Will Bengals Sell Out?

I don't think so. It's a lot to ask to sell 24-thousand tickets in one week. Outsiders look at Cincinnati and wonder "what in the heck is wrong with those fans? How can a team that is one win away from the playoffs not have great support in the hour of need?" The rest of us in Cincinnati know the history and the reasons. We got a nice smack in the face of that reality last week when Mike Brown reportedly paid $200-million in cash, real dollars, to buy the 30 percent stake of the Bengals team stock held by the estate of Austin Knowlton. This happens while potential improvements for the team are left on the table and deemed too expensive. Little things, like an indoor practice facility that every other team that needs one enjoys. We know U.C. paid about 12-million for its facility, and that included building the fields from scratch. Little things, like a starting cornerback named Johnathan Joseph. He was drafted and developed by the Bengals. But the minute he cost upper-echelon dollars, he was deemed expendable. But now fans are being chastised for not buying in. Many fans still care and that is refelected in high local television ratings for Bengals games. But they aren't buying in yet, and who can blame them? Get ready for the blitz this week from local radio and probably local television to BUY,BUY,BUY! It may work, but as I said, it is a lot of tickets to sell. And I think a mindset has set in that goes something like this: "I can't tell Mike Brown how to spend his money, and I sure as heck am not going to allow him to dictate how I spend mine."