A team ... a team... my kingdom for a team

Dear Congressman,

No doubt you are also in shock over the continued ability of our hometown football team, the Cincinnati Bengals, to again manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It was proven once and for all this last Sunday that the football gods have squarely placed their deity feet on the back of the Bengals, in an endless cycle of "keeping the team down".

Except, usually in a cycle pattern, luck and fate with occasionally throw you a bone, in the form of a winning season with a playoff win or two... but not in this case. The Bengals have made the playoffs once in the last 19 years, in 2005, only to be unceremoniously dumped out by the Pittsburgh Steelers when quarterback Carson Palmer was injured on one of the first plays of the game.

And now on Sunday, while leading 7-6 with 38 seconds left in the game and the opponent Denver Broncos pinned back on their own 10 yard line, the Bengals give up what is now being called "the immaculate deflection", where a pass was batted away from the intended receiver, only to be caught by another receiver in the same general vicinity and who then ran down the field for a game winning touchdown.

I am still sick to my stomach.....

I like to describe the Bengals as having a girlfriend who constantly cheats on you. It might take a few weeks into the season before you catch on, but she will eventually break your heart, usually before the mid-point of the season.

Then you dump her for the rest of the football season, occasionally glancing at the sports highlights on the news or reading the Monday morning newspaper sports page to see how they did, but not donating any quality time to the relationship, cemented in your commitment that this time you are leaving her for good and not turning back.

And then next July, training camp opens up and you again let them back into your life, confident that this year it will be different. She has changed her ways. She will be faithful to you. She will be a winner! And then by NFL week four, the team is usually off to a 1-3 start and you have again been cheated on...

Like the shampoo bottle says... lather, rinse, repeat.....