The fan profiles are getting better and better and I really am enjoying hearing everyone’s Bengal fan stories. This highlight comes from the land of sauerkraut and Dunkel beer, Germany. Sebo Graf is not only a hard core fan but a former professional football player himself. Perhaps he could come over and back up Joe Burrow since everyone wanted us to sign a veteran.
Please give me a background profile on yourself. Name, age, location in Ireland, interest in football?
My name is Sebastian, mostly called only Sebo, I’m 34 years old and born and raised in Berlin, Germany. My interest for football started around 2002 with a madden game and became more intensive in university (around 2006) where I started playing football (although its not comparable in any kind of way with us college football, its more like 10-15 guys learning all the basics etc.).
How did you choose to become a Bengals fan?
Hmm, it probably started with the Palmer draft and a lot of really good games. One game i can remember from one of my first seasons was the epic shoot out between the Bengals and the Browns. Maybe it was that day combined with the tiger style.
Have you ever seen a game in Cincinnati?
Yes, I visited Paul Brown Stadium in 2010 to see the Bengals beat the Ravens 15-10 (5 Nugent FGs). I missed the only TD of the game (it was for the Ravens anyway) to get a really expensive hotdog. I’m also a regular guest in London’s Wembley Stadium, where I saw the Bengals tie the Redskins in 2016 and last year when the Rams beat the Bengals in London as well.
Who is your favorite player and why?
Hmm, that’s a tough one… I really liked Rey Maualuga but I think Joe Burrow is already up there. I watched a lot of college fb last year just to see him play.
Are you able to watch games in Germany?
Yes, I might have been one of the first users of the GamePass when it was still with yahoo and pay them a good amount of money every year since to see the Bengals play. It gets tough (especially with the night games) because they start between 2 and 3 on Monday (or Tuesday) morning. I still get together with some friends for some gamedays but most of the time i enjoy watching them at home. Haven’t had contact with any Bengals Fans here in Germany.
How many wins will the Bengals have in 2020?
I think with the whole COVID stuff, rookie QB, etc. I’m giving them a free pass this year, I’m just hoping for some excitement and hope. If I would have to guess I would say 6-7 with double digits the following year.
Is the NFL popular in Germany?
It really started a few years back and now we even have some games in free tv every Sunday (although its mostly the usual Patriots/ Steelers games which I’m not really interested in). I have seen a few hats here but they seemed more like fashion accessories than actual declarations of fandom. Once social distancing isn’t as much as a necessity I will engage people and find out.
What is one thing you would like to tell Bengals fans about Germany?
Hmm, I think we are really good at playing football (might be the best country in Europe). Most of us are also really friendly (and really good at drinking good beer), so we are the perfect guys for watching some football with.
Have you ever played football?
Yes. As I said before I started in University around 2006 and joined the Potsdam Royals in 2012 where we started at the bottom (5th division). I played QB for like 5 years (with a winning streak of 26 games and going unbeaten from 5th to almost 2nd division). The team is now playing in the first division here in Germany. I stopped playing in 2016 because all the away games with bus rides of more than 8 hours on a Sunday wouldn’t really match with my work schedule. Also, in Germany, all the teams are starting to get U.S. players from 3rd division up, so it wouldn’t matter how good or how much I practiced because I would never be able to compete with a guys who is playing for 10-15 years and gets paid by the team. One funny thing: We got a U.S. wide receiver in 2015 from Ohio by the name of Ross Smith. He’s not really known for his football skills in the U.S. but mostly all the funny videos he does with his grandma, you might have seen some. It was a really cool experience to play with a kinda famous but still “down to earth” guy like him. I really miss those days and the team and a lot of guys are still really good buddies of mine.
In the U.S. we eat chicken wings and Skyline chili but in Ireland I doubt that Cincinnati chili is easy to come by. What kind of food do you prepare on game day?
Unfortunately we don’t have Skyline Chili here. I don’t have any special food but I thinks that’s because a normal 1pm kickoff is 7pm here in Germany when I just had dinner with my family (wife and kids at the age of 3 and 2 months) so I wont have extra food directly after.