The Cincinnati Bengals signed Terrell Owens to a 1-year $2 million dollar deal this week.  I think Owens will be an asset to the Bengals receiving corps with his “homeboy” Chad Ochocinco on the other side.  Most fans and pundits will bemoan the signing of Owens, and the cries of how Owens is a cancer and will ruin the team chemistry will surely start.  Owens was correct when he said the media was one of the reasons he had not been signed by a team, all sportscasters have been saying on the radio is they don’t see how Owens will help a team.  They forgot the fact that he had no problems in Buffalo last year, and was a model citizen, and to top it off has never been in trouble off the field.

This article is not about Owens signing though; this is about the Bengals General Manager Mike Brown assembling probably the biggest group of misfits in the league.  I talked in a previous article about each team needing to have a certain element of “Bad boy” or flamboyant players on a team as a path to success.  There are a few teams who can make it without that element, but most teams need to have those fringe players who can cross the line anytime.  That is what makes these players good they play with confidence even bordering on cockiness that they will take risks to make plays that not many others will.

Maybe that is why the Bengals have taken the road less traveled and signed the NFL all trouble team over the past few seasons.  The Bengals have signed Adam “Pacman” Jones, Tank Johnson, Antonio Bryant, Cedric Benson, Matt Jones, Chris Henry, and Terrell Owens all of them had off the field issues with the exception of Owens.  Throw a unique and cocky Chad Ochocinco in there and you have a team of big personalities.  The haters have started commenting already, this will never work, these guys won’t function together, they are going to argue over catches and whatever other negative things they can come up with.

I like what the Bengals are doing here, they need to get over the hump and find a way to get past the Jets, Colts, Patriots, and Chargers in the AFC.  In the end it comes down to how many wins and losses you have, no one gives a crap about a team of good guys who never get in trouble when the team is 0 – 12.  Mike Brown is sending a message that he is trying to win this season, and adding a multiple time pro bowler like Owens is not a bad thing if you are trying to win games.

All the people doubting these moves are forgetting something, this is the NFL where the contracts are not guaranteed.  So if Johnson, Jones, or Owens become too much of a headache they can cut ties with them and not be forced to pay that player all that much in return.  There is a money side to this as well, you have two receivers on the same team who have reality T.V. shows, Pacman is known for “making it rain”, and Cedric Benson’s mugshots and police run-ins are legendary.  That all sounds like entertainment to me, and that is why people will buy tickets and tune in on television to watch the Bengals.    People want to see if that T.O. blow up comes, or if Pacman gets in trouble at another strip club, it is all for entertainment value.  When fans realize the NFL and other pro sports are entertainment businesses more than anything, then maybe they can see the hidden brilliance in these moves.

The Dallas Cowboys shocked the NFL by beating the New Orleans Saints 24 – 17 on Saturday night to break the Saints undefeated record.  It’s impressive because the Cowboys are are known for their December collapses dominated the game until the fourth quarter when New Orleans made a comeback attempt that fell just short.  Tony Romo has been playing well over the last three games, but this is the first one they have managed to actually win.  I wouldn’t say this game exposed the Saints they have been playing close games for a few weeks now, so it was a matter of time before they lost.  But the Cowboys are showing signs that they have some fight in them and want to overcome their demons of the past, they have the lowly Redskins and the finale with Philadelphia left on their schedule.  I think the Cowboys will make the post season, and could make some noise in the playoffs as all the teams in the NFC don’t seem to have a dominant edge over any other team.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the past few days, the news of Chris Henry’s passing has reached your ears at some point.  We will never know why he jumped in the back of the truck and how/why he jumped/fell out of the back of it.  But all I know is the death was senseless and totally avoidable, we all know that relationships don’t always go smoothly but when something like this leads to death it just makes you wonder what was going on in that house.  I know that Chris Henry had his share of problems, but in all cases the Fiance should have stopped the truck.  If she was fearful he was going to harm her all she had to do was drive off once he jumped out of the truck, or call the police while she was driving.  A guy standing on the back of a speeding truck is a recipe for disaster, and I know both of them were in the heat of the moment but wow the decision making was well lacking.  Now you have three children without a father, a fiance with no groom to marry, and virtually no finances left (he was broke although he was a pro football player).  It’s just a sad story that will more than likely get sadder as more details surface.

The Chicago Bulls are just plain horrible this season, it’s hard to fathom that this team was in the Eastern Conference playoffs last year giving the Boston Celtics all they could handle.  I guess losing Ben Gordon did make that much of a difference in how good this team was in the past.  This season they are 10 – 16 currently, Jarrett Jack of the Toronto Raptors stopped at mid-court to tie his shoe during play and no Bulls player attempted to steal the ball from him.  Last night the Bulls were beating the Sacramento Kings by 35 points with about 21 minutes left in the game and they ended up losing.  That just can’t happen, giving up a 20 point lead happens fairly often, but up 35 points in the second half and you lose that’s just unforgivable.  I am not sure if Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro will be around after this season, but something needs to be done to get the Bulls back on their winning ways.

The MLB hot stove has been busy over the past few weeks, the biggest shocker is Cliff Lee being traded from the Phillies to the Mariners.  With the Phillies acquiring Roy Halladay form Toronto I guess the prospect of paying huge salaries to two pitchers didn’t appeal to the Phillies.  Cliff Lee claims he wouldn’t have necessarily wanted to get a market level contract, but I think he would have wanted one.  I mean seriously if you can get near $20 mill a year why wouldn’t you do it?  Of course winning a title in Philadelphia was appealing, but beating the Yankees is going to be difficult with their typical acquisitions.  Juan Pierre moved from the Dodgers to the White Sox, and the Yankees acquired the services of Curtis Granderson.  These were nice blips on the radar screen for Baseball as they fight against the NFL and NBA to remain relevant.  There are still a few big names out there that are yet to be signed Matt Holliday and Jason Bay are unsigned as of yet, so things should be busy here in the next few weeks.

The College Bowl season has kicked off and there have been several exciting games actually, the double overtime game between Wyoming and Fresno State was actually entertaining.  I hear commentators of these games talk about how people who are against the “lesser” bowl games don’t get what they are all about.  I disagree with that statement, they really need to scale back some of these bowl games I have no desire to watch the Micron PC bowl.  I don’t have a clue who is playing in it, what channel it’s on, or even what day it’s going to be played.  I am a huge college football fan and I don’t even care that much to watch those games, teams are being rewarded for playing a little bit better than .500 football.  Then to top it off a lot of schools lose money on the bowl games even with the payout, I know it’s valuable exposure for the schools involved which in turn will help with enrollment.  But that is something difficult to measure in my honest opinion, and I know it’s a reward for the players which is the only good thing about them.  These games will be around as long as they can find a sponsor to put their name on the game, as that’s ultimately what it’s about gettig your business promoted.

Thanks for Reading!!