A BENGALS THREAD: Evolving into a Burrow-style Bengals fan:
The Bengals had just lost two home games in a row, falling to 7-6 and behind their rivals in the AFC North.
The team was heading to Denver, where we always lose
The once great season looked to be coming to an end
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And then something happened.
It was the 3rd quarter. We weren’t playing well and Denver was hanging around.
Bengals fans like me had seen this all before. Filled with dread about the inevitable end
But then, texting with my brother @dougpepper , I did something crazy…
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Somewhat tongue in cheek, against all that I was actually feeling at the time and 30 years of fan experience, I texted three words: “We got this.”
Doug responded in exactly the way I would’ve if he had sent the same message.
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I knew he was right. But I decided to run with it.
So I doubled down with this:
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Not only was I predicting a win, when a season-killing loss was looming, but I now was going a step further.
First place!
Doug, of course, was uncomfortable with this newfound approach to watching games.
It was all so foreign.
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His fear only spurred me to up my confidence in the inevitable win:
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Yes, with our theoretic victory in hand (although it wasn’t at the time), I wanted to watch our rival Ravens lose so we’d get into first place.
Fear left Doug—this new level of fan boldness inspired amusement. Laughter!
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But I didn’t let that stop me.
I was on a roll. And it felt empowering.
Back came more optimism. And for the first time, some self-awareness of an evolution taking place. Then even more confidence. Trash talk, even
I declared “ballgame” long before the outcome was clear.
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But I turned out to be right.
And yes, I then enjoyed watching the Ravens lose in disastrous fashion.
But Bengals fans will also remember that at the end of that game, Mixon looked to be badly hurt.
Of course, that sour point was the focus of Doug’s next message.
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A very Bengals fan instinct. Doom dead ahead.
But no, I was not going to let that worry change my new attitude.
I did an instant medical analysis from my couch and declared all to be fine.
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It was clear I was making progress, because in his next text, brother Doug mentioned two words Bengals fans never utter unless reliving painful memories (Ie. Billups, Krumrie, Wilson, Montana-Taylor): “Super Bowl”
Still, it was laced in pessimism about the injury.
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Again, I pushed back. All would be good.
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And lo and behold, Mixon did come back.
With the win, we climbed to 8-6 and first place. And never looked back.
The rest is history.
And it all started with that Denver road win.
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Now I’m not saying my new attitude is what changed the trajectory of the season.
If others, on reading this thread, want to give me credit, that’s fine with me. 😎
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But what I will say is my decision to approach Bengals games as a fan w the same confidence that Burrow and the team have approached the games themselves has made the ride SO much more enjoyable
I can’t recommend it highly enough.
It’s a new team. A new era.
Burrow time!
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So in the next 10 days, when people yell “Who Dey?” and I respond with “Nobody!”, know that I absolutely mean it.
You do the same.
END
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Beyond the egregious security breach involved, the Signal scandal also puts on full display:
1) the appalling dishonesty of these people (lying with gusto even after incriminating evidence is out in the open);
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2) their sheer incompetence/arrogance (they essentially invited Goldberg to release the messages with all their trash talk and bald-faced lies);
3) the inability of most GOP legislators to call out anything—
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including something this egregious;
4) and the fact that Trump does not appear to be in charge of his own administration, or briefed on their actions, even when it involves the military
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I chatted with a PA Dem strategist who wears the opposite of rose-colored glasses about last night’s surprise upset in PA.
He was not involved in the race.
A few quotes:
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“[F]rom a ‘sign of the political winds,’ the victory last night was significant for several reasons: first, turnout was quite high for a random March date.
Second, this turf has been Republican since the Civil War…”
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“….it does NOT include the city of Lancaster (which is quite blue)—that’s different than some of these “Obama-Trump” regions that may be inclined to switch back — there’s no legacy of Democratic victories in this part of Lancaster County.”
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Another day, another institution caves to the threats and shakedowns of Donald Trump.
And the pattern is clear: the more powerful institutions are, the more likely they are to comply.
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My law school classmate and friend @DavidLat shared on his substack an email from the chairman of the firm Paul Weiss (Brad Karp), where he described the situation the firm faced:
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“Only several days ago, our firm faced an existential crisis. The executive order could easily have destroyed our firm. It brought the full weight of the government down on our firm, our people, and our clients…
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More details are coming out that many of those whisked away to El Salvador did not have criminal records, and do not appear to have been part of a gang of any sort:
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To sum it up, they were flown off to a prison in El Salvador with no due process—treated as “alien enemies” under a law meant for wartime, as if the United States is at war with Venezuela (when we clearly are not).
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And of course, they are only in that prison now because the Trump administration ignored a court order to send them back.
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If we’ve learned anything during the Trump era, it’s that once you cave to a bully, the bullying is just getting started.
So isn’t hard to see how this plays out from here: Follow-up letters by the Trump administration…
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unsatisfied with Columbia’s response and demanding even more concessions. Then more caving by Columbia. And downhill from there.
And buoyed by his success with Columbia, Trump will no doubt make similar “hold-ups” and lists
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of demands of other private and public universities—leveraging federal money for certain purposes to demand concessions in all sorts of other areas.
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