#19 of 31: Paul Brown Stadium
Cincinnati, Ohio
October 12, 2014
GAMEDAY: CINCINNATI BENGALS VS CAROLINA PANTHERS
Some games we walk around the entire stadium and at others, like this one in Cincinnati, we just settle happily into one parking lot, take lots of photographs, talk to the people who stop by to look at all the pictures we put up around the camper, and drink local beer.
In fact this lot, behind the Longworth Building, beside and under the railroad tracks, as well as under a big highway interchange was so great, that a couple of the long timers asked us, "How did you ever manage to come into town and just find the best lot there is?"
Every train engineer that came over must have been a Bengal’s fan because they pulled the cord and let out really long and loud whistles. (You know how I love trains)
And to top if off, there were some really cool outsider sculptures, mosaics and paintings crumbling around the lot’s walls and buttresses. Visually, the art work went really well with the old fan vans that tigers had been playing in for years.
Every old van, camper, pick-up truck, school bus or party limo was a personal, artistic labor of love - a joyous, free expression of paint and pleasure. There were no two-million-dollar behemoth land yachts with $100,000 commercial graphics on them to be seen anywhere. The happy crowd was a child of the sixties’ dream come true:
Faces of every color and style coming together, embracing, reminiscing and sharing hopes and food.
The whole scene was like a joyous, giant mural, as if Pieter Bruegel had painted it and held it together with an orange and black palette.
Maybe it was where we were parked or maybe it was Harry, our big collie puppy, shilling for us, but we have never had so many people hang around to ask about our travels and look at all the photos. Of course, they all wanted their picture taken with Harry or Sully. Especially great was seeing the Pantherfanz gang again. (Their photos are in our display.)
Cincinnati was different, we got so much back from this crowd in terms of friendliness and curiosity. What’s your favorite stadium? Who’s your favorite team? How do you like Cincinnati? What’s it like traveling with two big dogs? One group arrived and set up on our silver box with their chips and beer and partied from there.
There were no commercial tailgates in the Longworth Lot - no Budweiser or Coors bar tents, no radio stations… No forced bonhomie from paid pump-you-up DJs renting space from the NFL. The lot and the people were everything we love about tailgating. Families, lots of kids, incredible outfits, good food and original art. The music was loud and personal to the people.
Just go look at the pictures and wish you could immerse yourself in the Cincinnati Bengals Fan Experience for a few hours. This is why we are doing the 31 Stadiums. It’s like a great family reunion where no one is crazy, angry or covetous.
And when the grills, tables, banners and sound systems are all packed up, everyone returns home happy and looking forward to the next tailgating party.
Bernie and I show up in so many pictures this time, because we loved seeing each other having such a good time.
FINAL: CINCINNATI 37, CAROLINA 37
Note: All photos in the story are available to the fans for free in the galleries. Just click on enlargement and download.
I have agonized and agonized since your last blog re your Pittsburgh experience. It coincided with Sally Jenkins' article in the WP, "CTE is NFL's modern version of black lung..." Young men are literally destroyed mind and body in order to enrich billionaires who lack ethics and morals. It is all about huge profits, and I mean huge profits. And we, the poor old innocent sports lovers, are the dupes who support these immoral, totally depraved and self serving devils who make millions off of innocents who love sports.
Ilo-Mai
