December 10, 1989: The Seattle Seahawks defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-17 at Riverfront Stadium. Bengals fans, in protest of what they perceived to be a bad call by the officials, began to throw snowballs onto the field at the referees and the Seahawks, who were at their own 4-yard line and an easy target from the bleachers. The Seahawks refused to continue until they stopped, and play was halted by the officials.
In order to stop the onslaught, Bengals coach Sam Wyche was given a house microphone to try to calm the crowd. The result was an epic rant, which also ramped up the nasty intrastate rivalry with the Cleveland Browns, famous (or infamous) for their rowdy bleacher fans, a.k.a. the Dawg Pound.
Will the next person that sees anybody throw anything onto this field, point 'em out, and get 'em out of here. You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!
The much-cheered comment had its roots in the traditional rivalry between Cleveland, in Northern Ohio, and Cincinnati, in Southern Ohio. The cities are in the same State, but they are not the same. As much as Cleveland is an NFL rival of Pittsburgh, those cities are much more alike than Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Cleveland is a city that is based on steel, oil, shipping and labor unions, with a population that is more ethnically diverse and more Catholic. Cincinnati is more homogenous, with a strong German influence, with fans of baseball's Reds formerly described as "the gingery Germans of Zinzinatti." It's a more conservative city, home of the Taft political family, and not one given to innovation. In the late 19th Century, Mark Twain was quoted as saying, "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always 20 years behind the times."
The cities also seemingly defy regional status. Cleveland is unquestionably Midwestern. Cincinnatians call their hometown "the Queen City of the Midwest," but it's right across the Ohio River from Kentucky, and so there is a Southern influence.
(Buffalo, New York is "the Queen City of the Lakes." Charlotte, North Carolina, named for the wife of Britain's King George III, is "the Queen City of the Southeast." Springfield, Missouri is "the Queen City of the Ozarks." Seattle is "the Queen City of the Northwest.")
There is some sports overlap: Fans of the Reds, especially when the subject of their 1970s "Big Red Machine" comes up, tend to share an arrogance with fans of the University of Kentucky basketball program -- as Rupp Arena in Lexington is only 81 miles from Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, as opposed to the 249 miles to the Cleveland Guardians' Progressive Field. If rural Pennsylvania is "Pennsyltucky," then Cincinnati can be "Cincitucky."
The comparison can be seen in the most famous TV shows ever set in each city. WKRP in Cincinnati, which had already wrapped up its run by this point, was about employees of a radio station trying to give it rock and roll's music and attitude despite the innate conservatism of the city, the station's owning family, and even some of its on-air talent. In contrast, The Drew Carey Show, which hadn't yet begun, was about working-class people trying to have a good time against all odds, and the people standing in their way weren't necessarily conservative. Some of them were equally rockish, but were jerks about it.
But Wyche's comment also had roots in his franchise's beginning. Paul Brown, long after his death, is Mr. Ohio Football. He coached State Championship teams at Massillon High School. He coached Ohio State to the 1942 National Championship. He was the 1st head coach and general manager of the Cleveland Browns, winning the All-America Football Conference title in 1946, 1947, 1948 and 1949. He then took them into the NFL, and won the NFL Championship in 1950, 1954 and 1955, losing the Championship Game in 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1957.
But he was fired by new owner Art Modell in 1963. In 1967, Brown got an expansion franchise in the American Football League. He named them the Cincinnati Bengals, a name used by a previous Cincinnati pro team. It just so happened to have the same initials as "Cleveland Browns." Brown gave them the same colors, too: Black and orange.
In their 1st 3 seasons, 1968 to 1970, the last of them being their 1st in the NFL after the merger, Sam Wyche was Brown's quarterback. Wyche was the last head coach Brown hired, in 1984. He got them to the 1988 AFC Championship, though they lost Super Bowl XXIII. Brown died in 1991, and that would be Wyche's last season as head coach, as Paul's son Mike Brown fired him. Wyche died in 2020.
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December 10, 1989 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played on that day:
* The New York Giants beat the Denver Broncos, 14-7 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The New York Jets lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-10 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Redskins beat the San Diego Chargers, 26-21 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, 31-10 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The New Orleans Saints beat the Buffalo Bills, 22-19 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Cleveland Browns, 23-17 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.
* The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, 27-17 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons, 43-17 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Green Bay Packers, 21-3 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
* The Houston Oilers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-17 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Phoenix Cardinals, 16-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, 30-27 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
There were 2 games played in the NBA. The expansion Orlando Magic defeated the defending Western Conference Champion Los Angeles Lakers, 108-103 at the Orlando Arena. And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 107-104 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Clyde "the Glide" Drexler scored 36 points in defeat for the Blazers.
And there were 5 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Quebec Nordiques, 8-4 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-1 at the Chicago Stadium.
* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Calgary Flames, 4-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
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