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Chick Ludwig covers the Cincinnati Bengals. He also writes about his other passions: college football, basketball and golf.Home > Blogs > Chick Ludwig At Large > Archives > 2009 > May > 08 > Entry
Bengals: More character than characters
MARVIN IS OPENING THE WINDOWS,
LETTING THE FRESH AIR BLOW IN
AS LOCKER ROOM SHOWS CHANGE
No matter what the Cincinnati Bengals do, no matter how hard they try, it never seems to be enough to satisfy the critics.
They have a great draft, and the Sporting News’ Russ Lande scalds ‘em with a “C” grade for picking offensive tackle Andre Smith No. 6 overall.
They sign Chris Crocker, Roy Williams, Tank Johnson and Laveranues Coles in free agency, and NFL insiders scoff that the vets are washed up.
They draft “Sting” Rey Maualuga in the second round — No. 38 overall — and the anti-Stripes declare he’s just a two-down player.
The negativity stems from the fact the Bengals have been to the playoffs once in 18 years, and that 10 players were arrested in a total of 15 incidents from December 2005 to June 2007.
A friend from Zanesville called and said the Bengals should be bussed to Georgetown, Ky., in orange jump suits with ankle braces and chains.
The rash of arrests remain fresh in a lot of minds. It’s sad how perception becomes reality.
If the Bengals indeed become the next franchise featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series — the club is in discussion with HBO and NFL Films on the project — NFL fans will see the real truth:
The team has more character than characters.
Contact Chick Ludwig at (937) 225-2253 or cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Bengals
Comments
By Robert Y
May 8, 2009 8:38 AM | Link to this
Chick while you make valid points about where the negativity comes from I feel you left one major reason off the table. Mikey telling the fans the team would no longer mess w/ character issues in the future and then 3 weeks later bringing back C Henry. It showed w/o a doubt that putting a championship contending team w/ high character on the field is not a priority. Obviously a lesson he did not learn from his father. If Mikey wants to be a redeemer let him work at the Boys Club. Now granted to date C Henry has proven his crtitcs wrong, and hopefully proves us wrong for years to come. Yet consider the price paid; unhappy fans, a head coach over ruled and players left to wonder what to believe. Add it all up and you have a large group of Nabobs of Negativity. It is up to Mikey and the team to prove us wrong. Past history is not on their side.By TechGuy
May 8, 2009 8:48 AM | Link to this
A quick check of ProFootballTalk.com’s “Turd Watch Standings” shows you are absolutely right, chick. 49’ers lead all teams with 12 arrests. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and even Indy — the NFL’s posterboys of “clean” — all double the Bengals. This proves two things: 1) just how ridiculous the Bengals looked for the label to stick this long, and 2) just how superficial and stereotyping the East Coast sports media is.By cincy anon
May 8, 2009 8:52 AM | Link to this
I know it’s early and hope springs eternal for a fan but what’s really going on with the Bengals? Did Mike Brown have a stroke or something? The moves they are making and the draft seem much more than just a blind squirrel finding a nut. It seems hard to believe the guy who’s been planning and drafting so terribly all these years all of a sudden changed his philosophy or got football smarter. Did Brown allow his coaches more input than usual this year? Did Katie ask Marvin to lead the rebuilding project? I think they’re doing a fantastic job this off season but it doesn’t look anything like what they have done since Mike Brown took over for his dad.By Bob
May 8, 2009 9:33 AM | Link to this
Hey Turdguy, you need to go back and reread how the Turdwatch works, they assign points, it’s not for arrests. Typical delusional Bunghole fan, You kids keep blowing hard about that smurfy draft, can’t wait until Smith eats his way out of the NFL….By TouchdownTroy
May 8, 2009 10:37 AM | Link to this
They have had a great offseason if they start wining games all this talk will go away.By your mom
May 8, 2009 11:01 AM | Link to this
wow, “Bunghole fan”, that’s original.By your mom
May 8, 2009 11:03 AM | Link to this
wow, “Bunghole fan”, that’s original.By BnOPanther
May 8, 2009 11:11 AM | Link to this
I never knew Andre Smith had a weight problem. Keep in mind everyone this is the year the private suites are up after 10 years. I don’t care why the Bengals are doing what they are doing. Just keep doing it and good things are going to happen.By JohnBoy
May 8, 2009 11:14 AM | Link to this
This joke of a franchise continues to say one thing and do another. You can’t build character by signing and drafting convicts! What’s even funnier is that Bungle fans think anyone else cares! Start by trading Ocho Stinko and build from there. This is the team the NFL should move to Los Angeles!By VoHo
May 8, 2009 11:37 AM | Link to this
Chick – It’s weird. They say perception becomes reality but, in the case of the NFL, it seems like what the national media deems reality becomes reality. Despite the national media’s continued portrayal of the Bengals as “criminals”, here’s what is actually happening out there: “Since the NFL cracked down on player misconduct in April 2007, no team has had more incidents than Jacksonville. Thirteen Jaguars have been arrested or received major citations in the past two years. After Jacksonville, the team with the most incidents was the Denver Broncos, who had nine, followed by the New York Giants with seven, including five since June and the Miami Dolphins.” ( Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer, Apr 13, 2009). You can see that the publication date is prior to the draft, yet throughout the draft, many talking heads continued to slap the “most criminal team” label on the Bengals. Where were those labels for Jacksonville, Denver, Miami and the Giants? And don’t forget our AFC North partners: the Browns with Leigh Bodden, Kenny Wright and Donte Stallworth or the Steelers with Richard Seigler , James Harrison and Cedrick Wilson… all since September 2007. (source: http://blackathlete.net/artman2/publish/TheSportingLife44/Misconductisstillbigissuein_NFL.shtml)By Hey Bobaknob
May 8, 2009 3:02 PM | Link to this
Hey Bob-a-knob! The Turd Watch assigns points based on ARRESTS, you moron! Maybe if you went past the 7th grade, you could have figured that out you steamy stool stain!By TechGuy
May 8, 2009 3:33 PM | Link to this
Bob, I’m sorry to confuse you by leaving out the word “points”. I’m sure you are doing the best you can as a Browns fan, and I was careless to not make it PAINFULLY obvious for you. I was only pointing out that fans like you see things like they want to see them, not as they actually are. Thanks for reinforcing my point for me.By Bob
May 8, 2009 9:15 PM | Link to this
Hey Renob twins, Renob #1 read the original post you tard, what you said is exactly the point I was trying to make, focus, ask your kids to help with any difficult words. Renob #2 better known as “Techguy” you as well need to read your original post, I know your delusional but read what your wrote, gee the 49er’s had twelve people arrested since the start of 2009. I bet that would be news to them. Hell you’re so dense that you blame the east coast sports media, the east coast sports media doesn’t even know that Cincinnati and the State of Ohio even exsist. Just another case of front running Bunghole Fandom, Stick to the “Tech” stuff………By psychostats
May 9, 2009 1:58 AM | Link to this
There’s much more to the negativity than what has been mentioned. How bad have the Bungles been these past 18 years? Spectacularly bad. Eye-wateringly bad. Hide-your-head-in-shame bad. Here, let’s try to scratch the surface. From 1991 to 2002, the club never had a legitimate playoff run, typically being out of the hunt by Week 5. It’s rare for a modern NFL team to win 4-or-fewer games for two consecutive years, but the Bungles managed that ignoble feat three times. That’s more than any other team since 1991, and it happened in the first 10 years. There were offseasons when Mike Brown not only refused to fire coaches with worst-in-class units, but he would go the extra mile and extend their contracts! (Talk about thumbing your nose at the fans.) Marvin Lewis came along and started to turn things around, but the success was short lived. After that single solitary playoff year in 2005, the team went straight down hill — right back to the dark days of the 1990’s. No wonder the critics are so hard to satisfy. And no wonder there are so dang many of them.By TouchdownTroy
May 9, 2009 2:15 PM | Link to this
To the dumb fan called mom. If you don’t like the Bengals than please keep your comments to your self your talking alot of trash. Just shut upand let the real Bengal Fans talk. You sure not my mom you fool.