Bass column: Bengals fans, something changed in you. Can you feel it?

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly column from former sports reporter and editor Mike Bass. Bass will be contributing to The Enquirer by offering advice for sports fans, athletes and youth sports parents and coaches through a weekly Q&A. You can reach him at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.

I don’t remember exactly how I celebrated the interception that can change today’s Bengals fans forever. I think I jumped off the official Sports Fan Coach couch, thrust my fist into the air and yelled, “Yes!” It felt amazing.

I do remember being thrilled for those of you with longer and deeper fan connections to the team. I loved the emotional social-media images and comments Saturday night. Then, @imtjwhite’s post touched me. Days earlier, he had tweetvited me for a beer in Section 218, then said his group would have one for me “in spirit” because I would be in Chicago. He kept his word.

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“Hey Mike,” @imtjwhite (aka T.J. White) tweeted, with a photo of White, Adam Brandner, Joe Meadows and Jason Tate raising their champagne glasses one time for me at the Hotel Covington, where Tate was staying and the group was celebrating. White orchestrated this incredible gesture because no Bengals fan should be left behind.

“I want everyone, new fan and old, to be welcome at this party,” White would explain to this new Bengals fan Tuesday, via direct message.

Saturday was about celebration all over Bengal Land, a place in the heart, as tears of joy replaced years of sorrow, an emotional release of 31 seasons since the last playoff win. There is crying in fandom.

“I cried hysterically for a half hour after the interception, @erictho12632689 tweeted Monday. “I don't think I realize how much burden I felt like I was carrying. Now I can watch the Tennessee game (Saturday) and honestly every other playoff game they play as its own separate entity.”

Now you can see the Bengals differently, too.

* * *

Say goodbye to the drought and good riddance to the baggage. Take your time and savor the new freedom, like Joe Burrow with a victory cigar.

Freedom can change you. You can look at the Bengals and the Titans game Saturday with a new perspective. Choose one that works for you.

“We've been on this roller coaster for 31 years & now the storm has cleared!” @DaltonSignature tweeted. “We're starting fresh outta the gates w/ this team. Bengals of new! Gonna take a bit of (time for) Bengals Fans of old to come around but ... they will. In the meantime, we'll just need to put up & give them some grace.”

Grace and understanding feel appropriate for those of you yet to be freed. Your heart never healed from the one-and-dones. Or maybe the agony lingers from a 31-year run of ruin that started with 14 years of zero winning records or playoff berths, and book-ended with five more.

On WLW last week, Lance McAlister told me a caller had predicted it would take five successful years before he could enjoy the Bengals. It did not surprise me. The pain of the past affects each of us differently. Trust can be hard to recapture. It is the fan equivalent to PTSD.

If you only see hopelessness, if you bond only with pessimistic fans who shield themselves with disbelief or sarcasm, one playoff win might look like a tease.

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If you want to escape, start with one small step. Say something nice about the Bengals. “Isn’t it cool for Zac Taylor to bring a game ball to Mt. Lookout Tavern?” Remember what you enjoy about them. “Isn’t it fun to follow a playoff team?” Talk to excited Bengals fans. “Isn’t it great to watch Joe Burrow?”

If you see hope and connect with optimists, or at least pragmatists, one playoff win might look like a gateway.

For Jason Tate, one win felt like “both a relief and empowering” and changed how he feels this week.

“We may win and we may not, but we're a contender now,” Tate wrote, as relayed by Miami University (Class of 2004) pal T.J. White. “I don't feel like I am cheering for an outsider that just happened to be in this situation this time around. I feel like I'm cheering for a potential Super Bowl Champion – and that's been one of my deepest desires for my whole life.”

* * *

I asked you Monday, via Twitter, how beating Las Vegas changed you, going into the Titans game.

“Confidence.” @MatthewBausch78 tweeted. “It took (getting) that monkey from our back to feel confident. Now I feel like they can (go) as far as they put their minds to.”

“We're playing with house money now,” @its_kduff tweeted. “We got the monkey off our back. We've already overachieved this season so any more wins from here on out are gravy.”

House money, the excised monkey and raised confidence were common refrains. @NHill852 even felt “a bit more swagger” after hearing the Bengals themselves say they wanted more than just one win.

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“Doesnt change anything for me at all. We arent ‘playing w/house money’ or ‘ahead of schedule,’” @TFatbeard tweeted, adding he is “riding with” 13 Bengals whose handles he listed.” “THEY BELIEVE, I BELIEVE.”

“I believe in ‘why not us?’ now, @rook_s06 tweeted. “Had to get the playoff win off our chest. Bring on anybody.”

Anybody?

“I see it like this,” @ImpotentPenguin tweeted. “We finally broke the ‘curse.’ Now I'm looking for that Cathartic SB Win. How do we get it? Raiders Round 1 (first team to beat us) oilers (titans) round 2 (last team we beat us) bills afc championship (last afc champ we were in) 9ers in SB (last sb we played in).”

Want more? The Bengals finished 4-11 (plus a strike-canceled game) in 1987 and went to the Super Bowl the next season. They finished 4-11 (plus a tie) last season. Coincidence? Or a sign? We see what we see.

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“I remember watching the 1988 Bengals team in the Super Bowl,” @kface555 tweeted. “I’m ready again. Tough road ahead next two weeks but anything is possible.”

“Pretty badass being a final 4 team in the AFC,” @LegitBenDavis tweeted, “while still being a year away from being a real threat 😂.”

“Well I can only say that the hard part is over,” @mickals43 tweeted, “so now the expectations are we just go out a play ball and have fun doing it.”

It is amazing how expectations affect us. If we look at the Bengals as a Super Bowl-or-bust team, anything less feels like a disappointment. If we look at the Bengals on a honeymoon season that keeps getting better, every day is a gift. That is what I see it. No expectations. Just fun.

On the other hand, @stumbelina tweeted that she still is a “nervous wreck. A very happy nervous wreck.🤪” This is that scary-excited eustress, the common butterflies before a big game. The Bengals are 3.5-point underdogs at top-seeded Tennessee, and nobody wants this party to end.

You can’t control the outcome, only you. Breathe. Stay present in the moment. Try seeing the Bengals from a perspective that empowers you. Remind yourself that you handled last week. What will remove the pressure now?

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“I know from my perspective, I can come into the game a bit looser,” T.J. White wrote. “Root as hard, but without the curse lurking around in the back of my head.”

Celebrate what happened last week. Bask in what took 31 years to get here. White did with his friends Saturday night, toasting a new day for the Bengals with a bottle of champagne left over from New Year’s Eve.

“For one thing, this has been a special sports year in Cincinnati,” White wrote. “I’m glad that it doesn’t have to end. It reminds me of (how) great it is to see everyone get behind something. Also relief that I didn’t jinx the team by bringing a champagne bottle for postgame.”

Thanks for sharing it with me.

Email Bass at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mike Bass weekly column on the Cincinnati Bengals and NFL playoffs