Bengals Fan Comes Back Inside After Spending 57 Days on Roof Waiting for First Win

In Monday’s Hot Clicks: One man who’s especially happy the Bengals won, one woman who got carried away celebrating Auburn’s win and more.

Thank god for the Jets

Fox 19 Now

An Indiana man can thank Adam Gase and the Jets for allowing him to return to civilization after spending 57 days living on the roof of the restaurant he owns. 

Way back in Week 4, after the Bengals got pasted by the Steelers, 27–3, Milan, Ind., resident Jeff Lanham said he’d be living on the roof of the Hog Rock Cafe if Cincinnati didn’t beat the Cardinals the following week and he’d stay there until his team won its first game. The Bengals were sunk by a Zane Gonzalez field goal with two seconds left and Lanham made his way to the roof.

Lanham didn’t just sleep there, either. He was up there nearly 24/7, watching TV and munching on snacks in his (comparatively) luxurious tent. Wait staff from the restaurant would bring him his meals and his wife would come by to pick up the laundry. He showered and used the bathroom on the second floor of the restaurant, but otherwise he spent every minute of every day out on the roof. He even hosted Thanksgiving dinner up there.

“You just get bored as hell up here watching TV and Netflix, but there’s literally nothing else for you to really do now that it’s like 20 degrees,” Lanham, a Bengals season ticket holder told the Washington Post. “I just turn my heater on, strip down to my boxers and lay in my sleeping bag for most of the day.”

But the Bengals beat the Jets, 22–6, on Sunday and now Lanham can return to the indoors.

“Just glad it’s over, really,” Lanham told Cincinnati’s Fox 19. “I was stuck. I thought I was gonna be up there all season.”

Had the Bengals completed the imperfect 0–16 season, Lanham’s plan was to come back indoors for the offseason and head right back up to the roof for the season opener next year. Thankfully, he won’t have to do that. He can watch from the comfort of his own home as the Bengals close out perhaps their worst season 

The view from inside the hedges

The entertainment didn’t stop after Auburn upset Alabama in the Iron Bowl on Saturday night. Fans attempting to rush the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium learned the hard way just how difficult it is to traverse the hedges that ring the sidelines. 

Thanks to the wonders of social media, we even have a first-person view from inside the shrubbery. 

The best of SI

Alabama’s Iron Bowl loss to Auburn looks like it marked the end of the Tide’s longstanding dominance. ... Sure, Lamar Jackson is great, but can we give it up for his offensive line? ... Heat big man Bam Adebayo is hitting his stride in his third season. 

Around the sports world

Michigan State’s Josh Butler, who lost both his parents while in college, walked out for Senior Day with his two dogs. ... Steelers players were all mad about Browns coach Freddie Kitchens wearing a “Pittsburgh Started It” shirt. ... LSU is giving away slabs of turf from its football field for free. ... I wonder if the Jaguars are starting to regret signing Nick Foles to a four-year deal with over $50 million guaranteed after he got benched for Gardner Minshew. 

Another crazy Lamar Jackson juke

Tom Brady is just a little slower

Who can read lips?

Wait, what?

The Texans got tricky, too

The Packers knocked the logo right off Daniel Jones’s helmet

Hell of a throw from Drew Lock too

One of the best catches of the year

FOURTH AND ELEVEN

MIKE WILLIAMS SAVES THE DRIVE 😳 @darealmike_dub pic.twitter.com/JK9qJSZH5T

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 2, 2019

Uhhhhhh

Really hope the Steelers had this association in mind with the Free Pouncey shirts pic.twitter.com/nryLqV1gIv

— Mike Tunison (@xmasape) December 1, 2019

It’s not raining teddy bears—that’s a deluge

Every year the Hersey Bears do a Teddy Bear Toss for local charities.

This year they collected a record 45,650 toys that were tossed onto the ice during tonight's game 🧸

(via @TheHersheyBears)pic.twitter.com/GEwBXRPWC0

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 2, 2019

Just an absurd goal

This goal from @zachgally 🤯@SanJoseSharks prospect with a slick blend of strength, skill and sticktoitiveness to score a goal of the year candidate and put @PetesOHLhockey ahead in Erie. pic.twitter.com/xJnzJ5McMm

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) December 1, 2019

James Harden dropped 60 points in just 31 minutes

Not sports

The first photos of the PlayStation 5 have leaked. ... A Michigan man pulled a WWI-era German hand grenade out of a river with a magnet. ... Police in Indiana are looking for a man with “crime pays” tattooed on his forehead. ... Two women got in a fight at a New Jersey grocery store after an argument over whether one of them had too many items for the express checkout. 

“Sorry, but it’s biting”

TV reporter pursued relentlessly by a pig during live broadcast pic.twitter.com/UYf6Q5MZ8F

— The Independent (@Independent) November 27, 2019

I hate this commercial that you see 10 times per football game

This guy made a mashed potato Tesla on Thanksgiving

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.