I am a HUGE football fan! If I get the chance to go to a game, I will. This weekend was awesome because I got the chance to actually go to two games!

The Mount had it's own home game on Saturday night at 6:30 PM against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and unfortunately we lost 27-21 but it was still really fun. A bunch of my friends were there and my mom even made it to the game. :) We had fun talking, making fun of each, occassionally paying attention to the game, and then my family and my roomie Maria and I went out to each after the game. I love going to games here because the atmosphere is totally awesome and you never short on seeing people you know at the games. It is so fun!!! :D

Then today, I was able to get tickets to the Bengals/Browns game from my dad and I took my friend Sam to the game for her birthday. (Her birthday is in April but since she loves football, it only seemed fair to take her in the fall before her actual bday.) She is an even bigger football fan than I am- especially when it comes to the Bengals. She knows a ton of stats and records of the team and she is addicted to Shane Graham and Carson Palmer. Now while I'm a huge fan of the Bengals, there is still one player I do not like. I'm sure to get a ton of boo's on this but I don't care. I really do not like Chad. And yes, just saying his first name, most people know of whom I am referring to. Chad Johnson. Sorry, correction. Chad Ocho Cinco. That's right. He has legally changed his last name! It's so stupid! So here's a guy getting paid more money in one year than I'll prolly make in a lifetime, playing football. Well, he doesn't even really play! Not well at least. He rarely makes plays and he always seems to be botching the passes. And now, he has the audacity to change his last name. For gosh sakes... get over yourself! O! O! O! And what's more! Even though he has changed his last name, his jersey still says C. Johnson on it! Howdya like that!? I don't know... Whatever... Anywho... Sam and I went to the game and I thought it was going to be disgusting and vulgar because of the hatred the Bengals and the Browns share but it really wasn't that bad. Except for some crass humor walking in through the stadium gates, it really wasn't that bad. Someone did throw a beer bottle onto the field after the Browns scored their second touch down but that person was later ejected from the game... Some people should just really grow up. But it was a TON of fun and I really want to go back soon!

I love fall and I love football games and I especially love them together. I may go to the Bengals/Eagles game coming up or even the Bengals/Redskins game in December. I don't know. We'll see just how much my dad really loves me. ;) (He controls the tix that I'm allowed to use so maybe some good brown nosing- no pun intended- will go a long way) :) 

Pic 1 is me and my Mom at the home Mount football game. Pic 2 is part of the Mount home game. Pic 3 is me and Sam at the Bengals game. Pic 4 is an awesome shot of Shane Graham kicking off after we scored!!! :)

Career Listing:

Availability: 16 days out of the year. Four hours per day.

Job Description:  Run, catch a ball every once in awhile.

Pay:  8 million dollars a year.

Does'nt sound too bad does it?  Of course I'm speaking of Chad Johnson a wide reciever for the Cincinnati Bengals "professional" football team.  I just wanted to chime in on Chad or "Ocho Cinco" because of some of the things that he has been saying lately.  Now, I don't want to have to pile on Chad just because he makes a really really really ridiculously lot amount of money for playing football, but there's something that rubs the average fan the wrong way when he appears to be willing to sabotage the team and make an a** of himself publicly.

Especially in Cincinnati.  We're a blue-collar kind of town.  We like sports figures who bust tail.  Pete Rose being the best example of this. Who doesn't love to see Ryan Freel sacrificing it all out on the field?  And its not really about the really really really ridiculously large amounts of money the athletes make.  After all, if we're willing to pay them they have every right to earn as much as they can.  God bless America.

To me, it seems like something has been lost in sports today.  It has become big business, and seems to be less about sportsmanship, good old competition, etc...  Thats why I love college sports.  There's a purity there that seems untouched by the big money flying around.  Yet, why do certain athletes at the pro level suddenly turn into selfish monsters?  Is it just the money?  Or are there social factors?  Maybe a little bit of both.  I'd be curious to hear what anyone thinks about this (comment!).

So, in closing I feel bad for the average fan who doles out 100 bucks for an Ocho Cinco jersey, 60 bucks for a ticket, 10 bucks for parking, 7 bucks a beer, 5 bucks a burger to watch Chad catch a football (sometimes) and the Bengals lose another game.  And then we hear Chad not attending a work-out where he would have made 250,000 bucks just to show up.  God Bless America indeed.