Did you ever go one one of those family trips that never seemed to end? I did several times. In a station wagon with no air conditioning. With anywhere from 3-5 brothers and sisters and a father in the front seat puffing on a cheap cigar. With nothing good on the radio.
We couldn't wait to get to our destination. Or at least a rest area.
It felt that way Friday traveling with the Bengals to the west coast. We were told to be at Paul Brown Stadium at a particular time for security checks and to load onto buses. Soon after loading, we heard we'd be leaving a half hour later than scheduled. That wasn't a major inconvenience.
It turned out that a Delta charter plane scheduled to move the Bengals from Cincinnati to Oakland had some technical issues. So they had to get another plane. In Atlanta.
We boarded our buses in downtown Cincinnati and drove to CVG. The first dead giveaway that something was amiss was the fact that the buses took I-471 to get to the airport. I guess it was the scenic route.
When three Bengal buses pulled onto the tarmac, we were anxious to fly. One minor problem existed. There was no plane. It was still on its way. More quality time on the bus.
I'd seen this happen only once before, years ago when the Bengals lost a game in Cleveland. The plane wasn't flyable so the decision was made to bus the team back to Cincinnati. Of course that meant no meal service for players. On the way down I-71, a stop was made at a rest area and the players pounced on the vending machines for something to eat. Problem was that those machines didn't take $100 bills and that's all many of the players had in their wallets. It's funny now, but the players at that time were not pleased.
Anyway, back to Friday.
The plane arrived, but it wasn't ready for passengers yet. I'm sure it needed to be prepared in the proper manner, food had to be delivered, etc. So players, coaches and support personnel huddled on the tarmac at the bottom of the loading ramps. It looked like the last days of Saigon. Then it started to drizzle, luckily not too long or too hard.
We left CVG about 90 minutes later than scheduled, and the flight west was uneventful, but long. Cramped and long. I'm a short guy and I felt folded up. Imagine if I were 6' 4" and weighed 300 pounds like a bunch of these guys.
We saw the sun setting as we landed in Oakland at 8 p.m California time We got to the hotel about 40 minutes later. For many of us, it had been well over 8 hours going from bus to plane to bus to hotel.
But I'm not complaining and no one did as the bus arrived. Offensive Coordinator Hue Jackson started to get off the bus, turned around and said to no one in particular "Long trip...now get a win".
Sometimes the journey to a new football season is a little ragged and a little rugged. It wasn't the most pleasant experience.
But it still beats that smelly old cigar in a Ford wagon.
