Sunday, December 12, 1999
Players get glimpse of the future
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Bengals tour of their new home after Friday's practice was much like their journey through this maze of a lost decade. They had to traipse through the mud.
But after some grumbling about getting grime caked in the games shoes they will wear today on the Cinergy Field turf for the last time, some of the important Bengals could see the franchise regaining its footing in Paul Brown Stadium.
“You couldn't tell much because it's pretty much just walls,” reported defensive captain Takeo Spikes. “But it's huge. The rooms are big. The defensive meeting room is great stuff. It looks like it's going be real nice.”
The Bengals could hire Bill Parcells as coach, rent out Ron Wolf as consultant and let Bill Polian wire the draft room, and they still couldn't do what a new stadium's state-of-the-art practice facility better do:
Erase the Bengals' five-and-dime image fixed in the NFL's collective perception that has destroyed this team in free agency.
The image is symbolized by the foul smell hanging over the Spinney Field neighborhood and diffused through the league by former players miffed over lack of little things making the modern player comfortable.
The small stuff ranges from washcloth-sized towels, lack of a chef, 1960s music blaring while players born in 1977 lift weights, stains that won't come out of game pants.
Small stuff? Add it up and it's why veteran cornerbacks like Ashley Ambrose, Ken Irvin and Ryan McNeil took less money to go elsewhere this past offseason.
That's not such a small thing when Tim Couch leers into the Bengals undermanned secondary and spreads the field today early in the third quarter. Some players are openly campaigning for the Bengals to bring in the big-time free agents who have frequently spurned them.
Special teams co-captain Doug Pelfrey isn't one of them, but he thinks the working conditions can infuse the club.
“This will go a long way in getting a whole new look, a whole new everything,” Pelfrey said. “Just the fact the first image of Cincinnati will be downtown at the stadium and not Spinney Field is a big factor.”
Believe it or not, Bengals President Mike Brown is saying things his players are saying. Maybe it's fitting on a day his team renews its rivalry with the Browns, he recalled an era when the great Cleveland teams of the 1950s trained in dilapidated League Park.
“Today, (a new facility) is important because it's the standard, it's what you're judged by and we have been — let's face it — below the standard,” Mike Brown said. “We've worked hard to catch up and now we'll catch up and maybe go a little bit ahead. The players will like it. The fans will like it.”
Asked if the free agents will like it, Brown said, “It's going to be hard for anyone not to like it. Everything is going to be first-rate.”
Brown and coach Bruce Coslet thought seeing the stadium's guts would give them hope at the end of second straight grinding season.
“It's a good thing for these guys to see a bit of the future,” Brown said. “It's a good future and I'd like them to get used to it because it's coming.”
Spikes just finished building a house for his mother in Georgia. He's pleased the Bengals are using his philosophy.
“I'm not going to put $10 furniture in a $500 house,” he said. “It's the little things that come with it. That stuff doesn't play a game for you. But it might help you play better.”
Bengals Stories
Will Griffey wait for Reds?
Bowden didn't want to repeat Herschel Walker deal
Bowden pursuing other deals
UC 74, Mississippi Valley State 48
Huggins looking for killer instinct
Land's eligibility to be evaluated
Xavier 94, Central Michigan 75
Turner sits game under suspension
Shootout week starts today for fans
Miami 71, Notre Dame 55
Miami Notebook
Maryland 72, Kentucky 66
Tougher Woods could make Arizona great
Speedway adds 2nd ARCA race
Cincinnati boys basketball roundup
Ohio boys basketball scores
Cincinnati girls basketball roundup
Ohio girls basketball scores
Padgett runs to 9th place in national meet
Kentucky boys basketball scores
Kentucky girls basketball scores
N.Ky. boys basketball roundup
N.Ky. girls basketball roundup
No. 5 Shelby County downs No. 9 Brossart
St. Xavier wins showdown with Tol. St. Francis
Wrestling rule targets rapid weight loss
Frisk gives football 1 more shot
Hershey 4, Mighty Ducks 2
Orlando 6, Cyclones 3
Stuff 112, Richmond 90
