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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

Screenshot from local news story on Bengals fan Jeff Lanham sleeping on roof

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

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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.