T.O signs with the Bengals

[be47320]

sweetleaf so nervous...cant stop posting about it

[Sweetleaf22]

pretty slow, not much going on....


like your life,,,



heee heee

[upinya83]

ochocinco says TO is their #1 receiver

[The Nac]

Originally Posted by upinya83

ochocinco says TO is their #1 receiver

Team player right there. Put your futures down now, boys. Cincy wins the AFC! lol

[Triballife]

They'll finish ahead of the Steelers.

[ParrotHead]

I cant wait to see how well this duo does together. Its going to be interesting.

[Gfym_3kDeep]

Their 6th round pick (Briscoe) is a very close family friend. I love to see this for the chance for him to learn, but now I'm not sure he will make the team. I hope he playing instead of hogging all the potatoes at Thanksgiving again this year!

And i hope he learns more than how to sign his autograph and attract the press.

[Seanie Mac]

I really don't see how he's going to be all the effective, he's 36, that's like 52 in WR years. Guys at 36 just don't start regaining their numbers from 26. His numbers have fallen the last 4 years. If they put him at WR2 it's mostly as a decoy

He will again drop over 10 passes

[MertonRules]

Bengals to win the North? Or the Ravens?

[Sweetleaf22]

Or the Stains?

[Classic Rock]

yep,an old,loudmouth,headcase,washed up player

[Sweetleaf22]

Terrell Owens had 55 catches for 829 yards last season, he's going to be 37 years old, he's known for his dropped passes, he owns no Super Bowl rings, and he's blown up virtually every locker room he's ever been a part of. Yet for some reason, his addition to the Cincinnati Bengals' roster has been celebrated only slightly less than the arrival of LeBron James and Chris Bosh in Miami.


Fans with blinders on drool at the Bengals' receiving pool of Chad Ochocinco, Antonio Bryant, Matt Jones, Jordan Shipley, and Owens as a Madden game come to life. In reality, it should be looked at as one segment of arguably the league's most combustible locker room, as a quick glance at the roster would corroborate.


Troublemakers off the field (Pacman Jones, Matt Jones, Cedric Benson, Tank Johnson, Carlos Dunlap, Rey Maualuga), high-maintenance personalities on the field (Bryant, Owens, Ochocinco), and a coach in the final year of his contract (Marvin Lewis) add up to a recipe for disaster for a franchise that last won a playoff game in 1991. When the Pittsburgh Pirates have won a postseason contest more recently than you, that's a sign that your franchise has seen better days.


Thankfully (and I do mean thankfully), this hodgepodge of wayward football players resides in the AFC North, with their imminent self-destruction so close to our viewing area that you'll be able to feel it when it happens. Step One in this process came today, when Mr. Owens started off his Bengal Era by missing his flight to Cincinnati and Bengal physical this morning. The contract signing was scrapped, the introductory news conference was scrapped, all the Bengals' plans for the day were turned upside-down.

In the grand scheme of things, the missed flight is not a big deal. In fact, I'd say it was somewhat expected, for this attention addict to create a more dramatic entrance. But that's what the Bengals get with Terrell Owens. Another sideshow under a big top masquerading as a pro football team.


We should all heed Owens' advice and get our popcorn ready soon. Watching this team come apart at the seams is going to be must-see TV for this Steeler fan. Mondesis..

[magicbus]

Thanks for the Bengals update Sweet. More importanly How is Ben holding up ? Is he a tier level 2 or 3 ?

[Sweetleaf22]

I will let you know when I see him at camp tomaro,,,,,I think I may start a traing camp blog 4 you.....

[Sweetleaf22]

Maybe Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco will get along, maybe they won't. Maybe like the kindred spirits they say they are, they'll lead the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl -- or maybe, like the self-centered scorpions they really are, they'll stab each other in the back and leave behind a 6-10 husk of a 2010 season.

Maybe none of that is the point.

The point is, how can a fan of the Bengals be a fan of the Bengals? How do you still do it? How?

Go down the list of the biggest idiots in the NFL, criminal and non-criminal division. In recent years, that list would have to include Pacman Jones (now a Bengal), Tank Johnson (Bengal), Cedric Benson (Bengal) and Matt Jones (Bengal). That's the criminal division. The idiot list would also include Terrell Owens (now a Bengal), Chad Ochocinco (Bengal) and Antonio Bryant (Bengal). That's the non-criminal division. Biggest character risk in the 2010 NFL Draft? Probably Carlos Dunlap, the Florida defensive end who was arrested on DUI charges five days before the SEC title game. Who drafted him in April? You know who drafted him. The Bengals drafted him.

This, Cincinnati, is your team. These, Bengals fans, are your players.

What jersey do you wear to Paul Brown Stadium on Sundays? What player on this roster, by virtue of having his name and number on your back, will you say, This is me?


Probably. But only because they didn't re-sign misogynistic running back Larry Johnson, whom they picked up last season, and only because they recently released offensive lineman Jason Shirley, who was kicked off the team at Fresno State for DUI issues in November 2007, then drafted by the Bengals five months later.

The problem is the clown running this organization, Mike Brown, son of the legendary coach, owner and namesake of the Cleveland Browns. Mike Brown couldn't wear his father's jockstrap, so after years of turning the Bengals into the worst franchise in the NFL he has remade himself in the image of Al Davis. Just win, scummy.

Brown fancies himself a redeemer. He literally calls himself that, when the reality isn't nearly so rosy: He's not a redeemer; he's a tightwad. He can't, or won't, get top-dollar free agents -- so what he does is wait for them to hit the skids. He signs Terrell Owens when nobody else will. He adds Pacman Jones between arrests. He drafts first-round talent Carlos Dunlap on the cheap in Round 2.

Brown has been stingy for so long, he probably believes his own shtick -- that he's not an opportunist, but a "redeemer." So, fine. Let's go there, because second chances are fine and dandy. Me, I've come around on Michael Vick. Roger Goodell decided Vick deserved a second chance in the NFL, and that was enough for me. I wrote that last year, so don't tell me I'm incapable of forgiveness. I despised Michael Vick, but I forgave. Forgiveness is good.

But this much forgiveness? Mike Brown has turned so many cheeks, he's used up his face and moved on to his ass. Enjoy the view, Bengals fans. This is your team. It has been put together by an owner who honestly thinks he's smarter than everyone else despite ample evidence to the contrary. This is what he told the Cincinnati Enquirer about Terrell Owens:


Got that? Everything that happened in San Francisco and Philadelphia and Dallas, well, it didn't happen. Not the way we all thought it did. Terrell Owens isn't selfish or narcissistic or cancerous in a locker room. He's actually "a pleasant person." Mike Brown met him -- and Mike Brown does trust his eyes on this sort of thing.

Brown also trusted his eyes on Rey Maualuga, the Southern California linebacker who thought it would be a hoot to sneak up on a female reporter and pretend to have sex with her from behind. Childish prank, that. No big deal, Brown decided, when he drafted Maualuga 38th overall in 2009. How did Maualuga repay Brown? By starting 15 games as a rookie in 2009. And then getting arrested on DUI charges in January after driving into a parking meter and two parked cars near Cincinnati.

Brown also trusted his eyes on Cedric Benson, the running back who was released by the Bears after two alcohol-related arrests in 2008. Brown gave Benson a second chance, and Benson repaid Brown by running for 1,998 yards in 2008 and '09. And then getting arrested on assault charges stemming from a May incident when he was accused of punching a bar employee in Texas.

None of this is to say that Benson and Maualuga are horrible people, undeserving of their spots in the NFL. They've made mistakes, but not mistakes that cannot be forgiven. Same goes for Matt Jones, arrested with cocaine in his car. And Tank Johnson, arrested twice for firearm offenses. And Pacman Jones, I guess, despite his rap sheet. And Dunlap. And Frostee Rucker and Bernard Scott and Johnathan Joseph and, well, enough about those guys. Anyway, forgiveness also goes for the idiot brigade at wideout, guys who are fun to be around when the going is good, but heaven help everyone around them when the going gets rough -- Owens and Ochocinco and Antonio Bryant.

All of them are screwups in their own way, but all of them deserve a second chance. Or a third or fourth chance, in some cases.

But why are all of them getting that chance in Cincinnati?

And how can a Bengals fan be OK with it?