The cursed life of a Cincinnati sports fan – Sporting News

They write books about sports curses in other cities, Chicago with the billy goat and Boston with the Bambino. Cincinnati doesn’t have literature to assuage its pain.

It does have this tweet, however, from sports talk show host Mo Egger:

How many more kicks to the balls do we have to take?

— Mo Egger (@MoEgger1530) March 19, 2016

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That about covers it. As we learned again Friday night in the NCAA Tournament with the Cincinnati Bearcats’ excruciating 78-76 loss to Saint Joseph’s, the Queen City is not just cursed in a single, romanticized sport. It is afflicted in pretty much everything it plays. There has been no major national championship in the city since the Reds won the World Series in 1990, and that is all that has been won in the past four decades, since the Big Red Machine was voluntarily dismantled with the trade of Tony Perez following the 1976 World Series championship.

Troy Caupain (Getty Images)

Consider how much has gone wrong, and how it has gone wrong, over the past quarter-century.

September-October 1999: The Reds were 95-63 after defeating the Astros in the first of a two-game series near the close of the National League season and held a one-game lead in the Central Division. They then lost their next three games, including two against fifth-place Milwaukee, and fell into a tie with the Mets for the wild card. In Game 163 at Cinergy Field (nee Riverfront Stadium), Cincinnati fell behind New York 2-0 in the first inning and lost, 5-zip.

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March 2000: With the Bearcats ranked No. 1 in college basketball, national Player of the Year Kenyon Martin collided with an opponent while setting a simple down screen early in a conference tournament game against Saint Louis. His leg twisted oddly; he was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a fractured tibia. Without him, UC lost in the NCAA Tournament second round.

January 2006: Having won the AFC North with an 11-5 record, the Bengals played host to their first playoff game in 15 years — since, indeed, 1990 — against the rival Steelers. On the Bengals’ second offensive play, quarterback Carson Palmer dropped into the pocket and found receiver Chris Henry deep downfield for a 66-yard gain. As he released the pass, however, Steelers defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen — a former Bengal, naturally — hit him low and the result was a torn ACL for Palmer. Playing with backup John Kitna, the Bengals fell 31-17 to the eventual Super Bowl champs.

December 2006: With a chance to earn a playoff berth on Christmas Eve, the Bengals rallied from seven points down to score the tying touchdown with less than a minute left. One catch: For it to be the tying TD, the Bengals had to kick the extra point. The snap was wide, the ball never got placed and the Bengals lost, 24-23. The Bengals missed the playoff party. (Just to ice it, kicker Shayne Graham missed a 39-yarder the following week that would have beaten the Steelers with 8 seconds in regulation and the Bengals allowed a 67-yard touchdown pass on the third play of OT).

October 2012: Eight pitches into the opening game of the National League Division Series, Reds ace Johnny Cueto walked off the mound in apparent pain and was visited by his trainer and manager. He did not pitch again that season, and the Reds lost the series in five games to eventual World Series champ San Francisco.

January 2016: The Bengals made their fifth consecutive NFL playoff appearance (but had lost their first game the previous four). They trailed the Steelers 15-0 when linebacker Vontaze Burfict slammed Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger with a sack and Roethlisberger left with an injured shoulder. With Pittsburgh’s offense suddenly inert, the Bengals rallied with two touchdowns and a field goal to take a 16-15 lead. Roethlisberger re-entered for one last, desperate rally. When he overthrew Antonio Brown near midfield with 22 seconds left, a Cincinnati victory seemed secure, but as the ball bounced down the field Burfict slammed into Brown’s helmet and was called for a personal foul. Cornerback Adam Jones then was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the 30 yards in penalties gave Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell a 35-yard chip shot to win it. Which he made.

What happened to the Bearcats in their final two games this season, then, was directly in line with the city’s recent sports history.

In the American Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals, guard Kevin Johnson had just made a 3-pointer from the left wing to break a tie with 0.8 seconds left. Somehow, in what little time was left, UConn’s Jalen Adams threw in a 75-foot shot to tie the game. And UConn won in overtime.

Friday night might have been even worse. Holding a one-point lead in the closing seconds of their NCAA Tournament game against Saint Joseph’s, the Bearcats got caught on a bad defensive switch and allowed Isaiah Miles an open 3-pointer to put the Hawks up by two. Cincinnati’s Troy Caupain advanced the ball, drew a double-team and slipped a pass across the lane to center Octavius Ellis. He rose to slam the ball and appeared to score — and was struck on the top of the head by a defender as he dunked — but his right hand was still attached to the ball while the red light to signal the end of the game illuminated.

It was another dark day for Cincinnati sports.

There have been so many.