Tuesday Trenches: A cautionary tale in KC

An intelligent person learns from another’s mistakes.

First, did you get a chance to see that once-in-a-lifetime solar event yesterday? That was awesome. I’ll remember sitting on the front yard with my wife and kids forever.
What did you do for the eclipse? Where did you watch it from?

Now then…..

I always try to tell my kid when he’s at baseball or basketball practice: “When you’re in line for a drill, watch the people in front of you. Don’t make the same mistakes they make. If the coach tells them good job, watch what that kid did. Don’t sit there and talk with other kids and then make the same mistakes others make.”

Does he listen?

Ye….someti…….no.

But, it’s sound advice still. A smart person doesn’t make the same mistake twice. A very smart person learns from another person’s mistakes.

There’s some drama in Jackson County. The Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals, who are coming off two back-to-back Super Bowl championships, have failed to pass an extension of a three-eighths-cent sales tax that would generate close to $2 billion, which would pay for a large portion of a new Royals stadium and several upgrades to Arrowhead Stadium.

However, a whopping 58 percent of those who voted in Jackson County said no. While 58 percent doesn’t sound like a lot, in an election, it’s close to a landslide. As for why Cincinnati Bengals ownership can learn a lesson from this, it is how they ask Hamilton County residents to help renovate Paycor Stadium and what those renovations are when the team’s lease is up in 2026 (the lease on Arrowhead isn’t up until 2031, FYI), that will matter most.

The Chiefs and Royals spent close to $3 million on advertising and pushing their fans to vote yes on the sales tax. However, the Royals never even revealed a location where they were going to put their new stadium, and the Chiefs waited until late February to show everyone what they wanted tax dollars for. I read the proposal, and while there were some upgrades everyone would enjoy, like video boards and the like, the words “suite” and “VIP” and “Club” were used an awful lot.

I AM NOT WE ARE NOT going to get political. WE ARE NOT going to discuss opinions.

Seriously, don’t.

But we can discuss FACTS, and here’s a fact: things are more expensive right now, and ordinary people, and I’m assuming 99 percent of you are what I would consider “ordinary people,” are feeling the squeeze financially. NFL games are expensive. Season tickets are expensive. I think a couple going to a game could reasonably expect to spend $400. Maybe more. That’s not cheap.

I’m not harping on ticket prices. They are what they are. I personally enjoy the experience of a big-screen TV and free food and no lines for the bathroom in my basement. But the “ordinary people” who do go to the occasional game and the vast majority of season ticket holders don’t sit in suites or VIP zones. I get those places exist, and I don’t blame the people who get to use them. I went to a suite once as a guest of the owner. It was awesome, and I loved every second of it. I didn’t once judge the guy for having those seats because he spent a fortune on them, and he worked hard for the right to spend that money.

What I do have a problem with is this: Asking “ordinary people,” who will never be able to sit in a suite under normal circumstances, floating the cost of the said suite for someone else to pay for and another to profit off of.

Not when everything else is this expensive.

If you want to build more suites to make more money, that’s fine with me, but that suite-building money should come from the owner who stands to profit from said suites.

Let the people finance stuff the people can use, like video boards, new concessions, a roof, a fan experience area, and stuff like that.

If the Chiefs had done that, and the Royals had pulled their heads out of their rear ends, I would be willing to bet the vote could have come out differently, or at least it would have been closer.

Maybe not. Who knows.

So when it’s time for the Brown family to put something on the ballot, I think it would be smart, considering the current economic climate, to ask the citizens of Hamilton County, the everyday normal people who don’t sit in suites at Bengals games, to float the bill on something they can benefit from. I live in Hamilton County, and whenever it comes on the ballot, I’ll vote yes if I can benefit from what I’m paying for.

We’ll see if they learn from the Chiefs and Royals’ mistakes.

I bet they will.

What do you think?

—

Now then…..

QB 1:

35,133 passing yards, 277 TD, 160 Int, Career 85.3 QBR, 74-79 as a starter, 1 playoff win

QB 2:

38,510 passing yards, 246 TD, 144 Int, Career 87.6 QBR, 83-78-2, 0 playoff wins

Those are similar guys, right?

I mean it depends on who they played for, of course, but two guys with stats like this, they’re probably about the same. You’d think.

But, they couldn’t be more far apart.

QB 2 is Andy Dalton, who we know very well.

QB 1 is Jay Cutler, who had more talent in his right arm than Dalton had in his whole body. Yet, the thing I remember most about Jay Cutler is he seemed to absolutely hate what he was doing. It was weird to see, and sometimes, since I’m not a Bears fan, it was funny. I mean, he’s living his best life doing whatever he’s doing now, I guess, but he always seemed kinda aloof and unaware of how big the moment was at times.

But not in a cool Joe Burrow kinda way, with ice in his veins. It was more of an I’d rather be doing anything else than dealing with the weight of being QB1 in Chicago, kinda way. You could tell he was thinking about fly-fishing when a coach was talking to him on the bench after he threw the ball into triple coverage.

What I’ll remember about Andy, though, is the fact he came here when the Bengals were at one of their lowest points and massively overachieved. Did we win big? Yes and no. We didn’t win in the playoffs, but Dalton and Marvin Lewis helped build something here that has allowed Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor to take the team to new heights.

We were too harsh, I believe, on Dalton, and if and when Andy comes back to Cincinnati, whether it be for football, or something else, I hope he’s greeted with applause.

Kinda like how we all like Hayden Christensen now!

That’s it.

Who Dey!

Relevant Song lyrics:

Now I’ve been a-lookin’ for a job
but it’s hard to find
There’s winners and there’s losers
and I’m south of the line
Well, I’m tired of gettin’ caught
Out on the losin’ end
But I talked to a man last night
Gonna do a little favor for him