It’s a running joke amongst NFL fans that things aren’t serious until a team messes with the ping-pong tables in the locker room.
Sometimes the removal of the ping pong tables is meant as a punishment and a sign to players that things need to get serious. Other times, the addition of the ping pong tables is meant to build chemistry.
For the Cincinnati Bengals coming out of the bye week, it’s a case of the latter.
The Bengals put ping-pong tables back in the locker room to start the build to Week 13, and it was one of the biggest talking points around the team.
Speaking with reporters after the news went public, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters he hoped the addition of the tables would “generate camaraderie.”
In a perfect world, the Bengals wouldn’t have to resort to such a cliche thing, but kudos go to the coaching staff for trying something with the season on the ropes and the locker room seemingly close to being lost.
Hey, maybe it will work. But it loops up back to this timeless tweet:
Life is a never-ending succession of NFL teams adding ping pong tables w/stories about how they’re finally coming together as a family and enjoying each other’s company, and NFL teams removing ping pong tables w/stories about how they’re finally taking football seriously.
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) January 3, 2020
