Chris Henry on ESPN’s First Take…

Chris Henry was interviewed this morning on ESPN’s First Take where he discussed the upcoming season and his troubled past.

(The Interview)

Personally, I would just like to congratulate Chris on the strides he has made to become a better football player, teammate and more importantly, a better man. The title of this blog is “OneManCrimeWave,” after what one Hamilton County judge referred to Henry as after a string of run-ins with local police.

While I decided to name this blog after that, I would like to let people know that I am a Chris Henry fan. I was just as disappointed in Chris, as was the rest of the city of Cincinnati after his numerous run-in with the law.

While many people around the nation think Chris is a terrible person, many of us who follow the team closely know that he isn’t what people make him out to be. Sure, he has made some poor decisions, but I truly believe that he has learned from those mistakes and has moved on.

Henry is such a soft-spoken guy that it is really hard to believe at times that he can do some of the things he has been accused of doing.

It is also easy for us to forget that just because a person is accused of doing something doesn’t necessarily mean that they actually DID them. With this being said, please remember, he wasn’t always found guilty on all of the charges brought against him.

If you remember, charges were dropped after he was accused of smashing in a car window on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.

Anyway, I’ll hop off the soapbox for now—but I just wanted to say how much I enjoy watching Chris Henry play, and I am sincerely happy that Mike Brown decided to give him another shot with the Bengals, even though it certainly wasn’t a popular move to make.

In the end, Chris was always going to be given another shot—why wouldn’t we want that shot to be with the Bengals? We have taken so much heat from him in previous situations that it would be foolish to just let him walk to do what he is doing now with another team.

With Carson Palmer back, a recharged Chad Ochocinco, the additions of Coles, Tank Johnson, Roy Williams, all of our draft picks, and a new and improved Chris Henry 2009 is going to be a good year!

Who Dey!

Chad Ochocinco Reports to Paul Brown Stadium

Chad Ochocinco reported to Paul Brown Stadium yesterday in a surprise move. Last week, he reemerged into the media spotlight on the NFL Network and in a particularly interesting interview with Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.

In the article, Ochocinco explains his need for Cincinnati to be behind him this season.

“I need the fans to embrace me. I know people are mad at me. I read the message boards, but I’ve apologized 85 times,” Ochocinco said. “If they can embrace me, I can spread my wings and be myself. When they’re mad at me, I don’t know if I can be myself. I’m an emotional guy. I want them to know that I love them and I want to win.”

Later on, he explains his relationship with Carson Palmer using a strange analogy.

“I know people are trying to say we’re mad at each other and all that, but we’re good,” Ochocinco said. “We’re like Brokeback Mountain. I’m going to be with Carson so much in July that I’m going to be the nanny (for his new twins).”

It’s hardly the movie I would use to describe a relationship with another man in one of the most historically conservative cities in the Midwest, but funny nonetheless.

After making these comments on Monday, Ochocinco showed up for a physical at Paul Brown Stadium on Tuesday and participated in some of the organized team activities.

It’s refreshing to see Chad do a 180 on his approach to this season compared to last. This reversal comes after grinding the patience of his fans down to a pile of sand last season, and it’s becoming increasingly evident that Chad has some personality issues.

So, rather than signing him off as a crazy person, I am going to treat him like one of my insane ex-girlfriends and just deal with the craziness because I don’t feel like I can do any better. So keep the crazy on full-blast, Chad, because as long as you produce where when/where it counts, I won’t dump you. We are like Brokeback (No homo).

Chad Ochocinco Has Finally Worn Out His Welcome in Cincinnati

If you watched the NFL Network at all this past week, you probably saw the interview with Chad Ochocinco informing the world that he is embarrassed with his performance last season and that he expects to put up much better numbers this year.

Included in the interview was some video of Chad’s new training regiment this offseason—boxing.

If you’ve heard of someone else training in boxing to get ready for the season its because you have—T.J. Houshmandzadeh has been doing this for some time. However, like everything else Chad gets the credit.

Oh well, I hope T.J. has an amazing year with Seattle, which, considering the fact that the ‘hawks are in the weak NFC West, he probably will. Especially with the defenses they are assembling.

Regardless, I hope he wins himself a ring before his career is over.

I don’t know what to think when it comes to Chad, I really don’t.

At the end of the interview he shouted “Cincinnati…embrace me!!!”

While Chad may think this is easy for us to do, I simply can’t. The guy has publicly embarrassed this franchise.

Granted, Mike Brown doesn’t need any help to embarrass himself and the Bengals, but players can’t just spend weeks slamming an organization and it’s fans and expect everyone to embrace him like they once did. Ochocinco has become nothing more than a cancer in a locker room.

With all that, he said he’s played his cards, and now that the team is starting to look like the real deal he wants back in. Well, not that simple. Players have to work to be great, something 85 once did.

He has proven that he is only interested in being part of the problem, not part of the solution.

I think everyone is ready to move on, even Carson Palmer.

So—hopefully Chad’s boxing skills can prevent something like this from happening again!

NFL News and Notes

Andre Smith continues to find himself in the headlines and it isn’t because of a recent photo shoot with GQ. Yet again it has to do with the representation of the Bengals future right tackle.

Priority Sports, who Smith hired to represent him a couple weeks before the draft released a statement today regarding their former client.

“We were asked to come in at the last minute to provide credibility to his draft status and we succeeded in that task. Soon after the draft, Andre Smith became a tremendous distraction to our company.

“What we have subsequently determined is that Andre Smith does not match the culture of Priority Sports and the character of the clients we take so much pride in representing.”

The report per Profootballtalk.com is available here.

Andre Smith fired Alvin Keels and hired Priority Sports’ Rick Smith to bungee his free-falling draft stock before the draft and Smith accomplished that task. Now that he’s been drafted, Andre fired Smith to return to Keels who will likely be able to negotiate a better deal.

The bottom line? Andre Smith played Priority Sports and they are whining about it by slandering his name. Sports agents the slimiest part of the sports industry so it’s nice to see a player use them the way agents use players.

Kudos to Andre. Now that Alvin Keels is your agent you should probably use this video as a motivator before he sits down with Katie and Troy Blackburn to discuss the inevitable hold out.

Moving on.

Carson Palmer had a radio interview recently and said nothing that we haven’t already heard a thousand times. He’s optimistic about the team this season and is thrilled about his wide receiving corp.

“It’s definitely a new look for the Bengals receiver corps but I couldn’t be happier with the guys we’ve got,” Palmer said.

The interesting part, or at least interesting to the national media and fans who generally ignore anything Bengals related unless it pertains to Chad Ochocinco, is Carson’s little nugget on the only non-OTA-attending wide out:

“I haven’t talked to anybody that has talked to him (Ochocinco). He wasn’t here last year so I’m expecting him not to be here at all this year…T.J.’s gone and Chad’s pretty much gone, he hasn’t been here,” Palmer said.

Stop the presses. I suppose these comments could be construed into a suggestion that Chad won’t be back in town ever. But you have to keep in mind Palmer was trying to cover both the departure of TJ and the absence of Chad in one answer.

If Carson is trying to send a message to Chad about not being in camp then he probably is causing more harm than good considering OchoCinco’s comments last season when Carson chimed in on the situation.

“I wish he would stay out of my business,” Ochocinco said.

My take is the longer Chad stays out in LA the better. This team’s vocal leader has shown it’s willing to move on without him and the longer he’s out of the picture the more reps will be given to players who genuinely want to be with the Bengals.

The last bit of news is more of a rumor. But this rumor has 77 career sacks so it’s worth a thought.

The Cowboys are apparently shopping veteran outside linebacker Greg Ellis. The Bengals have been labeled as one of the potential trade partners.

Ellis played under Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer while he was in Dallas and is likely familiar with his scheme and coaching style. Ellis is 33 years old and would carry quite a cap hit if the Bengals chose to trade for him, $5 million to be exact.

If the Bengals are considering a trade, they shouldn’t. Despite being a more proven pass rusher than any player on the Bengals roster, Ellis is aging and his playing time has diminished over the last few seasons. He would likely only play a rotational role and for only a couple seasons more. Role players don’t get paid $5 million a year.

It would be dumb to trade anything for Ellis because it’s clear he will be leaving Dallas even without a trade. They drafted Anthony Spencer in the first round in 2007 and drafted two more pass rushers this April. The Cowboys also had a team meeting of the veteran players this week and their most tenured player, Ellis, wasn’t invited.

So, if the Bengals really did want Ellis they should wait for the Cowboys to realize no one will trade for a 34-year old role player and wait for the pink slip with a Dallas star on it to be delivered to Ellis’ mailbox. Then the Bengals could acquire their third ex-Cowboy of this offseason for a much lower price and there will be much rejoicing.

The Dumbest Man Alive

James Harrison. NFL defensive player of the year, Super Bowl hero, and dumbest man alive. But who needs a brain when you can do this?

Harrison had this to say about the Super Bowl Champion Steelers’ upcoming visit to the White House to meet President Obama:

“This is how I feel; if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don’t win the Super Bowl. As far as I’m concerned, he [Obama] would’ve invited Arizona if they had won.”

Suddenly Mike Tyson seems comparable to Stephen Hawking.

Somehow the timeless tradition of championship teams from every national sport visiting the White House has escaped Harrison not once, but twice.

He chose not to attend the teams visit after winning the Superbowl XL for presumably the same reason. This fact also clears any suspicion of political views determining his absence.

Perhaps unparalleled stupidity and not work ethic and sticktoitiveness is the real reason Harrison continued to pursue his dream of being an great NFL player despite being cut numerous times.

If that’s the case, he better hope his big pile of money masks a glaring lack of intelligence or is enough to afford a pocket copy of Idiot’s Guide to Life because this type of disconnected, willful ignorance will land him in a Madoff scheme or a bright orange jumpsuit.

But I have to thank James Harrison for providing me with the most entertaining nugget of stupidity since this little gem of a couple years ago.

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