AmishBengalFan

Looks like 2022 will see two London games, one in Germany (there are three finalist cities - Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Munich), and one in a feces-flinging Stadium Azteca in horrible, horrible Mexico City. If the NFC East is indeed tapped as the host division, Dallas is almost certain to be the team exiled to Mexico. Assuming my speculation about the designated opponent is correct, they would host whichever AFC North team that matches them standings-wise, which would presumably be our division champ. I would also speculate that the Stealers would go to Germany, for marketing purposes only. Based on the current standings, I would guess: UK: CIN at PHI, CLE at NYG GE: PIT at WAS MX: BAL at DAL Linky: https://www.nfl.com/news/three-german-cities-in-discussions-to-stage-nfl-regular-season-games

Tottenham is a more modern venue, true, but with a noticeably smaller capacity than Wembley. And though Wembley is indeed more remote relative to city center, public transportation options are better developed..... Sure, it could take an hour in a crush of people to get onto a train, but at least there's an underground station right there. The closest underground stations to Tottenham are Seven Sisters (30 min walk) and Tottenham Hale (25 min walk). Alternates are White Hart Lane Overground (5 min), and Northumberland Park National Rail (10 mins), plus a crush of bus queues. Public Transport Options: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/media/19336/area-overview-july-2019.pdf So while the games are no longer at Wembley, I think I'll miss the place in spite of the distance and the tube wait times.

Yes, it's JAMES FUCKING BROWN. He's the boss in a man's world! He's got a brand new bag, and the payback is that he's gonna get up offa that thing! He's living in America, and he feels good because he's a fucking sex machine! Now, get in the hot tub!

When the NFL owners approved the schedule expansion to 17 games, they also approved a new formula for determining which teams would be playing in the International Series games beginning next season. All 4 teams from a specific division will play one of their "home" games in London, and the division in question will be from the conference that gets the 17th game at home - that way the affected teams will still get 8 home games in their home stadium. In 2022, the conference will be the NFC. Right now, it appears most likely that the division that will be tapped is the NFC East, as that division's teams have had the longest average wait since playing their most recent game overseas. NFC East = PHI-2018 NYG-2017 WAS-2016 DAL-2014 (Average = 5.75 years) NFC West = LAR-2019 SEA-2018 ARI-2017 SFF-2013 (Average = 5.25 years) NFC North = CHI-2019 MIN-2017 DET-2015 (Average = 5.0 years) NFC South = ATL-2021 CAR-2019 TBB-2019 NOS-2017 (Average = 3.0 years) Their opponents are more than likely to come from the AFC, as those teams will play an extra road game, and will also more than likely be their "17th game" opponents so to not interfere with the current travel rotation schedule. The 2022 "17th game" opponents for the NFC East is the AFC North. If all of the above holds, the Bengals may be heading to London again next season.

Linky: https://www.wcpo.com/sports/football/bengals/paul-brown-stadium-going-cashless-for-full-capacity-2021-season No cash. No folding money. All transactions, including buying beers from roaming vendors, will be included. Specifics from the article.... The following forms of payment will be accepted inside the stadium: * Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard or Discover) * Debit cards * Apple Pay * Google Pay (concessions only) * Universal debit card purchased at cash-to-card kiosks located throughout the stadium. Roaming food vendors will be equipped with card readers, the team said. Not sure exactly how this will work. Do they expecf that I'll just hand my phone to the folks between my seat and Tim the Beer Man standing in the aisle and expect them to pass it down and back?

Damn you. Lol.

BTW - I have nothing but a hunch to go on, but my guess is that the ceremony will be on 9/30, the week 4 game against Jacksonville. Its a Thursday Night, and therefore the earliest "national" game, which the Stripes could leverage off of to help garner HOF support for whomever (cough..Ken Anderson Ken Riley... cough) gets honored. Heck, the whole broadcast could feature Bengal historical greats during the cutaways to commercial breaks if the league got behind it. The only other logical choices would be opening week (but we play the Vikings, nobody will be watching) or the Browns (but thats in week 9, much too late IMO for an honor thats supposed to be season-long). And with our home schedule being backloaded, it really seems to me like Week 4 is optimal. My .02

They don't call it "The City That Rhymes with Fun" for nothin'.

Got my package from Regina today.

To further infuriate folks, here's my personal list: Class of 2021: QB Ken Anderson + CB/S Ken Riley (alphabetically, not gonna rank them against each other) From the other fifteen: 1 - WR Isaac Curtis 2 - OL Willie Anderson 3 - DL/LB Tim Krumrie 4 - OL Max Montoya 5 - QB Boomer Esiason 6 - RB Corey Dillon 7a/b - WR Chad Johnson + WR Cris Collinsworth (I keep flip-flopping on these two, so I'd put them in together) 9 - CB/S Lemar Parrish 10 - PK Jim Breech 11a/b/c - RB James Brooks, CB/S David Fulcher, DL/LB Reggie Williams (in any order, its all good) 14 - TE Bob Trumpy 15 - OL Dave Lapham

Can we at least start by ranking ballot players from the same position? If there's a "best" player at that position, the "next best" player shouldn't be considered until the "best" player is. Here are the position with multiple nominees, and I've listed them in the order I would take them in: QB: Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason RB: Corey Dillon, James Brooks WR: Isaac Curtis, Chad Johnson, Cris Collinsworth OL: Willie Anderson, Max Montoya, Dave Lapham DL/LB: Tim Krumrie, Reggie Williams CB/S: Ken Riley, Lemar Parrish, David Fulcher The positions with one nominee: TE: Bob Trumpy PK: Jim Breech So instead of comparing seventeen nominees, it really boils down to eight .... or nine if your #1 overall pick is from a position that has a #2.

Nah... go back and watch the Soldja in his video. Saphead was translating.

Linky: https://sports.yahoo.com/kellen-winslow-ii-sentenced-to-14-years-for-string-of-rapes-sexual-assaults-215452589.html Glad that POS is gonna be locked up for a long, long time. Hope he gets a boyfriend while in prison.

Cap Tracker Update, 8pm (Linky: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/) Bengals: $12.0M (11th best) League Average: $8.2M Top Three: (1) NYJ $35.8M; (2) JAX $34.0M; (3) LAC $33.1M Bottom Three: (30) NOS -$10.7M; (31) PHI -$14.5M; (32) LAR -$26.6M AFC North: (11) CIN $12.0M; (14) BAL $8.1M; (19) CLE $5.3M; (22) PIT $1.0M 10 of the 13 clubs with higher-than-average space are AFC: (1)NYJ (2)JAX (3)LAC (5)IND (6)DEN (7)TEN (8)KCC (9)NEP (11)CIN (12)MIA. Nine teams are over cap: (24) HOU -$0.9M; (25) BUF -$1.0M; (26) ARI -$2.4M; (27) GBP -$2.6M; (28) CHI -$3.7M; (29) NYG -$5.8M plus the three listed above. Bengals Free-Agency Gains/Losses (Linky: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/cincinnati-bengals/) -- other sites may be more up-to-date. I'm using this only because it coexists on same site as the cap tracker -- Gains: Trey Hendrickson DE 27 (NOS) 4yr/$60M (2021 Cap Hit = $12.4M) Mike Hilton CB 27 (PIT) 4yr/$24M (4.8M) Chidobe Awuzie CB 26 (DAL) 3yr/$21.7M (4.0M) Larry Ogunjobi DT 27 (CLE) 1yr/$6.2M (6.2M) Losses: Carl Lawson DE 26 (NYJ) 3yr/$45M (14.3M) William Jackson CB 29 (WAS) 3yr/$40.5M (6.6M) Cethan Carter TE 28 (MIA) 3yr/$7.8M (1.7M) A.J. Green WR 33 (ARI) 1yr/$6.0M John Ross WR 27 (NYG) 1yr/$2.2M (1.8M) Randy Bullock K 32 (DET) N/A B.J. Finney C 30 (PIT) 1yr/unk Resigned: Samaje Perine RB 26 2yr/$3.3M (1.4M) Tony Brown CB 25 N/A

Post of the day.

Cap Tracker Update: (per - https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/) Bengals: $18,188,390 (10th best) League Average: $9,768,360 Top Three: $50.1M NYJ, $34.0M JAX, $33.2M BUF Bottom Three: -$14.5M PHI, -$17.1M CHI, -$26.6M LAR AFC North: (10) $18.1M CIN, (15) $8.1M BAL, (20) $5.3M CLE, (24) $0.7M PIT Weird Stat: 10 of the 11 teams with the most cap space are AFC. In the NFC, (5) CAR ($31.1M) has more cap space than the next three NFC teams combined. (12) MIN ($12.3M) + (16) SEA ($7.8M) + (17) TBB ($7.2M)

After his entire career in Cincinnati It's going to be weird seeing him on another team's injury report.

Because... hot wife.

How are you getting C$303. When I try to build that jersey (retro, full-stitched, patch, name+number) I get C$262. Does your quote include shipping, or have you put on weight and are using more fabric? Are we starting with the same jersey? https://www.theriderstore.ca/collections/10-jerseys/products/mens-new-era-retro-jersey?variant=19666450972768 (PS the jersey shown HAS a retro patch on both sleeves already)

BTW.... If LT or me or anyone else jumps on the ownership bandwagon, you will want to hold off before stocking up on merch from their online proshop. Owners get a 15% merch discount, but you have to register with the shop and you need info from your shareholder welcome packet before doing that. Stuff is a bit pricey, but remember that things are shown in C$, which are about US$0.80 each. With the additional 15% it brings prices down to US$0.68 per C$1.00, which will help offset shipping. So... be patient, grasshopper. Are you a new Rider Shareholder or past Rider Shareholder? To have your online account setup with your Owners Discount, you must first email us at webstore@saskriders.com with your shareholder number and address connected to your account for verification and we will than activate your Owners Discount of 15% to your online account. We will send you a notification email letting you know that your Owners Discount has been activated. After it is activated, you will notice your discount will be applied on all regular priced merchandise. https://www.theriderstore.ca

Geez, stuff is happening. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/ As of 4:39pm Today: Gains: Trey Hendrickson DE 27 NO 4yrs $60M (2021 CAP $12.5M) Mike Hilton CB 27 PIT 4yrs $24M Chidobe Awuzie CB 26 DAL 3yrs undisclosed Losses: BJ Finney C 30 PIT 1yr undisclosed (clears $3.25M of 2021 cap) Carl Lawson DE 27 NYJ 3yrs $45M John Ross WR 27 NYG no terms disclosed Cethan Carter TE 28 MIA 3yrs $7.8M TBD: AJ Green WR 33 (Mkt Value $6.0M) Shawn Williams SS 30 Mackensie Alexander CB 28 (MV: $8.4M) Kevin Huber P 36 William Jackson CB 29 (MV: $6.3M) Alex Erickson WR 29 Brandon Wilson S 27 Alex Redmond G 26 Randy Bullock K 32 LeShaun Sims CB 28 Josh Bynes ILB 32 Christian Covington DT 28 Mike Daniels DT 32 Margus Hunt DE 34 Xavier Williams DT 29 Mike Thomas WR 27 Tony Brown CB 25 Amani Bledsoe DE 23 Samaje Perine RB 26 Jordan Evans OLB 26 Mitchell Wilcox TE 25 Reginald McKenzie DT 24 Cap Space (Assuming $182.5M team salary cap): $30.125M (8th best) Top 3: NEP $56.8M, NYJ $52.4M, JAX $45.7M Bot 3: GBP ($9.8M), PHI ($19.0M), LAR ($25.8M) (these are negative values, btw) AFC North: (8)CIN $30.1M; (15)BAL $15.3M; (19)CLE $10.0M; (27)PIT ($0.1M) League Average: $15.5M

Meanwhile... let's all experience Regina: I'm making this my ring tone.

The issue is that the CFL's bottom line is driven much more so by ticket sales than most other leagues of their stature. While the Bengals can play to 10K and still turn a profit, teams in the Great White North depend on attendance to boost their bottom line.... and teams in the most expensive markets (Toronto, Montreal, Hamilton, Ottawa, Vancouver) have not been doing that well. Throw in the cancellation of the 2020 season, and their rejected appeal to the government for a $30M bailout/loan/donation.... they're hurting. They really need the 2021 season to come off without a hitch, but there's already speculation of being forced to play a shortened season - which only rubs salt in the wound. The talks between the CFL and XFL could help both... the XFL needs the historical stability the CFL offers, the CFL needs the financial resources and media access the XFL offers. Whether this turns into a marketing agreement, player sharing, coordinated schedules and recruiting, or goes all the way to a merger with teams playing each other... it's too soon to say. Fans tend to be focusing on the latter, which would be extremely challenging from a logistics perspective, and which would have several HUGE hurdles to overcome - sure, there's the fact that no US football stadium can accommodate a CFL-sized field, and three-down vs four-down football, and all of the other "mechanical" aspects to try to bring the rule books into alignment... but the CFL has a "ratio" rule which requires a certain # or % of player on all rosters be Canadian.... the XFL can't adopt that rule (labor laws), and the XFL would be at a huge advantage over CFL teams without it..... And the XFL teams are all owned by the league (therefore, 100% revenue sharing and standardized player salaries) while CFL teams are not. But there's no question that the CFL is on the rocks financially right now. As a member of league ownership, I -am- concerned about this and would like to seek a solution, even if it means watching the Roughriders play the BattleHawks in the 2022 Grey Cup. #SasKAKAWtchewan!

Naah, just yankin' your chain, man. SSK-WPG is right up there at the top of CFL rivalries... probably in 2nd behind EGM-CGY. And for the record, I don't know how to play banjo either.

Welcome to Regina..... The city that rhymes with fun.