Let's talk NFL (2008 edition)
 

The season is still off a ways, but the stars won't let that stop them from making news. Our latest story is "Ocho Cinco" himself, Chad Johnson

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss

The popular theme seems to be that most people want to hate Chad Johnson for this, along with his on field antics.

I will be taking a different view on the subject.

I have listened to a ton of Chad Johnson interviews over the last year. He has made it clear he is unhappy, however, he still refuses to go into detail about why he is upset. I have gleaned a few things from his interviews though that have made me feel sympathy for Chad Johnson.

1) He is a pretty sharp guy, and I am pretty sure if he wanted to take the low road, he would have told us by now exactly what the Bengals are doing to him to upset him. As it is, he is being very vague. This means he is either being forced by the Bengals to keep a lid on this (which makes little sense because why would he do what they say when he is rebelling against them) or more likely, he just wants to keep the dirty laundry of the details out of it.

2) The Bengals have a well paid PR team that is good at spinning news to the media. They aren't about to admit there is a chance they have done something to Chad Johnson to deserve this.

3) He has played for the Bengals for years, he has clearly had fun doing it and loves making a show for the fans. It would take something pretty extreme to make him say he wasn't going to play if the Bengals don't trade him. That makes me think something was done to him that is not being made public.

So I for one won't be piling on Ocho Cinco. I really believe we aren't getting all the story, and I don't trust the Bengals in this at all. Some info is clearly missing in this.

No argument from me. The "Source" in Philly (Sports Talk Radio WIP) has been spouting rumors for the past few months that Chad Johnson was being actively pursued (behind closed doors, naturally) by the Eagles, and the response from most of the fans (including me) has been positive.

(Note that the quality of said rumors being spread by individuals with names such as "Damaging Doug" and "Arson Arnie" may not be entirely accurate (read "totally fabricated") but in my opinion, it makes for entertaining radio during drive-time.)

Considering our relatively recent experience with Terrell Owens, you might think the rank and file would be hesitant to embrace a wide receiver with a bit of a "history" but I think the prevailing opinion is that he is more serious about being a football TEAM member, and less of a sideshow act. And no one who moves in football cicles would gainsay the fact that the Eagles need an upgrade at the position. Kevin Curtis is serviceable, and Reggie Brown is adequate, but they could use a game-breaker - CJ fits this requirement nicely.

Anyway, I always look forward to draft day. Plenty of strange things are usually happening right around this time, amd maybe this is when CJ gets moved.

I have a little theory that I came up with that involves Chad not asking for a trade because his precious ego can't bear to have the Bengals fans hate and loathe him. Doubtful that this is the case but a young man can dream, can't he?

Also, the Vikings are in talks with the Chiefs for franchised sack machine Jerad Allen.

So who likes minicamp NFL riots?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

It warms my Browns loving/Ravens hating heart to see this :)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3395829

Being from Pennsylvania, and a rabid Eagles fan, I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but here goes:

SHUT UP ALREADY ARLEN!!!

No fucking kidding. This guy openly admits to being biased and frankly it's getting fucking tiring. Get over it ya old bastard, the Eagles lost. No one was taping the Rams walk through and Goodell says the case is done with. Sounds like one hell of a whiny prick if you ask me. And for the sake of this rant i'm going to pretend that you did ask me.

Wow, I missed this story.

Like we don't waste enough taxpayer money on other fivolous crap. No federal laws that I know of were broken during "Spygate", so why do we need to waste taxpayer money on this? This would be like a senate investigation into a McDonald's employee being fired because he was rude to a customer. What's next? Are we going to do a senate investigation on the ending of the Sopranos finale?

I love this by the way

What, the Patriots record wasn't already tainted when they lost the Super Bowl?!?