Cincinnati Bengals fans convert their spouses … believe it or not!
Note to Coach’s Box readers: This is my weekly column and the photo that originally ran in the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati.com.
By Mike Bass
mbass@mikebasscoaching.com
He was a Cincinnati Bengals fan. She was a Chicago Bears fan.
He stood up for himself one day. She cut him off at the knees.
These two were perfect for each other.
“I established my ridiculous loyalty to the team while dating my wife,” @Jason_Pike tweeted to me. “2003 draft was on her birthday. She'd mentioned going to lunch w/ her mom and sis. I said I couldn't make it. She said I wasn't invited anyway.”
What was he to going to do?
Besides marry her?
He could watch the draft, sure.
He had more in mind.
“Then the task was converting her from a Bears fan,” he tweeted, “which occurred.”
This … OCCURRED?
Parting the Red Sea OCCURRED.
Let’s be real. This is not like getting your spouse to change religions.
This is harder.
For some.
“You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team,” Manchester United legend Eric Cantona once said, which can be fit for one kind of American football, too.
For some.
When I recently asked Bengals fans on Twitter how they deal with significant others during the season, a few shared the pride, joy and fun of their conversion stories.
How did @Jason_Pike manage it?
“I think it was a confluence of the Bengals being a fun team that was starting to win,” he tweeted, “and the fact that she hadn't been fully invested in the Bears for a few years - not to say she didn't still like them.”
Chicago was bad. Chicago was bad a lot back then. Chicago still was searching for its first franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman in the (ahem) 1940s.
The Bengals were bad a lot, too. But on that fateful day in 2003, when @Jason_Pike skipped a lunch that did not include him, his beloved Bengals drafted a player No. 1 overall who would catalyze the team, the fan base and the woman who would become his wife.
The Bengals selected quarterback Carson Palmer.
“Jason is right, I defected at the right time,” @SkachPike tweeted. “Bears were not very good. It only took one season to become a Bengals fan. The first season for me ‘03-‘04 and was difficult for me to not call them the Bears. ‘04-‘05 I became a solid fan.”
How solid?
“That year we go(t) pregnant,” she tweeted, “named him Carson.”
* * *
She grew up in Southwest Ohio. He is from Illinois.
She was a Bengals fan. He was a Bears fan.
They lived in Central Illinois, so she could not regularly watch her Bengals from home. She could wait for live “NFL RedZone” cut-ins or go to a sports bar.
“We could coexist as our teams didn't generally play each other,” she tweeted to me. “We had 2 TVs in our man cave so both of us could watch what we want. It's easier being on the same team now 🐅.”
Another Festivus miracle?
“He converted from a Bears fan,” @morans14 tweeted
No more splitting up on Sundays?
“@MarkMorans5 and I watch the games together,” she tweeted.
The secret?
No. 1: The two moved in 2019 to Bengal Land. Location can be a powerful influence on fandom.
No. 2: The Bengals drafted first overall again in 2020 and selected another marquee player. A dynamic quarterback also can lure a fan on the edge.
“The drafting of Joe Burrow convinced him we should buy season tickets,” @morans14 tweeted. “He wears the orange and black proudly now. #WhoDey.”
* * *
She was an Ohio State fan. He was a Bengals fan.
She could not get into NFL games.
“I was lost in a sea of Steelers and Browns fans and didn’t care about either team,” @brandib81 tweeted. “Only really liked college fb, OSU.”
He really could get into Bengals games.
“I think she has always been ok with me yelling at the TV and generally acting like a fool during the games,” @Q_The_Rocker tweeted. “She never got too upset about it. And now she’s yelling with me so it’s all good.”
Forget date night. Never mind couples therapy. Welcome to the Jungle!
Once again, the quarterback helped this come to pass.
“I converted my wife @brandib81 to a Bengals fan [with a lot of help from JoeyB] and last year was her first season in stripes,” @Q_The_Rocker tweeted. “She gets more worked up than I do! After the second Cleveland game she asked, ‘how do you deal with this?’ I have a feeling we won’t have to for long.”
“That’s right!” @brandib81 tweeted. “Go Bengals! 🧡 🖤”
She can root again for the quarterback who used to play on the banks of the Olentangy before winning a Heisman Trophy and national championship at LSU.
But there was more.
“Honestly I think the conversion was complete on the day Burrow and (Trey) Hopkins spoke at the Underground Railroad museum,” @Q_The_Rocker tweeted. “That was a day we were all proud to be Bengals fans.”
* * *
Be warned, my friend.
No peer pressure, no venue change, no marriage, no losing streak, no shiny-new quarterback, no witness-protection relocation will convert the diehard fan.
The diehard is Popeye. I Yam What I Yam. Same team, same spinach, no matter your own taste. At most, a diehard will adopt your team for a secondary favorite. Be grateful for that.
The less allegiant fan is vulnerable. Watch for the signs. Your spouse calls a favorite team “they” instead of “we.” The team apparel gets buried in the closet under the Slammers jersey. The games go from “Must-see” to “Must-I-see?” Apathy grows. So does curiosity in your team.
Stay passionate about your team, because your significant other might want to feed off that.
If you don’t, you might the one who ends up converting.
You can email Mike at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter .