The Bengals victory over the Jets on Sunday didn’t just put a “W” in the win column, it gave a man a home.
Well, to be completely accurate, it gave him the ability to actually sleep in his own home.
Jeff Lanham, a bar owner and Bengals fan, had been living on the roof of his bar in self-imposed exile for the last two months after swearing that he would remain there until the Bengals won a game. Given the Bengals exceptional futility this year, Lanham’s exodus to the roof proved to be a long one. However, thanks to the Bengals and another football testament to futility, the New York Jets, Lanham has rejoined society.
Come on down, Jeff Lanham!
The @WLWT app says chance of “wintry mix” tonight! https://t.co/uPOj2hfUmu— Kelly Rippin WLWT (@KellyRippin) December 1, 2019
“A man of his word, the 42-year-old Lanham camped out on the roof of the bar and lived in a 12-foot-by-10 tent, where he spent 23 hours a day for nearly the last two months. He was able to entertain himself with a TV and keep warm with a heater as he slept on a cot inside the tent. He apparently spent most of his days watching Netflix while wrapped in a sleeping bag, only leaving the roof to use the bathroom and shower inside the bar.
“He even held Thanksgiving dinner up on the roof, where he was joined by several family members including his wife and two adult children,” CBS Sports reports. But Thanksgiving, thanks to Andy Dalton and the Jets dysfunction, will be Lanham’s last major holiday on the roof.
“I’m so ready to come down; it’s miserable up here,” Lanham said in the week leading up to the team’s first win. “I did not plan on being up here this long. This definitely wasn’t no business move, I can tell you that. The only reason I’m even up here is to silence the haters’ mouths. I never want anyone to be able to say that I wasn’t a man of my word.”
This is not the first time a Cincinnati fan has put himself out, literally, due to a wager involving the Bengals.
As CBS Sports reports:
After the victory against the Jets, Lanham’s friends and family delivered a celebratory beer shower outside the bar as he finally made his way down from the roof for good. The time served counter officially stopped at 57 days, meaning Lanham fell just short of a mark set by another Bengals fan in a similar stunt. In 1991, Cincinnati radio personality Dennis “Wildman” Walker lived on a billboard for 61 days while waiting for the team to pick up their first win following an ill-advised wager.
However, Lanham is more than happy to let the “Wildman” have the record.
“I wasn’t set out to beat Wildman Walker’s record,” Lanham told Local 12. “He can have the title. I just said something I shouldn’t have said and I had to eat my words and own up to it.”
The Bengals are now 1-11.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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