Filed under: Bengals, Bills, Lions, Raiders, Saints, NFL Fans, NFL Real Talk
So, I'm driving around running some errands and decide to listen to the local sports talk radio. I live in Cincinnati now, so most of the talk is pretty bad. Fans are tired of talking about all the little reasons why the Bengals are bad. The main reason is something that cannot be fixed: owner Mike Brown.
Brown is one of those cheap owners who inherited his organization (from his legend of a father) but doesn't know how to organize it. The story keeps on going, but it just ends with him being a bad owner (just one winning season in the 16 full seasons he has owned the team). Even his Wikipedia page says he is one of the worst owners in professional sports.
On the radio today, they were discussing the sad fact that fans would actually be cheering Mike Brown dying and the team being run by someone else. What? You'd cheer a man's death just so your football team can be better?
It happens. Remember how fans booed during a moment of silence for Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz a year ago? Wirtz was very unpopular and fans viewed his death as a great moment for their hockey club.
It isn't just Cincinnati fans that have been saying this. There is that thick sense that Oakland Raider fans are just waiting for the day owner Al Davis finally kicks it and the team can be normal again. Davis has been a maverick in professional football and one of the most influential people in the sport. However, he has been running his franchise into the ground during his advanced age.
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There has been the same sorts of thoughts for Bills owner Ralph Wilson (who cries about lack of revenue streams for his franchise but instead of selling stadium naming rights he named the stadium after himself), Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell, Lions owner William Clay Ford, Saints owner Tom Benson and ... well the fact that there is a list is amazing.
It covers all sports, too. But is it a shame that fans need to wait for a man's death before their favorite team's fortunes turn? If/when it does happen, should fans have the freedom to boo that man as they are paying respects ... similar to what Blackhawks fans did to Wirtz?
I mean, most people don't really want someone to die ... but when the commissioners of these leagues are powerless to step in, that's what many fans hang their hat on. Right or wrong, there will be fans who celebrate the day that a incompetent owner passes away.
