With the new year approaching, I thought I would take a
retrospective look at 2016 for this week’s post. A lot of people I know here in
the Cincinnati area are saying that 2016 sucked, and I have to agree. Aside
from a few highlights such as the debut of FC Cincinnati, Adam Duvall’s
breakout year with the Cincinnati Reds, and Dean Ambrose winning the WWE World
Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career, 2016 was an awful
year. While I remember 2015 as being a fun and solid year overall, 2016 is a
year I would love to forget. It all started in January…
My beloved Cincinnati Bengals rode a 12-4 record into the
postseason where they faced their AFC North rival and the most hated football
team in the Queen City: the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two teams met in the first
round of the playoffs in a rematch that was 10 years in the making. Despite the
Bengals playing without starting quarterback Andy Dalton, the team managed to
grab the lead late in the fourth quarter. An interception by Vontaze Burfict
seemingly ended a playoff win draught that plagued the franchise and the city
for 25 years. Then the implosion happened. All the Bengals had to do was run
out the clock, but Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball and the Steelers recovered. The
defense committed two nonsensical and costly penalties, which put the Steelers
in field goal range. The kick was good, and the Bengals were once again bounced
from the playoffs in the first round in the most heartbreaking fashion.
Fast forward to the NCAA Division
I Men’s Basketball Tournament. March Madness was in full swing and the tourney
was producing some heart-stopping moments. The University of Cincinnati became
a victim of one of those heart-stopping moments. After falling in the American
Athletic Conference tournament in quadruple overtime thriller to the University
of Connecticut, the Bearcats fell in the first round of March Madness to St.
Joe’s in another exciting game. With the Bearcats down two points, Ocatvius
Ellis appeared to have tied the game with a slam-dunk as time expired. Replay
showed that the ball was still in the hands of Ellis as time ran out on the
clock. The bucket did not count, and the Bearcats lost 78-76.
The University of Xavier
Musketeers also suffered a heartbreaking loss to end their season. After
arguably their best regular season in school history, the Musketeers secured a
two seed in March Madness and looked to make a big splash in the tournament.
Unfortunately that would not happen. The Musketeers battled the Wisconsin
Badgers in the second round of the tournament. The game was tied at 63-63, and
the Badgers inbounded the ball. Bronson Koenig threw up a shot from behind the
arc that fell through the net as the buzzer sounded. The Musketeers lost and
were denied a trip to the Sweet 16.
After March Madness came baseball,
and the Cincinnati Reds were pitiful to watch. I understand that it was a
rebuilding year, but I personally didn’t think they would be as awful as they
were. The team finished with a record of 68-94 and missed the playoffs for the
third straight year. Players were seemingly getting injured everyday, the
performances on the field were generally poor, and the season just left a bad
taste in the moths of Reds fans.
For as bad as the Reds were, there
was a tremendous bright spot during the summer for Queen City sports.
Cincinnati’s United Soccer Leauge team began to make a lot of noise on and off
the pitch, and soccer fever reached record highs in the city. However, FC
Cincinnati was not immune to disappointment. Despite setting numerous
attendance records and qualifying for the playoffs, the team fell in the first
round of the postseason in front of a record setting home crowd at Nippert
Stadium. While not as heartbreaking as the Bengals playoff loss, it was still
sad to see such an amazing debut season end with defeat.
Once the soccer season and the
baseball season were finished, attention focused back to the Bengals. Almost
everybody expected them to compete for the division title and once again be a
top team in the NFL. That was not the case. The team has had a very
disappointing 2016 season that makes the playoff loss from January even tougher
for Who Dey Nation to swallow. Star players such as A.J. Green, Giovani
Bernard, and Tyler Eifert having their seasons end prematurely due to injury
was like rubbing salt in the wound. The team will finish third in the AFC North
and will have a lot of work to do in the offseason if they hope to make the
playoffs next year. It is fitting that a year that started with disappointment
from the Bengals ends with the Bengals once again disappointing the city.
2016 was a rough one for
Cincinnati sports. The Reds have fallen from being division champs to basement
dwellers, FC Cincinnati, the UC Bearcats, and the Xavier Musketeers suffered heartbreaking
postseason losses, and the Bengals started and ended 2016 with disappointment.
I have personally hated 2016 and cannot wait for the fresh year to start.
Hopefully it is a much better year for the city of Cincinnati, and its sports
teams.
