First, let me say thanks for checking out the site. A reader in the previous post posed some questions to WhoDeyFans so I did my best to answer them. His questions are bolded.
I am one of those grabbing a sign and picketing. Its not about trying to make you feel bad for going to a game. We are trying to pressure the organization to make change for the better. I would love to see you put a post up answering these questions?
Here you go. I hope I answer them to your satisfaction.
1. Are you satisfied with the last 19 years of football provided to us by Mike Brown?
2. Do you want to see sustained success in future Bengals seasons?
ahh, I see what you did there. See you ask me some cupcake questions, get me to agree with you a little bit than try and set me up. For future reference, you could leave these first two questions out. It is like asking plants if they like water or if I want to hit the lottery. You know the answer, why ask the question.
3. Do you trust Mike Brown to make the necessary changes for this franchise to become successful?
Not sure. I know I don't trust him to hold my wallet or babysit my kids. See, I don't know the guy, at all. I am guessing neither do you. So all we can do is base our assumptions of him off of what we see him do. If you simply take wins or losses then the proof is there that he has not done a very good job. Sure, there are excuses abound, draft busts, injuries, etc... However when looked at as a whole he has not done a very good job with managing the Bengals. There are some bright spots though. Marvin Lewis, Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco and Rey Maualuga for example. I think it is unfair to destroy a guy for his faults without giving praise where it is due. When you do that you lose credibility and come off looking like a complainer.
Then people complain about the stadium deal. Yeah, it favors the Bengals. You must remember though, the Bengals are a business. Every business's goal is to be profitable. Whether you like it or not, the stadium deal was excellent for the Bengals as a business, and to make it worse, you voted for it. (Well maybe not you, but you know what I am saying. There was a vote and it passed.) Would you still complain about this deal if the Bengals were winning? My guess is no. If you owned a business, would you be willing to operate at a loss just because your customers felt like you owed them something? If that is the case then you should also fly banners for every bank in the country. They also have taken taxpayers money, been mismanaged at the top and do not care about you.
4. Do you think the average fan, gathering in a group a la WDR, can pressure an organization to make changes?
I do think fans in a group could pressure an organization to make changes. I also think the guys at WhoDeyRevolution have some good ideas. The billboards were a great idea, they caused a media stir and got people interested in the site and cause. Then when visiting the site these people got to read articles about Bill Cowher's racist chin, numerous references to Mike Fu**ing Brown and hopes that he would die soon. I think a lot of credibility was lost.
You also need to think about what you are trying to do. You are trying to get an owner of a business to essentially fire himself. Think about that for a second. Take your livelihood and cut it off because a group of people disagree with how you run your business. You wouldn't do it, why should he?
5. Are you still comfortable financially backing an organization with the success record of the Bengals organization? Please explain.
I don't buy Bengals tickets to show Mike Brown I support what he does. I buy Bengals tickets and have for some time because I like to go to Bengals games. I get your point about how it does allow him to continue to operate the same way. But, if I measure the enjoyment I have received from attending the games I think it is a good investment. You see, it may be selfish but I go to the games because I like going to the games. There is no political motive behind it. Do you show the snickers top brass support when you buy their candy bar or were you standing in line and thought, man I could go for a snickers right now.
I also was at the playoff season and playoff game in 2005. We lost that game but it was one of the most fun days ever. I am glad I keep my tickets and it makes days like that so much sweeter.
6. Can you give me an example of anything else you happily put your money into which performs at the success level of the Bengals organization? The Bengals essentially have correctly operated once in eighteen attempts. I would be shocked if you consistently and happily put your money into a product that worked ten out of eighteen attempts. And then you would defend your purchase.
There are a lot of things I spend my money on that I wish would perform better. My cell phone, my 401k, my satellite TV etc...
Does that mean I am going to boycott when I have a call dropped? Nope, the enjoyment or use I get from these products out weighs my desire to revolt. Obviously you have hit your breaking point. I wish you luck.
7. What do you suggest is a better way for the average fan to apply pressure on Mike to make the necessary changes?
*keep in mind WDR has already boycotted all Bengals merchandise, PBS tickets, and concessions. WDR has also effectively run an ad campaign in Cincy against the Bengals front office, which was significantly funded by WDR readers/fans. This ad campaign has been featured on nationally televised football games, the feature story on ESPN.com's NFL home page, and by dozens of nationally recognized newspapers, radio shows, and websites.
If you don't work for WDR then you should. You certainly are their biggest fan. You are wrong about a few things though. Many of your WDR loyalists still attend games. Peruse through the comments, you will see a bunch of die hards making excuses like "I bought them from a scalper" or "my boss gave me free tickets". You can't have it both ways. Attending the game is supporting Mike Brown. Someone paid for that seat and will continue to do so as long as they can fill it.
As to your question, I do not know of a "better" way for the average fan to apply pressure. See I consider myself an average fan. No probably above average. I love football, the Bengals and attending the games and tailgates. However, I can also understand it is just a game. Am I pissed when the Bengals lose a game or 2 or 22? Yes. Am I over it by the time I go home and hug my daughter? Yep. That is the difference between you and me. I am a Bengals fan that is not being force fed some crappy product against my will. I willing sign up for it because when the Bengals win my friends and I have a great time. When the Bengals lose, the mood may get sour but all in all I had a good time.
8. All WDR fans want to go to games. We are sacrificing these games because we hope that this will pressure Mike. As the last 18 seasons have shown, blindly trusting Mike to provide us a winning team hasn't worked. Even in Ocho's recently released book he says Mike needs to make changes.
Chad writes: "We don't have a general manager. We have the fewest scouts in the league. Yeah, we have some great players, like me, Carson Palmer, T.J., Levi Jones (now a free agent), Stacy Andrews (now with Philadelphia). But we need more. We need to keep more of the guys we have like Justin Smith (Signed by San Francisco in 2008) and guys like that. Every time we start to make progress, we go backward (emphasis added). We have Willie Anderson playing and we let him go over a little bit of money. ...
So are you saying you want Chad to run the team? Everyone would have gold teeth and Mohawks. Let me reference an earlier questions of yours about trusting Mike Brown. I can say I trust him to run this team more than I would trust Chad Ochocinco. Chad is an excellent wide receiver but I don't think he has the skills to run an NFL team.
You are also wrong about all WDR fans want to go to games. How many of you were season ticket holders before the revolution? How many of you regularly attended games. Even some of the writers don't live in town. You know how their Sunday's have changed? They go to the same bars they went to before the revolution and watch the Bengals play on the same TV's. They may not buy new t-shirts but they didn't have to walk away from a 3000 dollar COA either. The difference between me and you guys is I would never ask them to. In my opinion that doesn't make anyone a better or worse fan, it just shows me two people with different outlooks and priorities. To the WDR nation, that makes me not a "Real Fan". Your revolutionaries send me emails and respond to my comments calling me an idiot or a sheep. If you don't want to go to the games, don't go. You are probably not the kind of person I would hang out with anyway. I am not going to call you not a real fan or a farm animal or anything.
whew... Did I answer all your questions? If not put them in the comments or send me an email. I will answer everything.
Oh yeah, by the way.... WhoDey!
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