In the summer of 2004 I took in a training camp practice at Georgetown. It had nothing to do with Bengalstripes.com or anything like that, but I purposely sat next to Bengals President Mike Brown that afternoon.
I wanted to know what the most hated man in Cincinnati sports was really like. We traded a few looks, it was evident that I was in his space – but I was actually there for a job, so I occasionally pretended to focus elsewhere.
Throughout the afternoon, he didn’t say much and couldn’t seem to relax. His administration team of Browns and Blackburns propped their feet up and discussed their golf games among other things.
Mikey Boy didn’t perk up until the trainer paid him a visit.
“Kooistra’s injury doesn’t look good,” he told Brown.
“Who is Kooistra?” he said.
Fittingly, Kooistra stuck around for five and a half more seasons before being released this week to make run for the signing of fullback Fui Vakapuna.
However, the release of Kooistra is not what I wanted to bring up.
I wanted to know what people still thought of Mike Brown.
I know we are supposed to hate him and many still do. In fact, according to message boards, he is the No. 1 reason why people won’t attend this week’s game against Baltimore.
Why do you hate him so much?
Is it because, when you thought Chad Ochocinco (then Johnson) should be traded he didn’t budge?
Don’t look now, but Ochocinco, the same player that you threw his jersey away, is one of the leaders of this football team. Through seven games, he has 39 receptions for 573 yards and five touchdowns for the 5-2 first-place AFC North Cincinnati Bengals.
Are you mad that he kept Chris Henry?
Or that he cut Odell Thurman two weeks before he would be suspended for the entire season for failing another drug test?
Maybe you are mad that he didn’t keep Willie Anderson, Levi Jones or Rudi Johnson?
Where are they now?
Or that he signed Cedric Benson, who didn’t have a perfect past when he came to Cincinnati?
When you were calling for Marvin’s head, he didn’t budge. Now, Marvin has to be in consideration for this season’s NFL Coach of the Year Award.
On defense, all he did was draft two quality first-round cornerbacks, two USC stud linebackers and two good defensive tackles (and possibly more at defensive end). Furthermore, within the last year, he has signed starters Roy Williams, Chris Crocker, Tank Johnson and Dhani Jones – all players no one else wanted.
The complaints are that we need a general manager and that he is too cheap to make a quality move.
Most owners have GMs, but most owners made their money elsewhere and have other business ventures.
Could you honestly tell me that if you owned the Bengals that you wouldn’t want to be the GM. Maybe you should check your fantasy football team one more time.
Personally, I think he has done pretty well tuning us all out. I mean he is responsible for signing all that talent on defense and kept his faith in Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco, Chris Henry and Jeremi Johnson when you lost it.
Give the old man his credit when it is due.
He has done a great job of late.
Sure it took him awhile, but don’t use Mike Brown as an excuse not to attend a game at Paul Brown Stadium. Because on Sunday, when you are jumping up and down after the Bengals score a touchdown to win the game – Mike Brown, who might be a tad bit richer, is at heart a Bengals fan just like that also has no clue who the hell Scott Kooistra is.
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