MONTGOMERY, Ohio — Brian Middleton didn’t always talk to his dad when he was a kid. It’s not that they were estranged, they just weren’t the type of people to open up and talk about their feelings.
The one thing they could always talk about? The Cincinnati Bengals.
Growing up in Dayton, some of Middleton’s favorite memories are driving down I-75 to games with his dad — even when the team lost, which they did quite a bit.
Middleton still remembers Boomer Esiason getting booed and benched in 1992. Middleton was devastated. He’s right-handed, but he used to practice throwing with his left hand to honor his favorite Bengals quarterback.
Today, a poster he had when he was a kid hangs in his 10-year-old son’s room. And on the floor, there’s a rug that acts as a football field. Dozens of small football player action figures sit there.
“That’s what he does every night before he goes to bed,” Middleton said.
The Bengals have always been a huge part of his life. That’s why when people hear that he had a Bengals-themed wedding, they ask what he had to do to get his wife to agree.
“It was actually my idea,” Amanda Middleton said.
Standing in her son’s room, where there are Bengals bobbleheads and other memorabilia just about everywhere you look, Amanda laughs.
“He actually had to reign me in a bit,” she said of her husband. “I wanted to serve stadium food at the reception.”
Because Amanda did not want a traditional wedding. She wanted something to represent who they are.
The decision didn’t go over well with her family — at least at first.
“The moms were a little worried,” Amanda said.
Because she planned orange and black suits, tickets as invitations and even a tail pinned to her wedding dress. She marked the tables with her favorite players, including statistics and a quote from Brian about why he liked each player.
“People say, ‘You mean your colors were just orange and black?' No, no, no. We had a full-on Bengals wedding,” Amanda says. “I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
She didn’t meet Brian at a Bengals game — they met online — but both have been fans for life. When they started dating, Brian used to watch every game with Amanda at the chili parlor where she worked.
“Her smile, her heart — I just love her to pieces,” he said.
Sitting on their couch surrounded by mementos from their special day, which includes an orange and black garter, Amanda laughs because Brian doesn’t usually talk about his feelings.
Just like his dad.
But just like the Bengals helped Brian connect with his father, they’ve given him and his wife something to bond over as well. As silly as it might sound, they say the Bengals are part of the reason their marriage has stood the test of time.
Especially now, when their season tickets mean guaranteed time away from their three kids.
“Sixteen years and still in love,” Amanda says. “It hasn’t always been touchdowns, but we’ve hung in there, just like the Bengals.”
