I am utterly ashamed and appalled to be a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals.  I have spent the last 17 years of my life as a fan of the Bengals, not much by most people’s standards, but quite a lot considering I’m only 22 years old.  To help you with the math, that’s 68% of my life lived in misery (excepting the 1988 and 2005 seasons).  As a Bengals fan, I have had to endure some of the more pathetic, grueling, and embarrassing times than any other sports fan has to live through.  After all, the Bengals were the punch-line of the NFL for the duration of the 90s, the automatic win, the lock for the lottery (if there was one), the most poorly run organization in all of football, possibly in all of professional sports. 

From 1990-2004, the Bengals provided a stellar 11-1 record when it came to losing seasons.  Were fans supposed to rally when the Bengals thrice anti-climactically crept to 8-8 seasons?  Of course not; fans were just pissed they took a 5-11 team that would’ve had a high draft pick, and stuck us with the 16^th pick of the draft, far after the season had already been lost. 

Even if the Bengals had acquired higher draft positions in those 8-8 seasons, Bengals fans would have been assured disappointment like any other year when the draft rolled around.  How many consecutive screw-ups can you make?  David Klingler, Dan Wilkinson, Ki-Jana Carter, Reinard Wilson, Akili Smith, Peter Warrick, the list goes painfully on. 

It’s quite peculiar however; 3-13 years, busted top draft picks, all hope washed away with the poor weather in week 4, I could handle all that.  Losing stars and favorites like Boomer Esiason, Carl Pickens, Takeo Spikes, and Corey Dillon, was tough to take, but still bearable. 

I’m afraid to say, however, that it is what the Bengals have recently become over the past year, and more specifically, past few months, that has made me embarrassed and ashamed to say that I am a Bengals fan.  Looking for the edge in the draft by taking players with poor character such as Odell Thurman and Chris Henry in 2005 when they slipped down a round was not the answer I sought to mend my broken football heart.  The four recent arrests and troubles of Henry during the season should’ve proved that was  not the proper way to build a team.  Maybe I could have tolerated just the two of them, and chalked that up to an experimental 2005 draft.

However, the Bengals became incessant, rather, insistent.  They became insistent upon building the team with talented players who fell on draft day because of questionable characters.  The decided they could capitalize on skilled players the way the Vikings did with Randy Moss.  The Bengals did not settle with the problems of Chris Henry (several arrests) and Odell Thurman (violation of league’s substance abuse policy); nay, they selected Frostee Rucker (alleged sexual harassment and spousal abuse cases), A.J. Nicholson (alleged breaking and entering cases, burglary, and sexual abuse case), and most recently, further cementing their motive, Ahmad Brooks out of Virginia in the 3^rd round of the supplemental draft.  Brooks has the talent of a 1^st rounder, but his stock fell after he was kicked off the Virginia team for reportedly failing a drug test.

This is ridiculous.  It is more clear than the bling-bling in Chad Johnson’s ears.  The Bengals have a specific plan to capitalize on talented players with character issues.  Bengals owner Mike Brown in an AP article said, "We want our fans to know that we share their concerns regarding the recent off-field conduct of several Bengals players.  We expect our players to be good citizens, as most are, and we hold them accountable for their conduct under team and league rules."  How can I possibly believe that?  I for one, long-time Bengals fan, will no longer support the Bengals and what they now stand for, regardless of what Brown pleads.

Why do it, why take the chances on these guys?  What, after a decade and a half of losing you didn’t think I could take more?  You think I don’t know what it’s like to live in punishment?  You think you need to stoop to these lows to put together a winning team and please your fans?  Well you’re absolutely wrong.

Until I see changes in the drafting and team-building policies of the Cincinnati Bengals franchise, I will no longer be a fan.  I can tolerate losing with dignity, and certainly winning with class, but I cannot handle winning with criminals.  Until further notice, I will no longer be wearing my orange and black.