Because I can't do it any more justice, the full text of a post by JJ Cooper at FanHouse:
If the Bengals needed any more evidence that Mike Brown is lining his pockets at the expense of the team's success, here it is.
Mike Brown is one of the worst owners in the NFL. Dan Rooney is one of the best, but guess which one gets paid more?
As has been reported for a while, Mike Brown has made a bonus of at least $1 million in each of the past 18 years on top of his salary. Brown and four other members of his family earn salaries of at least $700,000 a year. Altogether the family received $50 million from 1994-2000.
Those salaries are for running one of the most inept franchises in football. The Bengals have had one winning season in Brown's 18 years of running the club. On the other hand, Rooney has made $2.2 million over the past year and a half, which became public when he accepted the ambassador post to Ireland. To break that into a yearly salary it's $1.5 million. He will get a little less than $1 million as severance as he heads overseas.
It's hard not to feel for Bengals' fans. They're stuck with an owner much more concerned with cashing checks and running a jobs program for his family than with winning football games. There are other Rooneys who work in the Steelers front office as well (Art Rooney II and Art Rooney Jr. both work on the staff), but the team's football operations are run by Kevin Colbert and contracts are negotiated by Omar Kahn. With the Bengals, most decisions are kept all in the family.
I know this will be shocking information to many of you. Our Mike Brown, more concerned about money than having a competent staff around him? No! And Dan Rooney, that rapscallion, doesn't make nearly as much? It must be a lie!
First, the Bengals announced they would be selling season tickets to the general public, for the first time since 2006. Then it was down to 4-game packs. When that didn't go well, the team offered 2 game packs to season ticket holders.
Now the Bengals have announced that 2 game packs will be sold to the general public.
They have packaged the Steelers game with the Texans game and put the Browns game with the season opener against the Broncos - the Bengals are clearly hoping that Steelers and Browns fans will be willing to buy the 2 game packs to see their team, probably with the hope to unload the extra game on StubHub or Ebay.
Based on the lack of excitement so far, I am not so sure that would be a wise investment.
Comrades, you must continue your boycott. Do NOT buy tickets. Bengals fans are recognizing that their hard earned money is better spent elsewhere. We will not see changes on the Bengals until we hit the team in the pocket. Keep up the pressure.
Welcome to the latest edition of "The Lost Generation," a new recurring comic strip you will only see on WDR that will focus on, you guessed it, the Bengals consistent failures to win football games. Click here to read the previous editions. "The Lost Generation" is the work of Dayton native Steve Spencer, an avid Bengals fan since 1973 and currently a freelance artist. You can view his recent work at http://www.stevespencerart.com.
Check out this gem coming across the interwebs from Baghdad Hob over at Bengals.com.
The feel-good article describes PGA Tour golfer Steve Flesch (Union, KY) coming back to Cincinnati to help out Channel 12 Sports Director (and Bengals play-by-play voice) Brad "So-Handsome" Johansen with his charity golf event. Mr. Hob also talks with Flesch about his love for the Reds and the Bengals...including:
"(Flesch) offering analysis from his seat about 10 rows below Johansen in Paul Brown Stadium after a touchdown for or against."
I think it's fair to say that the average person reading this quote would think that Flesch has season tickets with the Bengals, correct?
Well...
Sources have told WDR that Steve Flesch actually canceled his season tickets earlier this spring. So, unless something has changed VERY recently or Flesch is planning on picking up one of those exciting two-game ticket packs, it sounds like this article definitely stretching the limits of 'truth'.
The end of the article does hint that Flesch might not be going to as many games this year...not because the Bengals have not shown a commitment to a winning franchise, not because they were a miserable 4-11-1 last year, but because Flesch's 10-year old son has taken an interest in golf.
"I don't think he's going to want to give up too many nice Sundays in the fall," Flesch says.
Nice try Baghdad Hob, but we caught you on this one.
WhoDeyRev passed the 1,000 posts mark last week. While that's probably not remarkable to all of you out there, it is to me so back off. If you could see the way Brosef Stalin talks to us in closed door meetings you would think, rightfully so, that we're the laziest bunch of bloggers that ever took off their sweatpants to sit down in front of a computer. To commemorate such an unlikely occassion, I sat down to have a chat with everyone's favorite protuberance.
Everyone, Bill Cowher's racist psychotic chin.
Chin: Sly, it was rather dumb of you to have me here. Let's be quick.
Sly: You've been with WhoDeyRev for several months now. How do you feel about us?
Chin: I hate all of you.
Sly: Do you think what we're trying to do here is working or will start working?
Chin: Hah, I liken you all to those Iranians that got all worked up. You guys know how to cause trouble but do you all know how to dodge secret police bullets?
Sly: Are you saying the Bengals are going to use violence to intimidate us?
Chin: All I'm saying is that if you ever see Brad St. Louis walking down a dark alley towards you make your peace with god.
Sly: Noted, then how do you feel about Mike Brown?
Chin: Mike Brown is a dynamo. While he might not be racist enough for my liking, I certainly appreciate the level of psychosis it takes to torment an entire city for two decades. And he's only getting started! A world hater like me knows a good demoralizing when I see one. And that man has done wonders to harm a community. He legally steals money from a city that can't afford it. He shows a wild disrespect towards his fanbase and overall just seems like a bad person. I really wish I was attached to him.
Sly: So who else are some people you look up to?
Chin: Donald Sterling really has a knack for breaking his fan's collective will to live. And he's racist, which is always a plus. Who else? Oh, Michael Jackson's dad. That guy really did a number on his kids. And he's a consummate businessman. Ty Cobb. Woodrow Wilson.
Sly: Moving on, what about Carson Palmer and his chances of having a good season?
Chin: (Giggles) Between the line the Bengals have and that mysterious injury from last year, you all better hope he still has a right arm at the end of the year. If not, all the misery and J.T. O'Sullivan'ing that would ensue might be fun to watch. I'm never one to miss a good trainwreck.
Sly: Well thanks for stopping by. Will you come back for our 2,000th post?
Chin: I'll come back for the day when Mike Brown's lawyers use your guy's first amendment rights as toilet paper.
Sly: That's a deal.
To see how a real franchise conducts business, read this story from the IndyStar about the Colts and how they make an effort to always reach out to their fanbase (by visiting smaller Indiana towns and such). I will revisit and likely link to this article over and over again but for now let me just point out one passage that highlights a recent point I made. Namely: Mike Brown sucks as a businessman.
We are in the midst of the nastiest recession since the Great Depression, but you wouldn't know it if you owned the Colts:
That's precisely why, despite the fact the Colts are sold out for the 2009 season and have a waiting list of about 15,000 for season tickets, they still make an effort with summer community outreach programs such as the Fan Fest and Make It Personal tours.
Emphasis mine. As we know, the Bengals have gone from saying there's a waiting list, to offering 4 game packs, to offering 2 game packs. Their luxury suite and club seat sales may also be in trouble but that info remains harder to secure. Point is: Mike Brown struggles to sell an incredibly popular product on which he holds a monopoly.
I'm actually in awe of his incompetence.
Read the whole article and ask yourself why the Bengals under Carson Palmer couldn't have enjoyed the same popularity and prosperity that the Colts have during Peyton Manning's reign.
Chad Johnson is using Twitter at the same rate I used my Game Boy when I was 8 - the guy just will not put it down. He has compared Michael Jackson's death to 9/11, challenged Mike Golic to a fight, and punked the world with this fake facial tattoos.
He has also had a few conversations with WDR's own fake, satirical account @MikeyBoyBrown.
Last night Johnson made a joke about going on ESPN to host his own show. So @MikeyBoyBrown replied to Chad thusly:
@OGOchoCinco I am forbidding you from hosting a show at ESPN. I don't want you to know what a successful, well run organization looks like.
Here was Chad's response:
@MikeyBoyBrown, every time you write something its funny ass hell, but stop talking about my owner. i am going to host and take over!!!!
Chad - if you want to run the MikeBoyBrown Twitter account, the invitation is in the mail.
WDR has come a long way since our first post on Valentine's Day 2008. The 8 various Project Mayhem tasks helped bring local and national attention to our cause of bring about transformational change to the Bengals organizational structure so that maybe, someday we can see a Bengals Super Bowl Championship in our lifetimes. But our job is far from over.
Clearly, this is not the full time job for any of the writers on this site. Your Dear Leader is going back to school this fall and will have less time to dedicate to this site. Other writers are foreseeing similar issues that will preclude them from committing to the site enough during the upcoming season.
We need more writers.
So if your lifelong dream is to write for a Bengals blog for no pay, incentives or compensation of any kind, send us an email at whodeyrevolution@gmail.com and include a blog post of something that is worthy of going up on WDR. And an idea for a future Project Mayhem stunt would be favorably looked upon. Send more if you want. I have no idea how many writers we will need or how many will want to get involved. If you want to write, you are expected to write at least one blog post per week.
In this way, we are "preparing" for the upcoming season by putting people on the roster who fit our system. I did not learn this from the Bengals.
Again, if you want to contribute to WDR, send us an email at whodeyrevolution@gmail.com with a sample blog post that could go up on the site.
Several fellow revolutionaries have sent in emails today saying that the Bengals have sent an email to their season ticket holders making available the two-game ticket packs. They did this up until 2006 when they finally were able to garner season-ticket sellouts for all of the games like the other 31 NFL franchises are able to do.
The Bengals are not including the pre-season game like they have in season past. This is a smart move by the team. Forcing season-ticket holder to buy pre-season games is adding insult to the injury that is paying full price for a pre-season game to watch Carson, Chad, and the gang stand around in their jerseys for a few hours while a bunch of guys try to make the club.
Clearly the season tickets sales are not where the team needs them to be if they are making these tickets available for purchase (even if it is only to season-ticket holders). Maybe Mikey will figure out that winning four games the season before the economy tanks and changing nothing isn't exactly the best way to woo fans. The Bengals are obviously trying to sneakily get to a season sell-out and declare that all is well with the franchise. But WDR isn't letting news like this go by without showing the fans who want change in the team that they care about that the team is suffering.
Once again, no one person sent the email, it is generically signed by, "Cincinnati Bengals Ticket Office."
The email that was sent to the season ticket holders in available after the jump.
As a valued Season Ticket Holder, the Bengals are offering you the advance opportunity to purchase Two-Game Ticket Packages before they go on sale to the public. The exclusive online sale will begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 9, with the packs being made available to the public beginning Saturday, July 11 at 10 a.m.
PURCHASE
To purchase Two-Game Ticket Packs, you may log onto your My Bengals Account at bengals.com. Your Login ID is your account number, which is . If you are unsure of your password or have never logged into your Bengals Account online, you can simply click the link for "Forgot Your Password?" on your My Bengals Account page and a new one will be sent to the email address on your season ticket account.
The Ticket Packages for the 2009 Bengals Home Schedule are the following:
* Pack A: Denver Broncos (Sept. 13, 1 PM) & Cleveland Browns (Nov. 29, 1 PM*)
* Pack B: Pittsburgh Steelers (Sept. 27, 4:15 PM) & Houston Texans (Oct. 18, 1 PM)
* Pack C: Chicago Bears (Oct. 25, 1 PM) & Detroit Lions (Dec. 6, 1 PM*)
* Pack D: Baltimore Ravens (Nov. 8, 1 PM) & Kansas City Chiefs (Dec. 27, 1 PM*)
*An asterisk (*) denotes a game subject to flexible scheduling
AVAILABILITY
Please click here to view a stadium diagram. The available seating is located in the Orange, Yellow, Olive and Purple sections. Ticket packs range from $128 to $164 per pack depending on location.
Before purchasing, please remember:
* Only accounts that are paid in full are eligible to purchase Ticket Packs.
* Full payment will be accepted with either VISA or MasterCard and will be processed at the time of your purchase.
* As with all of our ticket sales, all sales are final and there can be no refunds, cancellations, or exchanges.
We are pleased to offer this advance opportunity to our Season Ticket Holders. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to an exciting 2009 season at Paul Brown Stadium.
Sincerely,
Cincinnati Bengals Ticket Office