CINCINNATI, OH – In anticipation of the Bengals upcoming game on Sunday versus the New England Patriots, the Cincinnati Reds offered to give their fellow Cincinnati sports team a pre-game pep talk. The Bengals, however, have decided to decline the offer.
“We really appreciate the Reds offer,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “It’s rare that you see a Cincinnati sports team show as much drive, determination, and intense urgency as the Reds showed Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. However, we have decided that we’d like to go our own way with creating a Bengalrific atmosphere on the field against the Patriots. I’ve already been working on this week’s pep talk. It’s going to have the word Bengalrific in it!”
The Reds were disappointed in the Bengals decision. “I guess they get to make that decision,” said Reds’ manager Dusty Baker. “Ultimately, I know they decide who gets to make their pre-game pep talk speeches. But, I had a really good one. It was so good that I decided not to give it to our team before the Pittsburg game. I was saving it for game seven of the World Series.”
Members of the Reds team were also disappointed, as they had planned to join Baker in the locker room for the Bengals pre-game pep talk. “I was really looking forward to it,” said Reds first baseman Joey Votto. “In fact, it was on my mind the entire game against Pittsburgh. I spent a large part of the game writing my part of the speech about how you should always be intense and focused on victory. I was so into it I almost forgot to go up to bat.”