Bengals Serve as Halfway House for NFL

It takes a lot for me to be embarrassed reading a sports article. Usually when I do get embarrassed, I am embarrassed for another person. For example, when I heard Tiger's voice on the voicemail he left ti-girl #1, I was embarrassed for him. Or I get the occasional embarrassment of a Red's or Bengals shutout, which fades by the next game. But when I read this article on ESPN.com, I was legitimately embarrassed to call myself a Bengals fan.

The Bengals serve as a Halfway House for the NFL. Contrary to first impressions, this is NOT a good thing.

The quote that struck me, by Safety Chris Crocker, "In the past, we were like the Betty Ford clinic and just rehabbing guys. When you have your back up against the wall, you really have to [say] hey, this is your last stop. You're not going to get many more opportunities, if any."

You're not going to get any more opportunities after the Bengals. You know what I hear if I am your everyday NFL thug? I hear, "You can go out and f*ck off and get arrested, shoot people, get DUI's, beat women, sell drugs, etc. etc MULTIPLE times, and as long as I take about a year off and act remorseful, I will still be given another shot by an NFL team (the Bengals)."

I've worked for one employer my professional life, so I don't know how it works at other company's, but at mine you get one, MAYBE two chances depending on the severity of a crime. And once you get fired, you've got a fat chance in hell of finding an equivalent job anywhere. You'll be flipping burgers in no time.

The Bengals being the Redeem Team are NOT helping the NFL clean up it's act. They might be keeping Pacman Jones, Matt Jones, and many more off the streets for the time being, but in the end those men can't play football forever. It's up to them to make the conscious choice to be contributors to society, instead of another prison statistic. In the meantime, the Bengals are hurting a league with a commissioner who is trying desperately to make the NFL and it's players a better role model for children.



Greg