Why the Bengals have overcome the Reds as the city’s favorite pro sports team
By Mike Breen

CityBeat’s Best of Cincinnati® issue has plenty of those perennial reader pick winners. Who in town is ever going to have better ice cream than Graeter’s? And, sorry Gold Star, but Skyline’s general “Cincinnatiness” will always have them at the top of the cheese-and-onion-covered heap.

	ILLUSTRATION: JERRY DOWLING

For the first seven years of Best of Cincinnati’s existence, it seemed like the Cincinnati Reds were forever going to hold the honor as the city’s favorite professional sports franchise. But a funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box last year — and we’re not talking about the millions who lost their minds and voted for President Bush.

In 2004, the Cincinnati Bengals earned your votes to win the pro team category for the first time. And here they are again taking the top spot for 2005. Yes, those Bengals. The laughingstock of the National Football League. The butt of jokes on everything from The Tonight Show to The Simpsons. The team whose unfortunate nickname, The Bungles, was being used as if it was the team’s actual name.

Comedian George Carlin once had a bit about the differences between baseball and football. Carlin — who started doing the routine in the 1970s and then ran it into the ground by doing it over and over for the next 30 years — argued essentially that baseball was for wimps and that football was for warriors. “Baseball is played on a diamond in a park,” the routine went. “Football is played on the GRIDIRON (in places called) SOLIDER FIELD or WAR MEMORIAL STADIUM!”

In football, Carlin continued, the objective is for the “field general” (quarterback) to use an “aerial assault,” utilizing “shotguns,” “bombs” and “bullet passes” or command a “ground attack” to ultimately lead them to a score. In baseball, the objective is to “go home” and “be safe.”

So maybe it’s a wartime mentality that’s made local sports fans align themselves with the more brutish game. More likely, though, the public opinion battle between the two franchises has shifted football’s way because this is a city of hope.

The Bengals would seem to be closer to earning a playoff spot in the upcoming season than the Reds are in their forthcoming spring/summer run. And this is a city starved for success after decades of folly and failure (punctuated by a scant few moments of triumph).

Right now, Cincinnati pro sports followers are in an “A for effort” mood. For all the love sent the Bengals way, fans are still just celebrating a mediocre season, as the team finished its second consecutive 8-8 campaign. But we’ll take it.

Local sport aficionados are smart enough to not get too excited, but after too many losing seasons a break-even one is an encouraging next step. We’ll see if football fans are as understanding next season if the Bengals still fail to have a winning record.

The Reds seem to be in the midst of a monster bad luck streak. Each spring, Red rooters are optimistic: “Dunn, Kearns and Griffey in the outfield … how can we lose?” Today, no one would be surprised if any or all of those players’ legs fell off during fielding drills.

The “injury bug” seems to have nested in the Reds clubhouse and had an army of babies. Here would be a good flash opinion poll: What do the Reds have a better chance at doing next year — winning the World Series or losing Ken Griffey Jr. to an injury again? Any doubt about how that one would come out?
A few other factors have pushed the popularity tide the Bengals’ way. Football is the 40-yard dash to baseball’s marathon.

I once was getting a beer late in a Reds game at Cinergy Field a few years ago. The young concession guy asked me how I was enjoying the game, and I responded, “It’s a little slow.” Incredulous, he looked at me and said, “It’s baseball.”

Our ADD society doesn’t encourage the kind of patience it takes to stick with baseball’s too-long games and too-long season. A few big games and amazing plays in a football game stick with fans all season. A few big games and amazing plays during a baseball season are forgotten in a week.

The personnel behind the Bengals and Reds also are key. Reds owner Carl Lindner and the Bengals’ Mike Brown have both done their time being painted as villains by the press and the fans for failing to open up their wallets and do what it takes in the front office to create a winning team.

This year, both teams seem to be trying to do just that, with the Reds paying up for a top pitcher (Eric Milton) and the Bengals securing their core for next season (Rudi Johnson most recently). But the Bengals got a jump start, hiring Marvin Lewis, the biggest new star on the national NFL coaching stage (and Brown’s complete disappearance from the public eye was probably the second smartest move the team has made, given the antipathy for him in the community).

With both teams’ moves, fans grow a little more appreciative, largely because they think the clubs’ front offices are listening to their demands. But the Bengals’ moves appear better because fans have seen results almost immediately.

The star power of each franchise has also started to go the Bengals’ way. While Reds followers love Sean Casey, Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns, the only national superstar on the team is Griffey (and we know how that’s worked out so far).

The Bengals’ also only have one genuine “superstar,” Chad Johnson, who’s still on the rise but has the flash and skill to make him an all-time Bengal great. Right behind him, though, are a core of players equally capable of commanding the national spotlight: Carson Palmer, Rudi Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Kelly Washington, Peter Warrick and Chris Perry (if all pre-singing expectations are met). Just don’t forget about the defense, fellas.

This is a baseball town. Tradition has insured that for decades to come. Perhaps Wily Mo Pena is a superstar in waiting. Maybe Rich Aurilia still has an all-star season left in him. Maybe Milton wins the Cy Young. Maybe the injury bug will fly off to infest the Cardinals, Astros and Cubs. Maybe the Reds will shock everyone and be playoff bound come Oct. 1.

As much as hope is the thing that keeps fans coming back, winning is still the ultimate great American insurance. And the Bengals clearly look closer to cashing in than the Reds. ©