Superbowl mania

Dear Congressman,

It appears that another NFL season has ended with the Green Bay Packers edging out the Pittsburgh Steelers on a cold night in Dallas. This annual "carnivale americana" went off with very few hitches, unless you were one of the 400 holders of $900 a seat tickets that were denied entry to the game by the Arlington Fire Marshall, and then it really sucked sitting deep in the stadium watching the game on a flat screen TV as you could hear the roar and rumble of the crowd above you.

But for us Cincinnatians, the ultimate outcome of any game against the Pittsburgh Steelers is a loss. For those who are unaware, Cincinnati became an NFL team in 1968 and has always been in the same division as the Steelers, providing a red carpet to a perennial two-easy-wins-a-year for Pittsburgh when they met Cincinnati in the home and away series that are an annual part of NFL division rivals. In fact, I think it would not be beyond rational thinking that the citizens and fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers owe a debt of gratitude to Bengals owner Mike Brown for continuing to field a team that provides a platform to base a winning season on year after year. But as a Bengals fan since their inception in the late 60's, there is a definite basis for hating the Steelers as they devour my team year after year.

Now don't get me wrong, this is not a slash the tires, curse the fans, kick their pet dog kind of hatred. This is a "damn I am so jealous I want to puke" hatred. After all, the Bengals will a draft a player regardless of their previous criminal record or very apparent attitude problems while Pittsburgh gets rid of trouble-causing thugs, to the point that they almost traded their Superbowl proven quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, earlier this year after his alleged off-the-field escapades with assaults on drunken young women. So even though I hate the Steelers, I like hating the Steelers, and don't want them to change anything they do to be as good of a team as they are, as this is the type of team I want my Bengals to be.

Only not as hated as the Steelers...