Success/Failure

[DaytonBuck]

Obviously there's limits to things like a 4 minute mile, dunking a basketball or throwing a baseball 90 mph.

But for something a person could be equipped for like a running an NFL franchise there's only so many variables involved. Many of us on here are armchair QB's but we realize our limitations as people.

How do you intellectually justify your franchises performance if you're Mike Brown? Ok you've obviously failed in your leadership perhaps it's time to bring in some outside help? No, not that.

17 out 18 years with a losing record is more than a trend.

If you fail over and over again is it hubris, stupidity?

 

[BUCKYLE]

Stupidity...arrogance? No clue, but I wash my hands of the matter entirely. I'm fed up. I can't take it any longer. I've been a fan since '87. In fourth grade, leading up to Super Bowl XXIII, our teacher made a chart for each student to predict the score. I predicted 100-0, in favor of the Bengals. I begged my dad to buy a case of Coke so I could get the 3-D glasses required to achieve maximum enjoyment from the Diet Coke halftime show. I cried. No longer will this sorry franchise hold my fandom hostage with lousy fucking teams and management hostile towards tOSU. I may decide to root for whatever team drafts The Bearded One. I may decide to just pick a team out of a hat. One thing's for sure...with the start of the next NFL season...I will not be a Bengals fan.

 

[stxbuck]

I've been a Bengals fan since I talked smack as a 6 year old to my grandpa on the other end of the phone in the Bay Area when the Bengals were playing the Niners in the Super Bowl for the first time, that was also the last time I ever spoke to my grandfather. This season I thought about rooting for the Eagles instead of the Bengals, but it didn't take-I have too much invested in the Bungles emotionally to throw them out the window forever.
IMO, Mike Brown is stuck in his dad's shadow, and believes that bringing in a GM is an admission of failure-that he couldn't be trusted to run the family business-regardless of the fact that he is making dollars hand over fist, and has taken on in court and won against virtually evbery governmental entity he has come in civil conflict with. For Mike Brown, the Bengals aren't a toy to wheel out and show to everyone how great it is, unlike say, Jeffrey Lurie or Wayne Huizenga, the team is his family's business, like a law firm or a butcher shop, and to bring in an outsider to run the football operations is afailure by the family. The sad thing is, Cincinnatians and Bengals fans understand this-nobody wants Mike Brown to sell(well, we wouldn't complain, but we don't call for it), and everyone has basically resigned themselves to the fact that the bengals will be the Bengals until Mike passes on, or gives control to his daughter.

 

[Nutriaitch]

I may decide to just pick a team out of a hat.

take this one lil piece of advice from me:
If you pull from a hat and it comes up New Orleans Saints, put that paper back in the hat and pull again. Trust me.
Cincy has at least been to a pair of Super Bowls.
New Orleans hosts them every so often, becaues their team is no threat to ever actually participate in one. EVER!

 

[Taosman]

"Justification" by an NFL owner? We're talking millionaires here aren't we?
They do what the hell they want with their "toy".

 

[fourteenandoh]

the problem (from a fan's POV anyway) is that there is no accountability for these guys. as long as fans buy jerseys and show up for games he has no reason worry. he gets his cake and eats it too. if all of a sudden fans boycotted and the team made no money he would have to change his ways.

 

[JCOSU86]

the problem (from a fan's POV anyway) is that there is no accountability for these guys. as long as fans buy jerseys and show up for games he has no reason worry. he gets his cake and eats it too. if all of a sudden fans boycotted and the team made no money he would have to change his ways.

Nope, he'd just move the team to a city that does.

 

[martinss01]

How do you intellectually justify your franchises performance if you're Mike Brown? Ok you've obviously failed in your leadership perhaps it's time to bring in some outside help? No, not that.

17 out 18 years with a losing record is more than a trend.

If you fail over and over again is it hubris, stupidity?

your first mistake is to dub any of that the measure of "failure". an nfl franchise is nothing more than a business. they put forth a product with the hopes of generating revenue. there are many mindsets on how best to accomplish this. however, the bengals have been VERY successful with the model they have put forth. one that many businesses around the country have adopted.

the bengals like many companies use the lowest price/quality material available. in draft rating a persons character is called into question and can radically increase or lower ones value. it is no mistake that the bengals are absolutely filled to the brim with low character guys. as a rule (though there are the occasional exception) they are significantly cheaper.

as foreign companies have done for years, brown used strong arm tactics against his host city to force favorable business deals. as the football field is where an nfl franchise creates is product. a city such as cincinnati building them a stadium is akin to dayton paying to build a factory for honda. its a smart business model to use the allure (or fear of loss) of jobs and tax revenue for free perks paid for by the citizens of a community.

i believe it was the russians who first coined the saying, "quantity has a quality all its own". while thats not to say the bengals "produce" more product than anyone else. the point is that the measure of the "quality" of a product isn't always the same for the producer and the customer. the bengals have realized a fundamental fact for all nfl franchises. there is a minimum amount of money an nfl franchise will make simply for existing. mr. brown has also realized that if he keeps his costs low enough that minimum will show a profit year after year regardless of any outside influence. so, should the product fail and customers move on, doesn't matter. he still shows a profit. if the team succeeds and his product sells hand over fist? well, even better. either way, if minimum effort meets with success... what point is there in additional investment other than potentially smaller profit margins?

this is business not sport. this is profit margins and expense reports not W's and L's. pray to god the rest of the league doesn't catch on.

 

[Brutus1]

Man, you Bengals fans are pathetic losers. No offense.


From a Raider fan.