I’ve mentioned before my status as a Cincinnati Bengals fan and the stress of rooting for a perennially crappy team. But the Bengals haven’t always been crappy, and remembering the better days dulls the sting of yet another not-so-awesome season (4-11-1: only the Bengals can figure out a way to not lose but not win either). Which was why it was particularly gratifying to get this post from my high school friend Ryan about the “apex of Bengaldom,” the ‘88-89 season, when an amazing team led by quarterback Boomer Esiason and the Ickey Shuffle barely lost the Super Bowl to Montana’s 49ers.
But Ryan pointed in particular to one line in the post that he thought had particular relevance to the Working World blog:
Esiason is now a football pundit with a son mulling the Georgetown University foreign service program.
Ryan’s comment: “even the esiasons are in the foreign service business… it’s all the rage.” Indeed. I encourage Boomer’s son not just to mull, but to go. We need all the talented people we can get involved in international education, exchange, and development- and a few famous football players as spokesmen for the cause wouldn’t hurt either.
Ickey Woods and the Ickey Shuffle, circa 1989
