I've been a Bengals fan for 40 years.

The Bengals are going to the Super Bowl!!!

For most people that is not a big deal. For Bengals fans, it’s a big deal. For Die-Hard Bengals fans, it’s beyond a big deal. I am the latter.

My journey began in the fall of 1981. I was a high school senior living in rural Indiana with my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins…boy cousins. Every Sunday when we would get home from church they would trample down the stairs as fast as they could to flip the TV on to catch the football game. This was before the Colts came to Indianapolis, so Indiana football fans followed either the Bears or the Bengals. My cousins followed the Bengals.

One Sunday I must have been curious about the hubbub so I followed the boys to the TV. My cousin Jim, also a senior, was patient enough to explain the rules of the game to me. Over the next several weeks I became a Bengals fan. (I also developed a huge crush on Cris Collinsworth.) It just so happened to be the year they went to their first Super Bowl. It was exciting and I was hooked. The Bengals lost to the San Francisco 49ers 26-21.

Seven years later, they had another chance. The Super Bowl in 1989 again had the Bengals playing against the 49ers. I was living on my own at the time and I sat in the dark watching the game play out on my small TV. It was a pretty good game the Bengals were leading in the fourth quarter 16-13 until, with only 34 seconds left, Joe Montana threw for a 49er touchdown. I was devastated. I cried. I sat in the dark and cried.

I spent the next couple of decades bitter against the 49ers. (I finally let the resentment go when I finally realized the Steelers are the real enemy.) I never wavered from my loyalty to the Bengals. I moved from Indiana to Florida back to Indiana ( that was now home to the Colts) to Maryland and finally to Kentucky. Ironically, there seem to be more Steelers fans here than anything. Every fall, when break room talk turned to football, I was not afraid to utter those words, “I’m a Bengals fan.” Inevitably it would garner me looks of pity or jabs at “the bungles.”

Eventually, the Bengals started playing mediocre rather than merely bad. Some years were better than others. I just kept waiting. I knew one day it would happen. Finally, this was their season to make it to the AFC championship…against the KC Chiefs at Arrowhead. Football fans know that it is a difficult task to beat the Mahomes-led Chiefs at home. My husband told me

, “Well, at least they made it to the championship.” But if it was that cut and dried, they wouldn’t have to play the game. I was ecstatic when I saw the Bengals were holding their own against KC. When the score was tied in the 3rd quarter, my heart was pounding so fiercely. Then it went into overtime. (my poor heart) Then Scooter kicked the winning field goal for the Bengals win!! OMG, The Bengals are going to the Super Bowl.

I realize the Super Bowl isn’t until next week. The NFC game to determine who they will be playing is on the TV right now. The LA Rams against the San Francisco 49ers. You know I am rooting for the 49ers, just so we can finally be avenged.