That was terrific - loved the details in Mahomes v Burrow debate and you certainly made the case. And thanks for mentioning the passing of Newhart and including a joke. My dad and I watched his shows together and listened to his albums. Glad to hear your parents did the same. That was a fun read - great job!
Bob Newhart was the thinking man’s comedian. Great to watch and listen to. Mahomes is very talented. He has the top coach in football. He’s had a superior offensive line. Burrow is our down home quarterback. He fits here in Cincy. His offensive line is a step down from KC. That’s the owner’s fault not his. Joe will shine brighter each year he plays.
I have a feeling we will be reading you in this space again, Nick. Great job.
For me, each Bengal Super Bowl loss is worse than the one before. The first one with Kenny was pain, but we were down far enough at halftime that you got used to the idea. Also, THE BENGALS WERE IN THE SUPER BOWL! That seemed like enough at the time. The comeback was great, but it fell short - the story of Cincinnati sports :-)
When Montana got the ball back in the Boomer era with two minutes to go and needing 6, I told the assembled party-goers, "too much time." You knew what was going to happen. It did.
This last one with Joe, I really thought we would win. It just felt different going in. I felt we had Joe Montana this time. That opening drive TD bomb to Tee starting the 2nd half seemed to indicate that the times had changed. Then Cooper Kupp took over, with an assist from Eli Apple. The terrible spot on the JaMarr reception early and the phantom PI call on Logan Wilson were icing on the cake. It took me a good week to get over that one. Each of those Bengal teams were young and we thought it was the start of something. But Kenny and Boomer never made it back. And Mahomes has won two more.
My older brother had a Bob Newhart album back in the day and I still remember the bit about the Night Watchman's first day on the job at the Empire State Building coinciding with King Kong climbing it. Also, it is widely agreed that the ending of the second Newhart TV series is probably the GOAT. I remember watching in real-time and thinking it was genius.
Hard to ignore the facts that you laid out Nick...this juror unanimously agrees with Mahomes at 1 and Burrow some notches back of him. And while I didn't suffer that weird number allergy you had with 16, it did break my hurt to be so close. Excellent work today; longtime East sider who married way up to a West sider....appreciate your neck of the woods!
I love Bob Newhart's deadpan comedy. I, personally, can be very deadpan (while trying to be funny...as in "how could you not know that I was not serious?") Yes, I had friends that believed it when I was kidding with them straight faced. Some actually got mad at me. When I saw, Bob on TV as a kid, I realized what I was doing was okay, and that's good because I've been like that my whole life.
I love your writing. I could relate to your number fobia (which I won't repeat here, but is used oftentimes after "sweet"). I have these same kinds of little trivia things about a number...how it can remind me forever of something good, or how it can remind me of something bad, like my wedding day which was June "13th". I never feared the number 13, as many people do, until after that. That was a fun read. Thanks for sharing your idiosyncrasies, as I have so many and now I know I'm not the only one; and I agree about the West-side vs. East-side. I'll take West side with good old restaurants, pleasant people who actually talk to each other and good family business practices with fair prices. The East side is so darn far away....I used to work there. I was scared to go to Walmart where I occasionally had to pick up office supplies or something.
What more can I say? Enough already. Except Joe Burrow is our Guy, a Brainiac, and when in a healthy fit body, is football savvy better than Mahomes already.
We got married on 9/13 so I could remember our anniversary date. I also was usually number 13 on my softball teams. I live in the North, so I never got involved in East vs West. It is probably more similar to West side and people are friendly and diverse here.
I'm NorthWest, so people leave us alone. I'd rather be in Florida, so I just need to probably stay out of this conversation. I was jesting, except for the number 13....but it wasn't the number's fault. I think I picked that date, actually. Perhaps I knew the omen was ahead. ESP.
Thanks for pointing out the fact that baseball managers have much less influence than coaches/managers in other sports. I have made that point here a few times and have been criticized for it. The team with the best players usually wins. I have been a Bell supporter but I can see that it may be time for a change. The "winning of 45 straight games" is a great stat/fun fact. I have already passed it on and claimed it as my own. Just kidding. Good job today.
I agree. Same goes for college football. Nick Saban often said the key to having a championship team was to recruit great players. He started having problems when so many branches of his coaching tree took that advice and beat him with his own idea.
We lived in Topeka, KC and Kansas City for several years when the Bengals were terrible. I quickly became a Chiefs fan and watched Mahomes from the beginning of his career. He has two distinct advantages over Burrow, Andy Reid as coach (with Bienemy OC), and ownership who managed to surround him with consistently good players. Reid's unpredictable play calling gives Mahomes an opportunity to keep defenses off balance and stay relatively healthy. Just like Brady and Bellichick, Mahomes thrives in Reid's system. Burrow can be as good, but needs better coaching and players around him. Hopefully he will have that this year.
I think Bell should be setting the standards for the Reds, and their frequent errors and poor baserunning show he is not doing the job. I also don't like the way he handles pitchers and continues to be satisfied with mediocrity. They also need to replace their medical and training staff.
Similar to you and your parents, we grew up watching Bob Hope with our dad. I think he was one of the best comedians of all time, and my dad had a similar dry sense of humor delivered with a serious face. I also really grew to like Bob Newhart.
Great job West Side! Not easy to fill the Hemingway shoes.
Agree RE: Joe v Patrick, the Deads, and Bob Newhart! Funny, funny guy and his type of humor will be missed. Reminds me of a Bell news conference, only not meant to be humorous.
Good column today but unfortunately triggered several memories for me.
Crying at 11 when my Detroit Lions threw an interception in the 4th quarter while driving for a winning touchdown in their first playoff game in forever. Although the fact they lost that game 5-0 may have subliminally led me to choose the University of Iowa for my college, which turned out well for me.
Whenever I read something about how good Mahomes is, I hear in my mind “with the 9th pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select… John Ross, University of Washington.” It turned out OK in the end and hopefully we learned something from it.
1980’s Tigers… I grew up a big Tigers fan and remained one into the 80’s. The beginning of the end for my loyal love of the Tigers started when Kirk Gibson hit his walkoff in the World Series for the Dodgers. It ended when Jack Morris pitched his 1-0 gem to win the Series for the Twins. I’m a Reds fan now, but it’ll never be the same.
And Bob Newhart’s passing… where does the time go?
Good read today! Pretty hard to compare QBs, because W-L is so dependent on other factors. Neither has control over how their D and ST play, not to mention the other offensive players around them. Overall Mahomes has had a MUCH better OL protecting him, and where would he be without Kelce? What about strength of divisional foes? The AFC North has been arguably the toughest division up/down for a while. If healthy, I think Joe is as talented as any other QB in the game,.
Does anyone else here realize the Reds are in their worst World Series drought in their history? At no other time have they gone 30+ years without playing in a WS. And I have little hope for the future, especially considering expansion. The odds just keep getting worse and worse. I'm starting to think my alma mater, MU, has a better chance of winning the NCAA Men's BB Tournament.
Gotta love Bob Newhart. I always thought he was very funny. You have to like that kind of humor. You don't see that kind of comedy anymore. Subtlety is a lost art.
Great job of filling in. Enjoyed your thoughts and writing.
Nice work today.
That was terrific - loved the details in Mahomes v Burrow debate and you certainly made the case. And thanks for mentioning the passing of Newhart and including a joke. My dad and I watched his shows together and listened to his albums. Glad to hear your parents did the same. That was a fun read - great job!
Thanks for the good words, Brian. Appreciated!
Bob Newhart was the thinking man’s comedian. Great to watch and listen to. Mahomes is very talented. He has the top coach in football. He’s had a superior offensive line. Burrow is our down home quarterback. He fits here in Cincy. His offensive line is a step down from KC. That’s the owner’s fault not his. Joe will shine brighter each year he plays.
Nice work, Nick. I hopped over to your stack, The Mangled Ear, and enjoyed that story about the Elder wrestler.
Thank you, JP!
I have a feeling we will be reading you in this space again, Nick. Great job.
For me, each Bengal Super Bowl loss is worse than the one before. The first one with Kenny was pain, but we were down far enough at halftime that you got used to the idea. Also, THE BENGALS WERE IN THE SUPER BOWL! That seemed like enough at the time. The comeback was great, but it fell short - the story of Cincinnati sports :-)
When Montana got the ball back in the Boomer era with two minutes to go and needing 6, I told the assembled party-goers, "too much time." You knew what was going to happen. It did.
This last one with Joe, I really thought we would win. It just felt different going in. I felt we had Joe Montana this time. That opening drive TD bomb to Tee starting the 2nd half seemed to indicate that the times had changed. Then Cooper Kupp took over, with an assist from Eli Apple. The terrible spot on the JaMarr reception early and the phantom PI call on Logan Wilson were icing on the cake. It took me a good week to get over that one. Each of those Bengal teams were young and we thought it was the start of something. But Kenny and Boomer never made it back. And Mahomes has won two more.
My older brother had a Bob Newhart album back in the day and I still remember the bit about the Night Watchman's first day on the job at the Empire State Building coinciding with King Kong climbing it. Also, it is widely agreed that the ending of the second Newhart TV series is probably the GOAT. I remember watching in real-time and thinking it was genius.
Thank you, Brant!
Hard to ignore the facts that you laid out Nick...this juror unanimously agrees with Mahomes at 1 and Burrow some notches back of him. And while I didn't suffer that weird number allergy you had with 16, it did break my hurt to be so close. Excellent work today; longtime East sider who married way up to a West sider....appreciate your neck of the woods!
Thank you, BNG. Glad you gotchu a West Side wife! ;)
I love Bob Newhart's deadpan comedy. I, personally, can be very deadpan (while trying to be funny...as in "how could you not know that I was not serious?") Yes, I had friends that believed it when I was kidding with them straight faced. Some actually got mad at me. When I saw, Bob on TV as a kid, I realized what I was doing was okay, and that's good because I've been like that my whole life.
I love your writing. I could relate to your number fobia (which I won't repeat here, but is used oftentimes after "sweet"). I have these same kinds of little trivia things about a number...how it can remind me forever of something good, or how it can remind me of something bad, like my wedding day which was June "13th". I never feared the number 13, as many people do, until after that. That was a fun read. Thanks for sharing your idiosyncrasies, as I have so many and now I know I'm not the only one; and I agree about the West-side vs. East-side. I'll take West side with good old restaurants, pleasant people who actually talk to each other and good family business practices with fair prices. The East side is so darn far away....I used to work there. I was scared to go to Walmart where I occasionally had to pick up office supplies or something.
What more can I say? Enough already. Except Joe Burrow is our Guy, a Brainiac, and when in a healthy fit body, is football savvy better than Mahomes already.
We got married on 9/13 so I could remember our anniversary date. I also was usually number 13 on my softball teams. I live in the North, so I never got involved in East vs West. It is probably more similar to West side and people are friendly and diverse here.
I'm NorthWest, so people leave us alone. I'd rather be in Florida, so I just need to probably stay out of this conversation. I was jesting, except for the number 13....but it wasn't the number's fault. I think I picked that date, actually. Perhaps I knew the omen was ahead. ESP.
Thanks for pointing out the fact that baseball managers have much less influence than coaches/managers in other sports. I have made that point here a few times and have been criticized for it. The team with the best players usually wins. I have been a Bell supporter but I can see that it may be time for a change. The "winning of 45 straight games" is a great stat/fun fact. I have already passed it on and claimed it as my own. Just kidding. Good job today.
Pass it on as your own! All good! 😎 Thx for reading.
I agree. Same goes for college football. Nick Saban often said the key to having a championship team was to recruit great players. He started having problems when so many branches of his coaching tree took that advice and beat him with his own idea.
We lived in Topeka, KC and Kansas City for several years when the Bengals were terrible. I quickly became a Chiefs fan and watched Mahomes from the beginning of his career. He has two distinct advantages over Burrow, Andy Reid as coach (with Bienemy OC), and ownership who managed to surround him with consistently good players. Reid's unpredictable play calling gives Mahomes an opportunity to keep defenses off balance and stay relatively healthy. Just like Brady and Bellichick, Mahomes thrives in Reid's system. Burrow can be as good, but needs better coaching and players around him. Hopefully he will have that this year.
I think Bell should be setting the standards for the Reds, and their frequent errors and poor baserunning show he is not doing the job. I also don't like the way he handles pitchers and continues to be satisfied with mediocrity. They also need to replace their medical and training staff.
Similar to you and your parents, we grew up watching Bob Hope with our dad. I think he was one of the best comedians of all time, and my dad had a similar dry sense of humor delivered with a serious face. I also really grew to like Bob Newhart.
Anyone see Burrow’s new haircut? He looks like the love child of Eminem and Sinead O’Conner after having a go on a Delta One redeye headed to Dublin.
🎼Will the real Slim O’Shady please stand up🎼
https://www.si.com/nfl/joe-burrow-simple-explanation-viral-new-hairstyle
Nick Corey,
Excellent work today. I totally and completely agree with EVERYTHING you said today from Burrow to Bell to Newhart. A+, my man, A+!!!
Much appreciated, Eric.
Great job West Side! Not easy to fill the Hemingway shoes.
Agree RE: Joe v Patrick, the Deads, and Bob Newhart! Funny, funny guy and his type of humor will be missed. Reminds me of a Bell news conference, only not meant to be humorous.
Thanks for reading and for the good words, JB.
Good column today but unfortunately triggered several memories for me.
Crying at 11 when my Detroit Lions threw an interception in the 4th quarter while driving for a winning touchdown in their first playoff game in forever. Although the fact they lost that game 5-0 may have subliminally led me to choose the University of Iowa for my college, which turned out well for me.
Whenever I read something about how good Mahomes is, I hear in my mind “with the 9th pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select… John Ross, University of Washington.” It turned out OK in the end and hopefully we learned something from it.
1980’s Tigers… I grew up a big Tigers fan and remained one into the 80’s. The beginning of the end for my loyal love of the Tigers started when Kirk Gibson hit his walkoff in the World Series for the Dodgers. It ended when Jack Morris pitched his 1-0 gem to win the Series for the Twins. I’m a Reds fan now, but it’ll never be the same.
And Bob Newhart’s passing… where does the time go?
Thanks for filling in today.
Good read today! Pretty hard to compare QBs, because W-L is so dependent on other factors. Neither has control over how their D and ST play, not to mention the other offensive players around them. Overall Mahomes has had a MUCH better OL protecting him, and where would he be without Kelce? What about strength of divisional foes? The AFC North has been arguably the toughest division up/down for a while. If healthy, I think Joe is as talented as any other QB in the game,.
Does anyone else here realize the Reds are in their worst World Series drought in their history? At no other time have they gone 30+ years without playing in a WS. And I have little hope for the future, especially considering expansion. The odds just keep getting worse and worse. I'm starting to think my alma mater, MU, has a better chance of winning the NCAA Men's BB Tournament.
Gotta love Bob Newhart. I always thought he was very funny. You have to like that kind of humor. You don't see that kind of comedy anymore. Subtlety is a lost art.
That was fun Nick!! Ending with a Bob Newhart joke was a great move.
Appreciate it, Brian!