of the stadium from our seats, it really is a good looking stadium.

More photos from right when we say down...


Here is injured Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer, after partially tearing a ligament in his throwing elbow in September he still has not played, in his place in this game is Ryan Fitzpatrick. If you click out this photo to full size over on the Redskins sideline you can see, from right to left, since the action is over at the Bengals goal line to my right, Danny Smith, Colt Brennan, Andre Carter, Shawn Springs, Joe Bugel and Mike Sellers. Interestingly enough I cannot find head coach Jim Zorn in this photo.


The Bengals cheerleaders, in Naughty Santa attire, this photo also captures the theming of the stadium, lots of bright orange and black with the Bengal stripes appearing from under the team insignia as though ripped open by claws, and the jungle high grass of the creature's habitat.


A wider angle shot of the same corner at the same time, this one by Lee and capturing the open corner of the stadium, facing into Cincinnati.


Another one by Lee, this one captures the escalator up to the club and suite levels, Lee has framed it as an escalator to nowhere, with a pier of the John A. Roebling Bridge across the Ohio River in the background. The escalator can be seen in context in the pano video above.


Couple of Redskins fans in our section, there was no shortage of Redskins jerseys at this game.


Still first quarter and things are already starting to get out of hand.


3:10 left fist quarter, Bengals now up 14-0, Redskins just about to commit their third straight three and out. Dude I love my old Santana Moss jersey as well, it is from 2005, this Clinton Portis jersey cannot be more than four years old. Looks rode hard. Time to get a new one dude.


3:05 left first quarter, Clinton Portis over right guard for two yards, photo by Lee.


My face when Clinton Portis is averaging less than two yards per carry and the Redskins have a fumble and three three and outs on four possessions so far. Photo by Lee.


1:16 left first quarter, Jason Campbell finds Chris Cooley for a four yard gain... on third and eight. Nother punt. Photo by Lee.


12:09 left second quarter, Bengals huddling, second and ten on the Redskins seventeen yard line, photo by Lee...


... and the Redskins preparing to defend on the same play. Photo by Lee.


12:01 left second quarter, two plays later and the Bengals are still stuck on the Redskins seventeen yard line, not a lot of great football happening so far. Photo by Lee.


Two photo sequence of the Shayne Graham's 32 yard field goal to put the Bengals up 17-0 with 11:24 left in the second quarter, photos by Lee.

About this time Lee came back from the bathroom, normally I would not be compelled to tell you about my friend coming back from the potty, however Lee came back with an artifact:


The WhoDey Revolution urinal cake. A brief history:

There were a couple of guys that started a Bengals blog in February 2008, it was called WhoDey Revolution and it had a very simple reason for being: To improve the Cincinnati Bengals football team.

Immediately I felt a kinship with WhoDey Revolution, as Curly R was founded on the exact same principle two years earlier in 2006, to make the Redskins a better football team.

There was a major difference between the two concerns though. While Curly R was geared toward reporting and commentary, the journalistic act of relaying events and placing them in a context of good-for-team or bad-for-team, WhoDey Revolution was principled on demands and action, breaking down team improvement into steps and harassing the team when progress is not obvious.

They began with a manifesto and moved quickly into a series of actions dubbed Project Mayhem, actions intended to show the team a section of its fanbase, fed up with mediocrity and the poor stewardship of owner Mike Brown, was willing to show its defiance directly to the team, force Mike Brown to remember that, while he may own the team, the Bengals actually belong to the fans.

WhoDey Revolution's Project Mayhem actions so far have included reporting Mike Brown to the Bengals Stadium game day Jerk Line, buying a billboard demanding the team hire a real actual general manager and posting it right outside the the team's practice facility, calling for a boycott of all Bengals merchandise and stadium concessions, calling on ticket holders to donate their tickets and stay home on gameday and encouraging fans to carry signs with messages of the Revolution into a road game.

For the Redskins-Bengals game, WhoDey had a special Project Mayhem: Recruit dozens of volunteers to mule in hundreds of urinal cakes with a custom message and place them in the stadium's urinals, thereby forcing male gamegoers to see the message whenever they go pee pee.

The message on these urinal cakes reads 98-196-1 Get Pissed! This is the record of the Bengals since Mike Brown took control of the team in 18 years ago in 1990, though if you read the page on WhoDey Revolution the record reads 98-186-1 (op. cit.).

I reached out to the WhoDey Revolution guys through the secret underground railroad of NFL bloggers and had planned to carry in some cakes, because we were running late I never hooked up with them. No one knew in advance what the gag would be so when Lee came back from the loo in the second quarter with a urinal cake I thought it was brilliant and Lee assured me it was thoroughly washed.

Moving on...


5:32 left second quarter, second and seven from the Cincinnati thirteen yard line, this play went to Clinton Portis up the middle, on the next play Jason Campbell found Santana Moss with a ten yard bullet for a touchdown to put the Redskins on the board, 17-7 Bengals. Photo by Lee.


4:43 left second quarter, as you can see Lee's wife was well on her way while Lee was still ramping up. His most obnoxious had not yet arrived.


Nearing half time, Lee's wife's brother and Lee's wife are engaging in a conversation over me while I bang out another text or tweet on my phone. The game was just not that exciting and lots of people were asking me for updates. Photo by Lee.


Two minutes left second quarter, waiting for the Redskins to come to the line at the Cincinnati 43 yard line. Along the Redskins sideline in the background you can see cornerbacks Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs, both seated, kick returner Rock Cartwright, rookie cornerback Justin Tryon, special teams coach Danny Smith, safety LaRon Landry, also seated, rookies Fred Davis, a tight end, and Devin Thomas, a receiver, once again no Jim Zorn visible. Photo by Lee.


The ensuing play, Jason Campbell, right, is about to hand off to Clinton Portis for nine yards.


Next play, 1:32 left second quarter, second and two from the Bengals 36 yard line, you can get a good look at the GU sticker on receiver Santana Moss' helmet, worn all year by most teams to honor late NFLPA union chief Gene Upshaw, who died suddenly from pancreatic cancer just four months ago, while sitting at home in August he began to feel ill, after some cajoling his wife got him to go to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with the illness right then and there and was dead three days later. While we are moving about our lives thinking the end will never come for us, or if it will that it is still a long way off, think about this: If I publish this Saturday and I get Gene's diagnosis that means I am dead by Tuesday THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A FUCKING MINUTE.


Finishing the play which was Clinton Portis through the middle for five yards.


Me and the WhoDey Revolution urinal cake. Who would think to smuggle in three hundred urinal cakes to a football game just to make a point? Freaking serious football fans, that is who. Photo by Lee.

Halftime mercifully arrived and we took off to check out the stadium and find a beverage.


Wandering the halls.

[IMAGE REDACTED]
Lee taking a picture of himself peeing on an unrescued WhoDey Revolution urinal cake.


We found some really great awful dark beer on the concourse and I felt pressure to have one. Everywhere we wandered, Bengals fans were pleasant if somewhat dispirited, even their team was winning 17-7 at the half. I mean come on, the Bungals were 1-11-1. Photo by Lee.


Lee's wife, Lee's wife's brother and your author outside our section at the end of halftime, photo by Lee.


6:27 left third quarter, Redskins ball, second and goal from the Cincinnati one yard line, fullback Mike Sellers carries it through the middle for the touchdown, as the Washington extra point team comes onto the field, in the foreground Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis tosses the red challenge flag, I try to get a look at the replay on the big board in the opposite end zone, it does not come out on video and I have no idea what happened on the play. This is also when Lee started to go off the rails and he gets his first taste of dealing with a big time NFL blogger.


During the aforementioned challenge review, no football significance to this photo other than there is a fairly elegant looking woman two rows in front of me wearing a houndstooth pattern coat and standing next to a slob in a tattered Redskins jersey.


Still during the challenge review, as the game went on Lee's wife and I began to have discussion on deeper levels, and I swore to hold her confidence, even if she does not remember our talk.

The touchdown was overturned and the play ruled no forward progress, the Redskins were back on third and one from the Cincinnati one yard line...


After giving Mike Sellers, a guy who had all of four carries in thirteen and a half games so far this season, a shot on short and goal and he did not make it, Redskins head coach Jim Zorn elects to RUN THE SAME EXACT PLAY AGAIN, only this time Mike Sellers does not not make it into the end zone, Mike fumbles into the end zone, the ball is recovered by Cincinnati, as you can tell from the jubilant crowd. Jim Zorn elects to challenge the play which is not overturned and the Washington gets two plays from the Cincinnati one yard line and gets nahthing. Lee continues his downward spiral and the kid sitting in front of Lee is obviously self conscious about his giant fur hat, once he realizes I am running video he removes it all cool and tries to play it off.


Me filming that last video, from the look on my face I have not yet realized not only was it not a touchdown, it was a turnover, photo by Lee.


Waiting around on the ultimately unsuccessful Jim Zorn challenge.


Lee's wife's brother seems less than thrilled with Lee, who took this picture, which would not necessarily surprise me at this stage of the game. Lee's wife is gesturing to him while talking to me as if to say, take my brother here for example. I do not recall what it was that he was exemplifying at this moment.


5:20 left third quarter, Bengals ball after the Mike Sellers turnover, second and three from the Cincinnati 27 yard line, Cedric Benson carries the Redskins defensive line for one yard. Photo by Lee.

At this point Lee decides, what the hell there are just not enough photos and videos of Ben in the world, so he goes on a run of me..


... one with beer bottle in hand, sky in background...


... closeup of ongoing Major Talk with Lee's wife...


... one of the better photos of me in a while if you hold the computer back a little further, me best friend is another few feet...


... and going out of my way to make some long, involved and likely unnecessary point.

And this was not the end, two videos at the end of the run, besides my mug, each notable for a different reason:


Continuing to keep the camera on me, at least temporarily, Lee, with the camera in portrait for some reason, captures a moment of my ongoing MT with his wife before losing interest, he quickly finds the Bengals cheerleaders in the north end zone and with audible grunts and mouthbreathing nearly falls over himself trying to zoom in hard on one particular blonde.

This video also gives Lee a convenient opportunity to demonstrate a pretty cool feature of his camera, a Canon PowerShot S5, you can take a snapshot during the video, the video pauses to show the shot, then resumes playing video, and the snapshot is created as a separate still image file.


This is the photo of Bengals cheerleader ass he snapped during the video.


In this video, Lee requests I repeat what at the time was about the only statistic a Redskins fan could hold onto, despite trailing 17-10 in the fourth quarter, Washington still had a more than five minute advantage in time of possession. He snaps an in-video photo of me and his wife right before telling me I can use this for the blog. Which I did.


And this is the rather unfortunate picture he took during that video, if Lee's wife is reading this she needs to remember that Lee gave me explicit permission to post this on the blog and under Ohio law I am compelled to do so.

At this point Lee has completed his transformation.


Three hours was all it took.


At this point he is just haranguing me.


Noted without additional comment.


Giggling to himself.


Showing me a picture of me, that photo is posted above.


So proud of himself.

There was still a game going on, it was looking bad for the Redskins who had been stuck on ten points since halftime.


2:25 left fourth quarter, Bengals kicker Shayne Graham kicking a 45 yard field goal to push Cincinnati to a 20-10 lead. Of note, Jim Zorn finally makes an appearance in the background of an action shot, see back right.

The Redskins got the ball back with just over two minutes left in the game and trailing by ten points, at this point I am ready for the end, another weak emergency hurry up series punctuated by an incomplete on fourth down deep in their own territory. But no! Rock Cartwright takes the kickoff 87 yards from the goal line to the Cincinnati thirteen yard line, at this point a quick score and the Redskins can still recover an onsides kick and make another score, if ever there was a time for two minutes of competent football it was now.


Alas it was not to be, here Clinton Portis takes the handoff with 2:07 left in regulation, the Redskins have no timeouts, for some reason instead of trying to make a quick strike on first down before the two minute warning they run the ball and give up the seven seconds. Photo by Lee.


Two more plays, both incompletes and Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham lines up for a 36 yard field goal, even with the clock stopped and the full time between plays Washington is not able to get the play off and they commit a delay of game penalty. Move it back five yards and Shaun still nails it, now the Redskins are trailing by seven points with just over a minute and a half left in regulation and no timeouts.


And the fans are filing out of the Escalator From Nowhere, pier of the John A. Roebling Bridge in background, photo by Lee.


Last seconds winding down, just taking some end of game photos and footage. Photo by Lee.


Time runs out on the game, Bengals win 20-13 to move to 2-11-1 while the Redskins fall to 7-7 after a 6-2 start. This is footage of the immediate aftermath, including celebration by what remains of the Cincinnati crowd, the prayer circle, players wandering around, equipment crews packing out and a final headshot of me closing out Curly R game coverage.


The aforementioned postgame prayer circle, a little bigger in Cincinnati than in other cities.


Your blogger capturing the video just above.


Then from out of nowhere was a trio of cute local girls, like legitimately awesome cute football chicks, I love women that love football. Note of course that they are posing for a different photographer.


Check out her tail, my bet is someone is going to be pulling that tail tonight.

We left the stands and started to head out of the stadium, there was much reveling and rambunctiousness from the remaining fans, though as previously established, the Bengals fans were polite.


This guy seemed inordinately happy to meet a Redskins fan.


Here he is again, I have no idea why my Redskins jersey is off at this point.

We ran into a cluster of Redskins fans and we began to commiserate, I learned in fairly short order that it was Aaron, Josh and John, the guys behind Harry Hog Football, the Redskins fan podcast, blog and social network. I knew of them and they knew of Curly R so we compared notes and became Hollywood friends.


Redskins blogger summit at Bengals Stadium.

For whatever reason I had my jersey off, I removed my camera bag from its secure place on my belt and set it down on a condiment stand, I was not far from the camera at any time, even when the overjoyed guy was insisting on pictures. As I was getting to know my Redskins fan podcast counterparts I realized it was missing from its condiment stand perch. Immediately a cold shot went through me, not because the camera was missing, for that camera was already three hard years old and bought with a gift card received at an obligatory and uncomfortable going away luncheon at my previous day job, the camera had been good in 2005 and now it was barely serviceable.

No the reason the camera missing caused me distress was of course the pictures on the camera, I had invested two whole days on this trip and was not happy about losing those pictures.

Then one of my new Harry Hog friends spoke up, he had seen it lying there and taken it to the gate guards right behind us for lost and found.


That camera those guys gave you, it's mine. Really, can you describe it?


It's the one on the three game losing streak.


Yep that's a match, here you go.


Harry Hog Football and The Curly R together, four guys that spend way too much time talking about the Redskins.

So we discussed how we could work together, they wanted to get me on the podcast, I wanted to get into more multimedia...


...when suddenly two wild Bengals fans appeared and got into our photo!

We exchanged contact info, or more accurately they gave me a business card, which for some reason after three years I still do not have, and we went on our way, heading back to the lot.


On the way out we passed the DALSUK 1993 Jetta and Boss Hogg VW microbus, bumper visible at top, tailgate, those guys were setting back up for postgame activity with no immediate plans of leaving short of the law making them, this is their Redskins themed serving table.


One for the do it yourselfers out there, a car battery, AC-DC converter and rabbit ears antenna sitting in a Dale Earnhardt camping chair, all connected to a seventeen inch flat panel TV showing the Steelers at Ravens game, 3:44 left first quarter with the game tied at zero all, 93 Jetta at right.


Wrapping it up in the lot and we are out.

As easy as it was in, it was easy out, we headed back across into Kentucky across the Roebling Bridge, I got these last three looks at Bengals Stadium as we were heading out:






It really is a good looking stadium, the Redskins would be so lucky to have one like it, and the location cannot be beat, situated right in downtown Cincinnati and walking distance from the nearest suburb in Kentucky.

So the game was over and we were leaving, but we were not ready to call it a day on our game experience, we tuned back in to the local game coverage radio station to see what they were saying..


The official EAT IT REDSKINS segment, all about how awful the Redskins have been the last four or five weeks (actually it was three losses in a row, not four or five), it was not actually 88 yards passing for Jason Campbell but rather 88 yards RUSHING for Cedric Benson. And a musical question about what are they saying about Jim Zorn, Clinton Portis and Jason Campbell back in Washington, the answer to all of it is, Not Good.

Continuing with our postgame ride through Covington...


Continuing the way out of the stadium in Covington Kentucky, we ponder the strength of the smell of the urinal cake I took from the stadium, it was really stinking up the car. We then stop for some snacks.

And that is the photo and video journal of my trip. But we were not done, the trip continued. NOT PICTURED:

Our trip to the Kentucky bar where we got Kentucky size bourbon pours, the WhoDey urinal cake was so smelly that I was certainly not going to bring it in to the bar, and Lee would not let me leave it in the car so I put it on top of the front passenger side tire in the wheel well, I had forgotten about it when we came out, I did not retrieve it and it was left in the parking lot. We then went on to one of Lee's favorite upscale Chinese places to get some takeout, while we were waiting we sat at the bar and drank sake after sake, as it turns out we sort of forgot to order so we had to wait a little longer for the food and so had some more sakes, at some point Lee disappeared, at first we thought he was in the bathroom, when he did not reappear for some time we went looking for him, finally I found him in the car, which was by the way was still in the ten minute takeout spot an hour later, Lee was quote resting unquote in the back, he had reached his exit point, his homing beacon went off and he disappeared. I went back in to get the food and wrangle Lee's wife and Lee's wife's brother, the food was on the bar, we finished our sakes and left. Everyone was pretty well in the bag, it was a good thing we had a designated driver, as we were pulling out of the spot the manager lady came rushing out with a bill yelling You no pay! You no pay! We looked around at each other, well the awake ones that is, I thought Lee's wife had paid, she thought Lee or I had paid, it was an innocent mistake. Lee's wife gave me her credit card, I went back in and paid and came back to find Lee puking into the back of his own van, he assured me he was feeling a little under the weather, after some drama about losing Lee's wife's credit card we got back on the road and made it back to Union and feasted on our Chinese. Water up, lay down, go sleep.

Next day, Monday, I got up, more fresh coffee and country breakfast, Lee drove me to the airport, I got on the plane and quivered for two hours in my seat, arrive home, go sleep.

A great two days, thanks to Lee and Lee's wife for a great time, for great hospitality, for the tickets, I am already looking forward to the 2012 season when the Redskins and Bengals do this again.



All photos and video by me or my gracious host and good friend Lee.

Minggu, 20 Februari 2011

Game Journal Prelude: Redskins at Bengals, 12/14/2008

Several years ago a good friend living in Charlottesville Virginia, home to our alma mater the University of Virginia, pulled up stakes and moved to Cincinnati Ohio to follow an opportunity... to stay married. We had been kicking around the idea of my coming out there for a football or baseball game for some time, and when the NFC Beast came round to play the AFC North in the 2008 season and the Redskins versus Bengals game was scheduled in Cincinnati, Lee challenged me to come out. I squared everything away and bought a ticket, coming out a day early.

Lee had big plans for our two day adventure, this is my journal entry for day one, a sunny bourbon soaked December day in Cincinnati.

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Lee met me at the airport, everything I had was in a carry on, I hate checking luggage when I travel solo, he had two fine bottles of Willett bourbon with which to greet me, both of exceptional character, neither of which can be bought legally in Virginia and both of which would be outside my price range. We toasted our adventure and headed back into Cincinnati.

The plan for that day originally had been for Lee and me and his many brothers in law, all of whom were local, to meet up at a local bar, knock a few back and then head into downtown Cincinnati to do some Christmas shopping for the womens in our lives. As it turned out, this plan did not materialize so Lee and I headed out to one of his favored drinking establishments to get things started.


Willie's Sports Cafe in Covington Kentucky, as it turns out, Lee and his brood actually live in the Kentucky section of Cincinnati.

From the moment I entered I knew it was pure gold for the blog.


Our lovely hostess, I cannot remember her name, she seemed somewhat intrigued by the idea that she and the decor were photodocument worthy. Note the early presence of Bengals flair.


The obligatory Bud Light team themed banner hanging everywhere.


Need to cut his whiskey with something a little less potent, Lee orders a Guinness, I loved these pint glasses and thought very seriously about stealing and/or buying and/or stealing one.

At this point Lee had to take a work call, so I grabbed my camera and left the bar area to check out the rest of the place.


Up on the stage, looks like nights when there is not a Nickelback cover band or open mic nite they set this thing up and toss footballs through it. The more time I spend with midwesterners the more I realize every social activity is derived from Cornhole.


Leaving the bar and stage area and passing into the dining room, there were many jerseys and other items of memorabilia on the wall. From left to right in this picture we see former Bengals punter Lee Johnson's number eleven jersey, Lee punted in the NFL until he was forty years old, eleven of those seasons in Cincinnati from 1988 to 1998, the best years of his career, Lee is best known for expressing frustrations with Bengals management during the 1998 season, ten years after he and Cincinnati went to Super Bowl 23 where he just happened to boot the longest punt in NFL history, saying that if he were a Bengals fan he would sell his season tickets. He was cut the next day. Little has changed here in ten years.

Next is Tim Krumrie's number 69 jersey, Tim played nose tackle for the Bengals for twelve seasons from 1983 to 1994, also helping them get to Super Bowl 23. He is beloved in Cincinnati as a former player and is best known outside Cincinnati for breaking his left leg in three places below the knee in that Super Bowl, he initially refused to leave the game, wanting to stay in the locker room and watch it on TV, only agreeing to leave when the medical staff told him he could be slipping into shock. The put a fifteen inch steel rod into that leg, he was back for next training camp and played another six seasons with a metal rod in him, leading the Bengals defense in tackles as late as 1992. That guy is a football player.

Continuing the theme for this section of the wall, the last two jerseys are tailback James Brooks' number 21, James played for the Bengals from 1984 to 1991, making the Pro Bowl four times in that eight year period, he also played in Super Bowl 23, he is still at or near the top in several Bengals franchise statistical categories.


Here we see Elbert L. aka Ickey Woods' number thirty Bengals jersey, Ickey played tailback in Cincinnati for four seasons from 1988 to 1991 and was the Bengals leading rusher in Super Bowl 23. Two games into the 1989 season Ickey tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, it cost him more than a year of rehabilitation and by the time he came back the team had moved on to Harold Green in 1990. He hurt his right knee in 1991 preseason and was not a factor again for the team. Ickey is a seminal figure in NFL history, his Ickey Ickey Shuffle touchdown dance was a national story, coming as it did in the first officiating crackdown on celebrations, if Ickey did not coin the term then he was at minimum the first person I ever heard refer to the NFL as the No Fun League. The elevation of the Ickey Ickey Shuffle to a pop culture story exposed football to many young people that otherwise would not have been interested.


Moving on, here we see a Jim Brown number 32 Cleveland Browns jersey, Jim Brown of course is that Jim Brown, on of the greatest players ever to strap it on for the NFL.

But wait, why would a jersey honoring a Bengals Division rival's greatest player ever adorn the walls of a bar in Cincinnati?

Because of Paul Brown. Paul Brown famously coached the Cleveland Browns, which had been named after Paul Brown, for their first seventeen seasons until 1962, in that time Cleveland won seven league championships, four in the old All-America Football Conference and three in the NFL after the two leagues merged. Six years after Paul was dismissed by new Browns owner Art Modell in 1962, Paul reentered the NFL in 1968 as owner and coach of the brand new Cincinnati Bengals. Paul would coach in Cincinnati for eight seasons until 1975, Paul died in 1991 at age 82.

So what is the connection to Jim Brown? Jim's career was fully encapsulated by Paul's tenure as coach in Cleveland, Jim and Paul are inextricably linked by football history. You cannot talk about the Bengals without talking about the Browns and you cannot talk about the Browns without talking about Jim Brown.


This one I needed some help to figure out, this is Roger Staubach's Purcell Catholic High School number twelve football jersey, that same Roger Staubach that played for the US Naval Academy then the Dallas Cowboys for eleven seasons. Roger was born and raised in Cincinnati and still honors his upbringing by campaigning for Republicans. Roger's name does not come back up in this story.

Continuing around from the bar to the dining room, I came upon a nook with glass display shelves, the Willie's Sports Cafe Trophy Room


In this video we see a number of interesting bits of Cincinnati sports history and memorabilia:

A helmet from the Cincinnati Marshals of the defunct National Indoor Football League, not of the also defunct Arena Football League as a helpful off camera guest indicates;

A football with the logo of the Cincinnati Jungle Kats of the also defunct Arena Football League 2 aka af2, this team played one season in 2007 and was majority owned by former Seahawks, Ravens, Raiders, Bills, Bengals and Broncos defensive tackle Sam Adams and former Mariners, Reds and White Sox right fielder Ken Griffey Junior;

University of Louisville and University of Kentucky themed basketballs;

An ornate arrangement of Hudepohl beer cans honoring a legacy of Cincinnati's heritage of German brewers, Hudepohl Brewing Company was in continuous operation from 1885 through 1987 catering to regional tastes in beer, ownership of the facilities, labels and recipes bounced around for years until recently when a group of local investors banded together to purchase the intellectual property and bring it back. For those that have heard the cry WhoDey from Cincinnati heads, including the famed WhoDey Revolution blog, this term is derived from the nickname given to the Hudepohl beers, Hudys. Although the Hudepohl brewery is long closed, artifacts remain in the Cincinnati skyline, from the parking lot of Willie's Sports Cafe you can look north across the river and see smokestacks at the old brewery site clearly emblazoned with the Hudepohl name, Google Street View also captures them from Gest Street, the location of the defunct brewery here.

Most interesting: Among the tons of Cincinnati Reds baseball schwag, not a single Pete Rose action figure, bobble head, news clipping or photograph. I thought Cincinnati was the last redoubt of pure adoration for Charley Hustle?


Back in the bar, Lee was off his work call, we had another pull and decided to head out, I grabbed a shot of the Bengals schedule card hanging over the hostess station. There we are at bottom right, Washington.


Now meet my friend Lee, framed by the aging infrastructure of the Cincinnati and the city behind. This photo is looking northeast.

We left Willie's, Lee executed a cute move with his all wheel drive Subaru and we headed about Covington Kentucky on a leisurely ride toward Cincinnati. Being that I am a novice to the area and quite excited once again to be able to engage my friend Lee in witty repartee, I ran video as we discussed our surroundings, with a great background of blues music on the radio.


Of note in this video:

Covington has drive thru liquor stores;

Even Covington's Kentucky neighbor Newport, home to the Newport Aquarium we would visit as a family on a Kentucky road trip in summer 2009, looks down on Covington;

There are horse drawn carriages on the streets of Covington;

The Roebling Bridge spans the Ohio River between Covington Kentucky and Cincinnati Ohio, this bridge was designed by the most famous American bridge maker in history, John A. Roebling, construction began on this span in 1856, it is truly a beautiful architectural specimen, John Roebling is perhaps most famous for designing the Brooklyn Bridge though he died before principal construction had begun, demonstrating once again that New Yorkers cannot let anyone famous get near their city without claiming all their works were inspired by and owing to the greater glory of New York. Seriously, the dude was not paying attention one day, got run over by a ferry boat and died 24 days of infection before brick one was laid but still 150 years later New York is all YEAH HE DESIGNED THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE SO WHAT IF HE MADE YOUR STUPID BRIDGE FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER HE WAS THINKING ABOUT OUR BRIDGE WHEN HE DID IT.

Paul Brown Stadium is awesome. For want of offers or otherwise, the Brown family has refused to sell naming rights to this stadium.

Bengals ticket prices were plummeting at the time of this game, when the Bengals happened to be 1-11-1.

I asked Lee about the lack of Pete Rose memorabilia at Willie's, Lee assured me that the Reds in general are more beloved than the Bengals, but that the hit ticket in town at this time was the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, who were heading to their first ever BCS Bowl. Note that Lee dodged the question of Pete Rose's relevance.

After we got out of the traffic jam caused by the latest festival, parade or whatever relentlessly family friendly bullshit was happening downtown, we decided to do a little shopping, so we went to the mall at Carew Tower, located right in the heart of downtown Cincinnati.


I was dying DYING to see what there was to love about Cincinnati...


Ok so this, a t-shirt from the fictional radio station from the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati which ran from 1978 to 1982, I remember watching it in prime time as a kid, then became a giant of syndication before being briefly and regrettably revived as The New WKRP in Cinncinati from 1991 to 1993. In the fullness of hindsight the best part of WKRP was its Mad Magazine satire in issue 218, October 1980, it was called WKRAP in Cincinnati:


Image from here via here.

Moving on...


Cornhole reference number two. The shirt says, Cornhole: Not nearly as gay as it sounds. Nice.


Continuing we get over to the Bengals section, here is a Carson Palmer doll that gives hugs...


... and the obligatory Reserved Parking Bengals Fans Only sign.


Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati are locked in an eternal deathstruggle for the hearts and minds of Cincinnati college basketball lovers, that is not the reason I took this photo, I took this photo because the Xavier University Musketeers logo is a blatant ripoff of the University of Virginia Cavaliers logo:


Images from here and here.

We decided to head to the Macy's across the street perhaps actually to do some shopping since all we were really doing was wandering the Carew Tower mall and snickering. As we passed the food court I caught on camera what appears to be the mall Santas' mandatory union break.


Four Santas conspiring to corner the market for Webkinz.


Continuing on through the tunnel to Macy's, we passed through that portal, Lee brought me up where I could get a good look at the diorama pictured, Lee assured me there was some historical significance to the model and or the display window, in retrospect I think he may have been bullshitting me.

We made our way into Macy's, which like everything else in Cincinnati according to Lee, has a story. Macy's corporate headquarters, or at least one of them, is located in Cincinnati, making the Cincinnati store a flagship. Federated Department Stores, owner of Bloomingdale's and a number of other regional stored and chains, merged with Macy's Inc. in 1994, and the resulting company set up shop, called Macy's Inc., set up shop in the old Federated offices in Cincinnati.


There was quite a line of kids waiting to sit in Santa's lap at the Macy's, I could not resist taking a picture of the guy in the bib overalls and Bengals cap talking to Santa. About sums up Cincinnati so far.


Despite the desperate economic situation nationwide there was plenty of commerce happening at the Cincinnati Macy's. I bought the wife a sweater.

From the Macy's we went back to Carew Tower and stopped for a drink at a bar called the Palm Court, a very sophisticated looking place with high ceilings and wood panels and chandeliers all in Cincinnati's old style art deco, I did not get the camera out for so I grabbed this one off Flickr so you can see it:


Photo from here. Top notch professional bartender service and a great selection of bourbon, the only disappointing thing about it was the overwhelming presence of the fanny pack and white sneakers crowd, people sitting at the bar tables to relax and drink water and not tip and kids complaining about no mac and cheese on the menu and parents asking if there was a Chili's nearby.

From the Palm Court we left on a leisurely ride back to Lee's house, or as they call it in Union Kentucky, the prop'ty. We saw some more of the sights of downtown Cincinnati...


Cannot recall why I took this picture of the partially obscured PNC Bank bulding, maybe Lee used to work in that building? Maybe I was just trying to get a sense for how old all the big buildings appear to be in Cincinnati.


Coming out of the parking garage, that is the Macy's on left and Carew Tower on right, downtown Cincinnati kids.


This is an open air ice rink right downtown, it is sponsored by US Bank and is free to the public, there is no charge for ice time. Lee tells me that it is so popular and so crowded that no one can ever get on the ice so no one goes there anymore.


A shot of the Proctor & Gamble worldwide headquarters, P&G has been around and in Cincinnati since 1837 and makes and sells consumer products like CoverGirl cosmetics and Crest toothpaste. A couple of grad school mates of mine went into the P&G grinder about a decade ago and we never heard from the again. Making margin on commodity items is a bitch.


I think this was shot just to give some idea of the weekend weather, overcast and bright, cold but not at all gloomy.


Another picture of the sky, the weather for the game was predicted to be very nice all things considered.

We had one more stop to make before heading out to the prop'ty, and that was for bourbon. Lee is the original bourbon drinker in my life, taking two cubes and two fingers while I was still proudly belching Budweiser and calling it good, since his move to Kentucky, the cradle of bourbon, he had developed quite a palate for the stuff and the place with the widest selection in the area is... The Party Source.


I shit you not, there is more bourbon in this place than in any one place in Virginia, the locked cabinet of one hundred dollar plus bourbons alone is larger than the entire bourbon section of my local ABC Store. Look at the smug motherfucker, that is the look that says yeah that's right, shit tons of bourbon right here, welcome to my neighborhood.

So we bought a bunch of whiskey and headed back to Lee's prop'ty in Union. Once we got there I reacquainted with Lee's family, we ate a great home cooked meal, afterwards Lee took me on a tour of the prop'ty, out in the barn, yes he has a real live barn, he showed me his homemade Obama '08 HOPE sign.


This puppy was out in the yard for the whole campaign, Lee tells me there was not a lot of Obama action happening in Union.


Last picture of the night, one of Lee's old Farmall tractors, he actually fixes these things up and tools around the prop'ty on them.

We finished the tour of the property, headed back in, we had another couple of whiskeys, Lee then wen off to bed, I fired up the laptop and finished the preview for tomorrow's game, then sat on the deck for a while and took in the quiet of Union Kentucky, very different than life in the nation's capital.

Not pictured: The rest of the property tour, including the chicken coop, the garden and the bonfire, then bunking down in the guest room slash craft workshop where there were enough glass tubes, beads and rods that I was looking for the furnace.


Tomorrow: The game.



All photos and video by me unless otherwise credited.

Minggu, 06 Februari 2011

Ohai guise. Curly R is calling Super Bowl 45 for the Packers over the Steelers by 27-24. Enjoy the game, this is a Super Bowl open thread.

Rabu, 02 Februari 2011

Why Does this Keep Happening?


Is he stupid? Or just mean.

Every so often in Washington we hear about how the Redskins and owner Dan Snyder are lashing out at the media, or creating their own internet to give unfiltered or grinding axes by firing people or lamenting media coverage of the team by people that just don't know shit. Hell, even I have gotten email from the team challenging my coverage.

There is another spasm, and it is a good one and happening right now.

Background: Back in November 2010, just two and a half months ago, The Washington City Paper's excellent Dave McKenna, something of a bete noire to Dan Snyder, see here, here, here, here, here and here if you still are not sure, published an enterprise piece called The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder, complete with an embellished photo of the owner with a unibrow, drooping mustache, pointed goatse and best of all, devil horns.

It is long and mad and beautiful, go and read it (op. cit.) right now before you go any further.


Present Day: Dan Snyder's legal apparatus, featuring the onmipresent David Donovan and newcomer Hollywood attorney Patty Glaser, have threatened legal action against the City Paper and or its ownership hierarchy, it did not go unnoticed by me or Huffington Post's / DCist's Jason Linkins that the lawyer letters did not go to the writer, nor to the editor, nor to the publisher of the City Paper, nor to the holding company that owns the paper, but in fact went to the hedge fund that owns the company that owns the paper.

Not only is Dan Snyder threatening legal action, he wants the City Paper to fire the piece's author, Dave McKenna (op. cit.), though I cannot find that reference in the legal letters being exchanged amongst the parties (links below).

Today Amy Austin, Publisher of The Washington City Paper, posted an open letter to readers summarizing the story, the paper is standing by the reporting and does not properly acknowledge Dan Snyder's arguments because, frankly, the paper has not formally heard of them, what with the legalese being directed at organizations above the paper that have no direct involvement in the production or vetting of the paper's content. As of this moment, Dan Snyder nor his representatives have accepted the paper's invitation to write a response or meet with editors.


What It All Means: Let me give you the tl;dr up front here for a change: DO NOT PICK A FIGHT WITH THE GUY THAT OWNS THE INK BARREL.

I really do not understand what the possible benefit could be from this action by the team. Why spend so much time and energy to squash one ant, or one anthill? Surely Dan Snyder understands it is not Dave McKenna per se, it is the suckitude. As long as the Redskins keep looking incompetent year after year all those Dan Snyder missteps and fuckups cannot get into the rearview and we can never really joke about those bad old days, a notion Dave himself motivates more eloquently in the introduction to his November piece (op. cit.)

And reading through the first of the three legal exchanges posted in their entirety on Amy's post today (op. cit.) reveals a very interesting tidbit: Dan Snyder is essentially accusing Atalaya Capital Management, the hedge fund that owns the holding company that owns the City Paper, of manipulating coverage of the Redskins to harm Dan Snyder's Red Zone Capital Equity investment operation, which competes against Atalaya in restaurant and media operations.

Returning to the content of Dave McKenna's piece, it is pretty damning, most of it recognizable by me, some I had never heard of, like Dan Snyder leaving cartons of vanilla ice cream to melt in former defensive coordinator Mike Nolan's office to protest his schemes, and all of it backed by links.

Kevin Ewoldt at Hogs Haven, a Redskins insider since he landed top level interviews during the ticket fiasco of 2009, posts up the crux of the biscuit, that while Dan Snyder may pretend to be mad about contrived attacks on his cancer survivor wife and blatantly laughable charges of Antisemitism in the devil image of the owner, the main issue appears to be a reference to a legal settlement by Snyder Communications for large scale forgery of customer signatures, thousands of them, effectively switching the victim's telephone provider without his or her knowledge, the settlement was in the millions.

Kevin actually spoke to Redskins attack dog David Donovan, who pointed out that Dan Snyder had sold Snyder Communications more than a year before the settlement, leading Kevin to wonder if a rewording or fact check on that one line of the piece and all this might have been avoided.

There is some question and some wiggle room here, the Hogs Haven provided link to the legal settlement dates it in April 2001, and does not mention Dan Snyder by name, so every reference in this legal news brief to quote Snyder unquote is referring to Snyder Communications, not Dan Snyder, and this would include payments, they do not appear from the wording of the piece to be coming from Dan Snyder personally.

The other Hogs Haven provided link is to the sale of Snyder Communications to a French firm, dated February 2000, yep, fourteen months before the settlement. Of note in this piece is a reference to Dan Snyder's planned departure... after the transition to new ownership. That date is unknown by me.

Therefore it does leave some question as to Dan's involvement with the operation while the thousands of slamming offenses were taking place, it is established in law that leaving a concern does not absolve you of malfeasance undertaken prior to your departure, and the fourteen months between the sale of Snyder Communications and the legal settlement minus the transition time before Dan actually left, well he may have been there and still had an executive position when the bad stuff was happening. That would make him a party to the case.

If so, that would make David Donovan's statements to Kevin Ewoldt on the matter misleading at best and inaccurate at worst. The only way to know is to know exactly when the transgressions in the lawsuit occurred and when Dan Snyder left the company, something we likely will only find out if it goes to court.

Which it will not.

And The Washington City Paper will not fire Dave McKenna.

As expensive as the Dan Snyder legal machine want to position litigation to be, the courts do not look favorably upon free speech cases replete with factual evidence to the public figure subject's incompetence, simply because the subject got all butthurt when he read it.


Dan, stop attacking the media, stop trying to build your own media fortress, just run the frigging team and give us a winner on the field. All the attacking will stop if the team wins, just look at the trainwreck that was Jack Kent Cooke's family and no one gave a shit. Just give us a winner and it all goes away.



Dan Snyder: Getty Images from here.