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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Bengal Graphs 2016 Part 3


Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shows the different autographs he has gotten from the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2016 NFL season.
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2016: Goodbye and Good Riddance


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.





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Autograph Page Update

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Photo Page Update

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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Will The Shield Ever Fully Reunite?


Factions have and always will be big factors in professional wrestling. For those of you who do not know, a faction is a group of wrestlers that are tied together through some sort of alliance. Whether that alliance is from the sharing of a manager or a common goal, factions generally stick together and will try to eliminate everything that stands in their way. Even though factions usually rise to power before breaking up, a reunion between the faction’s members down the line is usually inevitable. From groups like the Four Horsemen, the New World Order, and D-Generation X, factions have proven that even though it appears that the wrestlers that formed the group have parted ways, there is always a possibility of a reunion.

In the current WWE landscape, the most successful faction has been the Shield. The trio of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns burst on the scene in 2012 as a group of renegades that set out to right the wrongs that they believed tainted the WWE. The Shield was booked as a three man wrecking crew that steamrolled opponents such as Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Ryback, and John Cena among others. They made waves by triple powerbombing the Undertaker through an announce table on SmackDown and by capturing the United States Championship and the Tag Team Championships on the same night at Extreme Rules 2013.

As the trio rose in power, so did their popularity. It became more apparent with each passing week that this faction was destined for greatness as Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns began to become some of the most popular wrestlers on the roster. After dominating 2013, the group looked to do the same in 2014. They waged war with the Wyatt Family, the New Age Outlaws, and Evolution, and it appeared that the era of the Shield would never end. That is until Rollins leveled Ambrose and Reigns with a chair and dismantled the brotherhood that he helped bring to power. Rollins aligned himself with the Authority, and Ambrose and Reigns embarked on singles careers while still remaining tag team partners.

Even though the Shield went their separate ways, their careers continued to intertwine as they battled each other multiple times in their quest to become the best in the professional wrestling business. All three eventually captured the top prize in the industry: the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Rollins won his first title at Wrestlemania 31, Reigns would earn his first championship at Survivor Series 2015, and Ambrose would finally become champion at Money in the Bank 2016. In fact, Money in the Bank 2016 was the night that each Shield member was WWE World Heavyweight Champion as Reigns was defeated by Rollins who was then defeated by Ambrose after Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. The Shield battled for the title in a triple threat match at Battleground 2016 with Ambrose once again emerging victorious.

Since Battleground 2016, Ambrose has been on SmackDown while Rollins and Reigns have been on Raw. The faction briefly reunited at Survivor Series 2016 when they triple powerbombed A.J. Styles through an announce table, and they shared screen time during 2016’s Tribute to the Troops special. While hints have been dropped of a Shield reunion, it still has not fully happened. The trio continues to pursue singles glory, and any interaction between the three wrestlers has been brief aside from a few tag team matches and a recent alignment of Reigns and Rollins on Raw.

As it stands now, a Shield reunion does not appear to be happening anytime soon. Ambrose is on SmackDown, Rollins is gunning for Triple H, and Reigns is in the midst of a feud with Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship. That isn’t to say a full-fledged reunion is out of the question. As WWE has proven before, never say never. The New World Order reunited in 2002 and D-Generation X in 2006. With all three wrestlers currently being faces, all it would take is for them to be on the same show. Ambrose could easily be traded to Raw, or WWE could decide to end the brand extension. Until then, the only thing WWE fans can do is wait for the hounds of justice to once again reign supreme over WWE.

Believe in the Shield!


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Autograph Page Update

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Photo Page Update

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Monday, December 19, 2016

WWE Roadblock 2016 Thoughts


Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE Roadblock 2016.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Redsfest 2016 Day 1


Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone vlogs about his experience at day 1 of Redsfest 2016.
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My Redsfest 2016 Experience


Redsfest is the massive fan fest that the Cincinnati Reds hold every December. It is a great way for fans to meet some of their favorite Reds players of today as well as some of the future stars of tomorrow. Throw in a couple of legends from Reds teams of yesteryear and you have an epic weekend that is like heaven on Earth. I was fortunate enough to get to go to Redsfest again, and I will share my thoughts on this year’s edition in this post.

When it came to autographs, I did pretty well. I managed to get over 30 autographs from past, current, and future players. In terms of players signing autographs, the selection was pretty good. There was a good balance of players spanning many generations to get autographs from and the system of obtaining autographs that the Reds organized for fans worked well for the most part. I was able to get the signatures of Dave Parker, Glenn Braggs, and Nick Senzel among others.

The only autograph complaint I have is of how the Lou Piniella autograph signing was handled. It seemed that word had gotten out of when Piniella would be signing, and the line for his autograph booth was already full before it was officially announced that he would be signing autographs. This was really unfair as it prevented everybody from having an equal shot at getting Piniella’s autograph. Hopefully that does not happen next year.

I also really enjoyed the exhibits. There were some game used memorabilia to check out and buy, the Redsfest main stage with Q and A sessions and game shows, and the Reds Hall of Fame section with the World Series trophies and bobbleheads are just a few of the exhibits Redsfest had to offer. There is a lot to look at and immerse yourself in at Redsfest, and I highly recommend going on both days in order to get the full Redsfest experience.

You can see pictures from the event that I took as well as autographs that I got on the photo page and the autograph page on this site. You can also check out my Redsfest videos on the CFZ Vlogs playlist that can be accessed through the video page.

In conclusion, Redsfest 2016 was another great event that was well executed by the Cincinnati Reds. There were autograph opportunities, the chance to meet some of your favorite Reds players, and the two-day celebration of Redsfest is one that every true Reds fan should experience. Hopefully I can go again in 2017!




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Autograph Page Update

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Photo Page Update

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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Too Much of a Good Thing?


I am a die heard professional wrestling fan. I was hooked on the violent form of sports entertainment ever since I was a kid when guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock were the top stars of the industry. In fact, the professional wrestling industry was at the height of its popularity as World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling were battling for television ratings and the title of the top professional wrestling company in the world. WCW was eventually bought out by WWE leaving Vince McMahon’s wrestling empire as the undisputed champion of sports entertainment. WWE has since gone on to launch the WWE Network, and the amount of weekly programming WWE produces has increased drastically. While more programming sounds good on paper, is it a good idea in all actuality?

I do not think it is. During the height of professional wrestling’s popularity, WWE’s weekly programming consisted of two hours of Monday Night Raw, two hours of SmackDown on Thursday, and a three hour pay-per-view one Sunday a month. Let’s compare that to the current amount of WWE programming.

Monday Night Raw has since expanded to three hours with a 30-minute kickoff show, which is streamed, on YouTube and the WWE Network, that precedes each episode. SmackDown is still two hours long, but it too has a 30-minute kick off show that streams on YouTube and the WWE Network as well as a post show called Talking Smack that runs about 20-30 minutes on the WWE Network. WWE recently launched 205 Live to showcase its cruiserweight division. The show airs on the WWE Network after SmackDown, and the debut episode was about 50 minutes long. NXT, a show featuring WWE’s developmental system, airs for an hour every Wednesday. Pay-per-views have since increased to about two a month that run an average of three hours long. There is also a one-hour kickoff show for each pay-per-view unless the pay-per-view is the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, or Survivor Series in which case the kickoff show is two hours long.

That is a massive amount of weekly WWE programming to watch each week. For hardcore fans, watching that much wrestling a week is not a big deal. However WWE often tries to attract non-viewers and casual fans to its product, and I think this much programming in one week can be overwhelming. I consider myself a hardcore wrestling fan, and I have trouble keeping up with all the weekly wrestling shows WWE produces. I can only imagine what a casual fan must go through when trying to understand the storylines playing out on WWE programming.

I think WWE should consider cutting back on the amount of programming it produces. Perhaps reducing Raw back to two hours or eliminating the kickoff shows could help the situation by eliminating the feeling of being overwhelmed. Back when WWE had its highest ratings, it had only a few hours of programming a week. Maybe WWE could reflect on what made it so popular and try to expand upon that instead of its amount of weekly television shows.



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Autograph Page Update

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Photo Page Update

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Monday, December 5, 2016

WWE TLC 2016 Thoughts


Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE TLC 2016.
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