The future has arrived.
A big piece of downtown Cincinnati's development puzzle -- a huge, flashy, state-of-the-art stadium built on the riverfront -- is finally in place.
Yes, this project still has lots of people ticked off. The debate continues over the stadium's cost and the wisdom of building it. But now the debate is academic.
The stadium's coming. They're breaking ground for it. Shovels officially turn over the dirt at 2 p.m. Saturday. But, the party begins at noon. Everybody's invited.
And, since our sales tax dollars are paying for the Bengals' new $400 million football complex, everyone might as well live it up and go to the party.
You're invited
The party will include hot dogs, clowns, balloons and face painting. Let your cheeks roar with orange-and-black tiger stripes. There'll be six computerized football games and 20 Bengals signing autographs. Doug Pelfrey will place-kick a football over the heads of a stage-full of dignitaries.
That thought alone suggests many entertaining possibilities. At 2 p.m. some of those dignitaries will jab shovels into a small plot of fresh dirt. The shovels' blades are chrome-plated and engraved with the words: "Paul Brown Stadium, Groundbreaking, April 25, 1998."
The dirt is special, too. Dug deep, just for the occasion, from the middle of the stadium's future field.
After the dignitaries put down their shovels, they'll toss free footballs from the stage. More visions of entertaining possibilities. During the football toss, I'll look for Robert Otis, Dean Schadle and Jim Walter, three guys pretty excited about the stadium. They see it as a chance for Cincinnati to better itself.
Robert's a painter. Dean removes asbestos. Jim's a geo-technician, meaning he drills holes into the ground to see whether it's stable enough to build roads or buildings. I ran into them while I was walking around the stadium site this week imagining what it would feel like to stand on the 50-yard line and toss a game-winning touchdown pass.
Saturday, as it turns out, is Dean's 33rd anniversary. "And, I'm under orders from my wife to do something nice. So, we could take in the groundbreaking," he told me as he worked at the stadium site bagging old insulation the color of pink cotton candy.
Dean stood near where one of the stadium's end zones will be. Forty years ago, on that very spot, Robert was "a 15-year-old kid, from Eighth and State, running wild up and down this place."
Now, he's a painter from Sayler Park. I found him sitting in his van in a riverfront parking lot. Before heading for home, he was watching the preparations for Saturday's groundbreaking.
Robert sees the new stadium as a sure sign of progress and a link with his past and future.
"Downtown's growing up," he said. "Sure, it's taken a long time. But we should enjoy it. A groundbreaking's something you can tell your grandchildren about."
Before drilling into a section of Fort Washington Way to take a core sample, Jim looked down at the nearby stadium site and listed his reasons for attending the groundbreaking.
"It's free. I've had a small part in building the thing. It's good for the city."
Plus, he said, "it sounds like fun."
Enjoy youself
Good concept: Fun. You can't have too much these days, especially when the word is used in the same sentence with downtown development. Saturday's groundbreaking even has Mike Brown, the Bengals' stoic owner, pretty excited. He's practicing how to hold a chrome-plated shovel.
"This groundbreaking is not just a milestone in the stadium project," Mr. Brown told me. "It's the beginning of big important changes that will alter the face of Cincinnati for generations."
And maybe Mike Brown's face, too, at least on Saturday. There might be a smile or even a tear for the stadium that carries his dad's name.
For the rest of us, it will be the start of the latest addition to our proud riverfront skyline. That's worth a smile, a hot dog and a Saturday afternoon downtown.
Columnist Cliff Radel can be reached at 768-8379; fax 768-8340.
BENGALS PAGE
RADEL ARCHIVES
