Cursed in Cincinnati

After watching Carson Palmer squirming around on the ground last Sunday, every Bengal fan alive had a sickening feeling that Cincinnatians are used to. It is the feeling you get when the team you love suffers a tragedy that it cannot overcome. The Bengals hung tough for awhile, but without their pro-bowl quarterback there was slim to no chance of them surviving. It is only fitting for the Bengals to be behind the eight ball. I mean it is the first time they have been to the playoffs since 1990. It was Carson Palmer's first ever playoff pass, and it was a beauty. He threw a perfect deep strike down the right sidelines to Chris Henry for a gain of 66 yards, but just as quickly as the play happened, his season was over. Palmer tore his ACL and MCL of his left knee after former Bengal Kimo Von Oelhoffen fell on it. It is not surprising that a former Bengal ends the current Bengals' playoff hopes. Cincinnati fans could not help but feel cursed after this play, and who can blame them? Cincinnati has suffered more despair and misery in multiple sports than almost any other city. All you have to do is take a look at the history of Cincinnati since 1990. 1990 was the last year that the Bengals made the playoffs (before this year), and it was the year of the Reds World Series title. Let's start with the often maligned Bengals:
Cincinnati Bengals: The Bengals made the playoffs in 1990 with a 9-7 record. They were AFC Central Champions, and their future looked bright. Unfortunately, they would not experience another winning season until 2005, and they were the losingest team of the decade. During this stretch they experienced 4 separate 3-13 seasons and one 2-14 season. They were the standard of losing, and they did their best to make sure they stayed there through draft picks that got them no where:
1992: David Klingler (6th Overall):Klingler is now living on a ranch in Texas somewhere after his head was bashed in during his short NFL career. The Bengals went with Klingler and left perennial pro bowler Troy Vincent there to be taken with the very next pick.
1994: Dan Wilkinson (1st Overall): Wilkinson has actually had a solid NFL career, but his stay in Cincinnati had the word bust written all over it. He constantly underachieved, and he never truly showed the ability that made him the consensus #1 pick. By the way, two possible hall of famers went #2 and #4 in this draft. I'm talking about Marshall Faulk and Willie McGinest.
1995: Ki-Jana Carter (1st Overall): Carter tore his knee up before the regular season ever started, and he was never the same after. It is impossible to know how he would have fared if he would have stayed healthy, but it would have been tough to outdo the guys who went #2 and #3, Tony Boselli and Steve McNair.
1997: Reinard Wilson (14th Overall): Wilson was never able to make the transformation from dominant college player to dominant NFL player. His arms were too short, and his work ethic left much to be desired.
1999: Akili Smith (3rd Overall): Smith was another swing and miss at a franchise quarterback. He had no accuracy and he was dumb as a box of rocks. Smith admitted to not knowing the playbook, and he made no concerted effort to grasp the ideas and concepts the coaches threw at him. It would have been nice to have gotten any of the guys that went after him; (4. Edgerrin James, 5. Ricky Williams, 6. Torry Holt, 7. Champ Bailey.)

Cincinnati Reds: The Reds gave Cincinnati a World Series title in 1990 when they swept the favored Oakland A's 4-0. They have had some success since then, but that only includes one playoff appearance. Recently the Reds have been hampered with injuries, and their pitching staff consistently gets beaten around the yard. Their bad luck seemed to start in 1994:

1994: In '94 the Reds were leading the NL Central with a 66-48 record when a players' strike ended the season prematurely. They were the overwhelming favorite to win their division, and their only real competition in the National League was the Montreal Expos. 1994 ended badly for all baseball fans, but Reds' fans would get their playoff chance the next season.

1995: In '95 the Reds picked up where they left off before the strike. They finished the shortened season with an 85-59 record which was good enough for first place and a playoff spot. In the playoffs things started well with a 3-0 sweep of the Dodgers in round one. Unfortunately the Cincinnati curse struck in the NLCS when star outfielder Reggie Sanders forgot how to hit. Sanders went 2-16 with 10 strikeouts in a 4 games to none sweep by Atlanta. Things were never the same for Sanders in Cincinnati as he struggled more and more the next two seasons before leaving the Reds to start a journeyman MLB career.

1999: The Reds made their next push for the postseason in 1999 when they finished the regular season with 96 wins. This would normally be enough to make the playoffs as either a division winner or at least as a wild card. Unfortunately for Cincinnati the Mets finished with the same record which meant that the two teams would have to play a one game playoff for the wild card spot. On a cold day in October the Mets shut out the Reds 1-0 in Cincinnati to end their season and to crush the hopes of Reds' fans.

The Ken Griffey Jr. Saga: After the near miss in '99 the Reds went into the offseason and completed one of the biggest trades in Reds' history. They acquired Ken Griffey Jr. from Seattle for Mike Cameron, Brett Tomko, and Damien Jackson. They received one of the best players in all of baseball and the man that they thought would bring home a World Series. Since that happened, Griffey has constantly been nagged by injuries, and the Reds have only had one winning season which occurred in 2000. Griffey's injuries have cut short or ended every season he has played with the Reds:
9/11/2000: Suffers a partial tear of his left hamstring.
3/26/2001: Suffers another partial tear to his left hamstring and endures a stint on the DL from 4/29-6/15.
4/8/2002-5/23/2002: Griffey endures another stint on the DL, this time for a torn patellar tendon.
6/25/2002-7/21/2002: DL after suffering a torn right hamstring.
4/5/2003: Suffers a dislocated shoulder while diving for a ball in centerfield.
7/18/2003: Griffey has season ending ankle surgery.
8/16/2004: Griffey has season ending surgery on his hamstring.
9/4/2005: Griffey suffers a strained foot which sidelines him for the rest of the season.

Obviously it is tough to blame Griffey for everything that has happened to him, but the Reds have been hamstrung by his contract, and as a result they have been unable to acquire the pitching they need to compete. It is unfortunate and bizarre the way that the injury bug continues to hit this city.

Cincinnati Bearcats: The Bearcats basketball team has been one of the more successful teams over the past fifteen years. They have a Final Four and two Elite Eights to their credit during this time which also includes 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. This does not sound like a team that is cursed, but considering that they are from Cincinnati, it is hard to overlook their history.
1992: The Bearcats make the Final Four where they lost to the Fab 5 of Michigan 76-71. This was a great season, but it is tough not to wonder what if after finding out later that the Michigan team was playing with illegal players, and that they were required to forfeit their 1992 season.
1993: The Bearcats made it to the Elite 8 again where they fell short against North Carolina. The loss was worse considering the fact that Donald Williams went unconscious in overtime, and that the Bearcats had no answer for his threes.
1998: The Bearcats earned a #2 seed for the NCAA tournament advanced to the second round where they met the West Virginia Mountaineers. D'Juan Baker made a basket with little time remaining that gave the Bearcats a 2 point lead. The Mountaineers rushed the ball down the floor and launched a prayer from 35 feet. It hit near the top of the backboard and landed in the basket eliminating the Bearcats from the tournament.
2000: The Bearcats played a large part of the 2000 season as the #1 ranked team in the country. They were led by national Player of the Year Kenyon Martin, and they went on to go 16-0 in conference play making them the odds on favorite to win it all that year. In the first round of the conference tournament, Kenyon Martin suffered a broken leg which ended his season. The Bearcats could never recover and wound up losing that game as well as in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The city of Cincinnati has had more than its fair share of problems since 1990. Every time it looks like a Cincinnati team has a chance to make a run, something happens. That something usually involves an injury, but it can also be much more. Is it a curse? It is impossible to know for sure. The one thing that remains true is that the fans of Cincinnati have suffered enough, and it is time for a winner to step to the forefront.