The Bengals Game.

Not long ago, I received a phone call from a lady named Rocky. She said that she was calling from Hamilton County. My first thought was "what did I do now?" But she had some good news. My name had been picked and I had won two tickets to the Bengals game on November 30, 2008. Cool beans, huh? The best part was that the tickets were for a party suite, complete with food!



Fast forward to game day. It was raining lightly, off and on. I parked in the lot at Longworth Hall. Geez. $20 to park and we still had to walk a good distance. At least it was on flat ground. And Lord knows I could use the exercise.



Outside the stadium was a barricade line. There were a few openings between the barricades and people in yellow parkas blocked them. With ticket in hand I approached, thinking I could actually get to the stadium. A man at one opening told me loudly, NO, you can't go this way. OK, I thought, so how do I get in here? He pointed to a line. I tried to find the end of the line and noticed another shorter line, so I got in it. The man at that opening laughed and said No, go over there! So, I got at the end of the long line. When I finally got to the barricade, a short hefty black lady in a yellow parka stopped me and frisked me quickly. Top part only. My natural inclination was to give her a hug back, but she didn't seem to be in the mood. Then I had to show her what was in the small bag that I had carried for a few essentials. OK, I could go on. When I got to the steps to go up to the stadium, I noticed a sign that said - If you go beyond this point, you agree to have your person and belongings checked by security. Fine place to have it...after the pat down. Other people seemed to know what to do, but I decided that they probably had been to the games before.



Following the directions that Rocky provided, we found Gate B. Then the directions said to take the escalator up. Oh no, I wasn't getting on that escalator! It was REALLY long and was packed with people. I asked the ticket taker where the elevator was and headed in that direction. Came upon an up ramp and walked up to the next level. Then there were glass doors, maybe we're heading in the right direction. The lady at the door said take the elevator to 3. Finally, I see a bank of large, lovely elevators. And they were not packed. Don't architects understand that there are people with escalator and elevator issues? Maybe that's a topic for another day.



Cutting the story short... we, alas, found the Hamilton County Suite. It did indeed have lots of good food. Chili, toquitos, chicken breasts, hot wings, potato chips, taco chips, an assortment of condiments - salsa, quacamole, sour cream, tomato, onion, blue cheese. Bottled water and soft drinks. Later I noticed a pizza, but got there as someone else grabbed the last piece. Then I spotted the cookies and brownies. OH MY!



And there was also a football game going on. Or it was supposed to be a game. I kept wondering if someone forgot to explain to the Bengals that the intent of the game was to get the football over the line at the end of the field that said "0." They didn't seem to understand that they received no points for throwing the ball at the big tiger painted on the center of the field. Oh wait, perhaps a player was supposed to be there to catch the ball. HA. On the radio the announcer said that the Ravens held the ball for three quarters of the game. When the Bengals did get the ball, they didn't hang on to it for very long.