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With the blessing of a 7:00 start in hand, why not cut out of the law business early on a September Monday and get ready for some football?  Coming up with no contrary reasons, that's exactly what I did, courtesy of my father's excellent fifth row tickets at Paul Brown Stadium. What a night he picked to be out of town!

3:30 pm - Departure   OK, it's later than I'd hoped, but I'm on the road, heading to Kettering first via I-70 and I-675 to pick up my trusty and loyal brother-in-law Mike ("Hokieman" from the CS message board). He's game for anything. My empty gas tank puts me as an even later arrival, and we begin to doubt any chance of getting to a possible tailgate with a contingent of family friends we sit with, or perhaps a visit to the Cadillac Ranch or The Rock Bottom before the game.

5:30 pm - Stuck!!  I-75 traffic at the north edge of the 'Nati is bumming us out, as is the failing AC in my '98 Jetta slowly rolling to its 130,000th mile. We decide just to head to the stadium and soak up the atmosphere and practice instead of venturing to any establishments. I show no evidence of being from Cincy as I misnegotiate about every downtown street in trying to get into the 3rd and Elm garage.

6:15 pm - Promised Land in sight   Finally we are in the throng of Bengal fans, all of whom apparently have contributed to the NFL's rising merchandise profits. The sea of black, orange and white replica jerseys pushes with a purpose to the promise of $6.75 beers and $4.00 bags of peanuts. We see at least 4 Boomers and even an Ickey and a Darnay to go with the thousands of Carson and Chad masqueraders. As always, I am proudly displaying the Peter Warrick black number 80.

7:00 pm - GAMETIME!!   A great Buckeye band pregame is followed by a jet fighter flyover from the boys at Wright-Patt. The Jungle is rocking like a college crowd going into the kickoff. Only a McNair third down completion temporarily bursts the bubble, but the letdown lasts mere seconds. Most of section 116 does not sit down the entire game, which is rare in Cincinnati.  The first quarter is madness with three Ravens fumbles, a bomb to Chad that is right in front of our eyes, as well as a botched extra point by the punter who comes in for Shane Graham and proves incapable of any form of placekicking. Unfortunately, that is also right before our eyes. I'm wishing THAT had been at the other end of the field and the fourth quarter drama at our end . . . Well, for the details of the drama and the game highlights you'll have to go elsewhere. Hokieman and I contemplate the Gold Star coney 10 pack for $20 but settle on the 4 pack -- there's detail for ya . . .

10:30 pm -- The Mass Exodus   Basking in the glory of a 27-20 opening night victory, we leave Paul Brown Stadium at the exact same time as all 66,000 other fans. Hmmm ... I didn't really factor that in at the start. Quite a fun half hour walk with the winning throng back to the garage, but a not so enjoyable one hour wait in traffic inside the garage just to get out. Hokieman gets home at 1 a.m.; I suffer through the staticky end to the 49er game and various inane Bengal talk shows, arriving back to UA at 2:15 a.m. What we do for the love of the game!

Tags: cincinnati bengals, road trip