SPORTS CULTURE

ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM

BY VINCE GUERRIERI

TOURNEY TIME

Cincinnati hosted its first Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) event in 1963, when Kenwood Country Club hosted the Women’s Open. The LPGA returns this fall with the Kroger Queen City Championship, also at Kenwood, from Sept. 5–11.

The Western & Southern Open has been a part of Cincinnati since 1899, when it started as the Cincinnati Open. It’s one of the oldest tournaments in America, second only to the U.S. Open. This year’s event will take place from Aug. 13–21 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

CINCINNATI CYCLONES REDS, CINCINNATI CYCLONES: TONY BAILEY/ FC CINCINNATI, CINCINNATI REDS: CINCINNATI SHAE COMBS, BECKHAM SUNDERLAND:

CINCINNATI BENGALS: GETTY IMAGES , LPGA: 2022

Founded by football visionary Paul Brown in 1968, the Cincinnati Bengals now play in a stadium named for him, not far from where their former home, Riverfront Stadium, stood. As this year’s defending AFC champions, the Bengals have brought with them the crazed environment known as “The Jungle” in their 1980s heyday.

Opening Day is festive in every major league city, but nobody does it up like the Reds, the oldest professional baseball team in America. Cincinnati turns out to celebrate at the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade, a tradition since 1920 (the year after the Reds won their first World Series). And whether the Reds are in town or not, the team’s Hall of Fame and Museum is open to the public year-round. Make it a doubleheader when you catch a Florence Y’alls game just a short drive away. The three-time Frontier League champions play at Y’alls Ballpark in Florence. A family-friendly atmosphere draws in fans from miles around with game-day activities including live entertainment and fireworks shows.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS

ON THE ICE

As the city’s only professional hockey team and member of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), the Cincinnati Cyclones have been tearing up the ice since 1990. October through April, fans bundle up and head to Heritage Bank Center, situated downtown along the banks of the Ohio River, to watch the Cyclones face off with other ECHL teams.

ON THE PITCH

FC Cincinnati (FCC) was founded in 2015 and officially joined Major League Soccer in 2019. One grand tradition of soccer teams around the world is fan chants, and from the far corners of TQL Stadium — the team’s West End socceronly facility, which opened in 2021 — calls ring out, proclaiming, “Win or lose, we’re forever orange and blue!”

FC Cincinnati Academy product Beckham Sunderland grew up with soccer. His father Larry is a seasoned MLS coach and FCC executive. His brother Lawson plays for Inter Miami CF. And Beckham’s a goalkeeper for FC Cincinnati, signed as a homegrown player in 2020.

Were you named for soccer player David Beckham? Yes, but I had to go

and mess it up and become a goalkeeper. Where are your favorite Cincy places to go? I like to walk around Findlay

Market or downtown. Over-the-Rhine is really nice, too. Whenever we have family come from out of town, we take them to the zoo. Cincinnati chili — yes or no? I enjoy a bowl here and there. I’ll sit down with a coney on occasion.