Cincinnati Bengals President Mike Brown stood before 3,000 fans at Saturday's riverfront groundbreaking for Paul Brown Stadium and found himself grinning a bit.
"I'm not well-known for my smile," he said after a standing ovation. "But forgive me for having a real smile in my heart today." More than two years after Hamilton County voters passed a half-cent sales tax increase to build new homes for the Bengals and Reds, the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce played host to Saturday's official start of construction.
Work actually began earlier this year with demolition that has nearly cleared the site between Central Avenue and Elm Street. The stadium is scheduled to be finished by August 2000.
The event was as much pep rally as anything, with Bengals kicker Doug Pelfrey kicking a football over the stage and team mascot Who Dey working the crowd.
Former Bengals running back Ickey Woods made a surprise appearance to teach County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus -- the politician most identified with the stadium -- how to do his trademark "Ickey Shuffle." "Never in a million years did I dream that I would be in front of thousands of people dancing the Ickey Shuffle," Mr. Bedinghaus said afterward. "It's great to finally begin to celebrate what will truly be the rebirth of our region."
A handful of people wearing "Shoot me -- I voted for the stadium tax" T-shirts were at the event, protesting the $400.3 million price tag of the Bengals complex.
But the crowd was mostly Bengals faithful.
County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr. acknowledged that officials had some concerns about protesters, but said: "I think it's great that everyone in the community came together for one day of unmitigated celebration. That's something we deserve." Even Cincinnati City Councilman Todd Portune, who has at times criticized the project, brought his family.
"I think it's great after all the fights that have taken place, regardless of what position people had, to be moving forward with one of the riverfront projects that are going to happen."
Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls said the event will be one of many important riverfront groundbreaking ceremonies in coming years.
Projects in the works include the city's $146.9 million overhaul of Fort Washington Way and the building of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Mr. Brown said he and the team are proud to be a catalyst. He acknowledged those who opposed the stadium project and worked against the tax increase back in 1996.
"There have been Sunday afternoons when the score didn't turn out right for us, too," he said.
But now, he said, it's time for fans and foes to join together to make the stadium a success. He even promised fans that the Bengals would do their part when it comes time to put a team in Paul Brown Stadium. "It should be a winning team. That's what we plan to do," he said.
Later, Bengals coach Bruce Coslet gave this advice to the stadium's construction team: "Put a lot of steel in this structure because we're going to make it rock."
Many of the fans at Saturday's event have been Bengals season-ticket holders for 30 years -- ever since team founder Paul Brown, Mike Brown's father, brought the expansion franchise to town.
John Baele of Kenwood stopped by to see a model of the new 66,000-seat stadium, trying to find his seats.
He's not worried about the stadium's cost, he said.
"Something's got to be done, and if you keep waiting and waiting, it's just going to get more expensive."
W.J. Grimes Sr. of Springboro, a 30-year season-ticket holder who usually takes his brother Mike Grimes of Crestview Hills to the games, said the team now owes the community.
"The city's given them everything they want. Now the results are, we want a winner," he said.
A few feet away, Mike Roberts of Batavia told his two young daughters -- whose faces were painted like tigers -- to hold their hands like claws as he snapped a picture.
"I love the Bengals as much as my wife," he said. "My son's only 1 year old, and I painted his room with black and orange stripes." Richard Grimm of Loveland, a 30-year season-ticket holder, got so into the spirit that he had his face painted.
"I missed the groundbreaking on the other one," he said, pointing to Cinergy Field. "And who ever thinks they're going to live through two stadiums?"
After a series of speeches and cheers, representatives of the county, Cincinnati, Newport, Covington, the chamber and the team pushed engraved shovels into a square of dirt, and confetti spilled onto the crowd.
A few minutes later, Florence Johnson made her way toward the stage, stooped down and slid four or five good-sized clumps of dry dirt onto a folded sheet of paper.
Bengals season-ticket holders for 30 years, she and her husband, Thomas Johnson, said they wanted to take a little of the site home to Morrow with them.
"I'll put this dirt in a jar and put it with our other Bengals memorabilia for our grandchildren," she said. "We're just happy to see that it's all finally going to come true."
