David Pepper Profile picture
Feb 3, 2022 16 tweets 5 min read Read on X
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

1/
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…

2/
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.

3/ Image
I knew he was right. But I decided to run with it.

So I doubled down with this:

4/ Image
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.

5/ Image
His fear only spurred me to up my confidence in the inevitable win:

6/ Image
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!

7/ Image
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.

8/ Image
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.

9/ Image
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.

10/ Image
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.

11/ Image
Again, I pushed back. All would be good.

12/ Image
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.

13/
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. 😎

14/
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!

15/
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

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with David Pepper

David Pepper Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DavidPepper

Jul 25
🚨 🚨

Roberts’ Handy Roadmap for Illegal Cover-Ups

A 🧵

Yesterday and today, Trump’s former personal lawyer is meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell.

No doubt trying to win her over and keeping her from further incriminating Trump

1/
But much worse than the fact that his former personal lawyer is having this conversation….is the fact that this man is having this conversation AS a DOJ lawyer.

And part of the conversation is clearly that he is a dangling a formal pardon as leverage in that conversation.

2/
That feels as inappropriate as it gets, doesn’t it?

Well, do you want to know the worst part?

It’s that this is exactly what Justice Roberts’ opinion on presidential immunity guided a lawless president to do if he wanted to get away with an illegal coverup.

3/
Read 17 tweets
Jul 21
Vivek. You can’t be serious.

A 🧵

I’ve been around politics for a little bit.

Which gives me a good eye for people who are serious, and people who are not at all serious.

And people who are not at all serious stick out like a sore thumb.

1/ Image
So I’m here to tell you, @VivekGRamaswamy is not a serious candidate for Ohio.

Now he may have a lot of money.

And in today’s GOP, he may even be the favorite to be their candidate.

But this guy is not at all serious.

About actually being Governor.

2/
Being some kind of 2025 media celebrity?

TV hits?

Running for president in 2028?

He’s serious about those things.

Governing Ohio?

Public service?

Not at all serious.

And it’s pretty clear to me that most Ohio Republicans know it as much as I do.

2/
Read 39 tweets
Jul 17
🚨 🚨

Question:

You may have heard that Republicans plan to gerrymander both Ohio and Texas in order to gain more seats in the House for the 2026 election.

But have you heard that the only reason they can even do this in Ohio is because the Ohio GOP…

1/ Image
1) violated the Ohio Constitution seven times

2) defied Ohio Supreme Court orders seven times

3) held consecutive elections on maps that, at the time of those elections, violated the Ohio Constitution per the most recent opinion of the highest court in the state

2/ Image
4) altered long-standing rules of judicial elections to convert an independent court into a partisan Court to uphold their illegal maps in future

5) manipulated the ballot for judicial races so that court races now appear at the top of the ballot

3/
Read 12 tweets
Jul 12
🚨 🚨

The LA ICE Nightmare

A 🧵

It’s easy to see stories and headlines and lose sight of just what’s happening.

So here’s some detail from the ACLU complaint that shows just how bad the LA ICE raids are:

1/ Image
“One of the clearest patterns that have emerged in the raids in Southern California over the past few weeks has been stops and interrogations based on nothing but broad profiles, including on the basis of apparent race and ethnicity”

2/
““The manner in which the foregoing raids have been conducted bears no hallmarks of reasonable suspicion: there are no indicia that agents had any specific articulable facts sufficient to justify a seizure.”

3/
Read 22 tweets
Jul 5
🚨 🚨

As if the recent obsession with “Alligator Alcatraz”—and the images and memes popping up all over social media in celebration of it—isn’t grotesque enough as it is.

A 🧵

Just look at the images our own government is putting out:

1/ Image
Image
But this isn’t the first time in American history that images and themes of alligators have been conjured up by elements of our political culture.

And it’s this history that instructs us as to the danger of what’s playing out.

2/
As Jim Crow replaced Reconstruction late in the 19th century, images, postcards and stories depicted Black Americans, and children in particular, as bait for alligators.

3/
Read 18 tweets
Jul 2
🚨 🚨

As much as I loathe all the damage Musk has inflicted on our government and our country, Trump’s latest response in their battle is as dark as it gets.

Let me tell you why:

1/ Image
Image
When I worked in Russia, and as it was growing in corruption in front of our eyes, one of the most clearcut tell-tales of its slide into lawless authoritarianism was that as most people began to behave corruptly—

2/
what determined if you were prosecuted or investigated for that corruption was simply whether you were in power or in good standing with those power.

Political power was essentially about which corrupt entity wielded the tools needed to punish others.

3/
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(