Chris Apel Sports Tour: Game 9 of 122

Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium (vs Pittsburgh Steelers):

Entering Paul Brown Stadium

This may be the first time I officially count the Cincinnati Bengals toward my goal, but the Bengals / Steelers game in Cincinnati is becoming an annual event. This is the third straight year that I have attended this game with my neighbors and some other friends. This year, the game just happened to be on Monday night, which always adds some extra excitement…of course that is directly related to the extra time fans have to tailgate before hand. Our tailgate experience was a little different then most as we hung out at a hotel (some of our friends were spending the night) and played poker for a few hours.

Pre-game poker

As for the game, the outcome was a lot better than last year as well; although the Steelers sure did make it interesting in the end. They have a way of never letting you leave early. After dominating most of the game, the Steelers led 27-7 to start the 4^th quarter, but managed to turn the ball over, commit stupid penalties and give up two TDs late in the game to give the Bengals and their fans a false sense of hope. In fact, will the less than a minute to go, the Bengals were only 12 yards away from scoring the winning TD. The good news is that the Steelers defense held on to preserve the win.

Big Ben back to pass.

Bengals driving.

For a minute there, I was having flash backs to last year’s game in which the Steelers held an 11 point lead with 8 minutes to go, but lost on the last play of the game. Trust me, the Bengals fans sure gave us (those dressed in Steelers attire) a hard time last year while leaving the stadium. This time the crowd was a lot less hostile after the Bengal’s comeback fell short.

Referee explaing a call, but what he really wanted to say was that the Bengals still stink.

In my three games at Paul Brown Stadium, I have yet to find a bad seat in the house. This year, we were located in the upper deck, but right at mid-field. You can really get a sense for how plays develop when sitting this high up, but at times your depth perception is off a bit…or maybe my eyes are just getting old. Another aspect of the game I felt was tough to measure was field goals. The only way to know if the kicker missed was to watch the crowd behind the goal posts for their reaction.

View from our seats

Parking for games in Cincinnati has always seemed to be a big problem. There never seems to be very much parking around the stadium. In years past, we always found a lot in downtown a few blocks from the stadium to tailgate. This year, we decided to park on the Kentucky side of the river and taxi over. Unfortunately making our way back to our car turned out to be a nightmare and added about another 45 minutes to our exit….lesson learned for next year.