Chad: I'm done celebrating TD's until the Bengals get back to .500

[GAC]

A lot of times it's out in front of the cameras and the whole world to see. What we don't see or hear about are any apologies that are made in private.

And the fact that it's in front of the cameras is why a player should use better discretion. It's funny - Chad wants the cameras to catch him when he's wearing his props or doing his celebration; but not when he's showing selfish behavior or having a verbal confrontaion with his QB, head coach, or other players, that some how should be overlooked or not discussed.

If you want to talk about disruptions, talk about the guys who keep getting arrested, not about someone who is an upstanding citizen who works hard on the field and in practice who always wants to get better.

The fact that CJ hasn't been arrested has nothing to do with the fact that his behavior, at times, hasn't been a disruption, or that he can be an egotistical and selfish player.

We can name an awful lot of players who act like jerks because of their "me" attitude, yet never have been arrested. And they are still jerks.

[MaineRed]

I never understood why everyone thinks someone getting arrested, especially a lesser player is some big "disruption". If someone I work with gets arrested on their free time, the last thing I am is disrupted.

I'm more disrupted when they are walking around during work telling me and the rest of the world how frigging great they are. I work with someone like that and I'd like to punch him, no matter how well he happens to do his job. And everyone else I know would like to punch him as well. If he got arrested, I wouldn't care.

[Screwball]

I never understood why everyone thinks someone getting arrested, especially a lesser player is some big "disruption". If someone I work with gets arrested on their free time, the last thing I am is disrupted.

I'm more disrupted when they are walking around during work telling me and the rest of the world how frigging great they are. I work with someone like that and I'd like to punch him, no matter how well he happens to do his job. And everyone else I know would like to punch him as well. If he got arrested, I wouldn't care.

I know what you're saying, but I think the disruption has more to do with the media scrutiny and pressures they face subsequent to the arrest, rather than the arrest itself.

[MaineRed]

I think all that is overblow once the game starts.

These guys aren't football robots. They have real lives, real pressures besides football. They don't need an idiot 3rd string WR to distract them. The media is going to have something to ask them. If it isn't the guy being arrested it is the fight Carson and Chad had on the sidelines or something else. The guy being arrested actually keeps guys like Chad Johnson from being the disruption.

When it comes to disruptions, Chad is a giant wine stain. A guy being arrested is like pouring grape juice on the stain to cover it up.

[Chip R]

I never understood why everyone thinks someone getting arrested, especially a lesser player is some big "disruption". If someone I work with gets arrested on their free time, the last thing I am is disrupted.

If they are getting suspended because of it then, yeah, it's a distraction.

[MaineRed]

I would call getting suspended, letting your team down or weakening your team but I wouldn't really call it a distraction. Chad and Carson don't spend 3 hours on Sunday thinking about Chris Henry.

Is it a distraction if the media brings it up? Yeah, to the media. It distracts them from asking about something else. It distracts them from Chad Johnson's antics. On the Bengals, guys like Chris Henry and Odell Thurman and Ickey Woods help Chad instead of distracting him.

If the Bengals didn't have guys getting arrested, Chad would be a much bigger "distraction".

[Screwball]

I don't think anybody's claiming Chad and Carson are sitting there on 3rd and 7 wondering about Chris Henry's record. However, if it negatively affects the team's preparation prior to Sunday or perhaps even begins to divide the locker room, then it becomes a distraction.

Perhaps all the arrests last year weren't a distraction. I wasn't in the locker room, I don't know. But to act as though it absolutely has no negative effect is being a little naive, IMHO.

[Yachtzee]

If they are getting suspended because of it then, yeah, it's a distraction.

Especially if it's a Thurman or a Henry, both of whom figured prominently in the team's game plan when they were suspended.

[MaineRed]

So you don't think Chad Johnson's behavior is capable of dividing the locker room?

I don't see how a suspenion on the surface is any different than a guy getting hurt. Neither is what I would call a distraction. If Carson Palmer got hurt to start the year, nobody would claim, "boy, this is going to be a tough distraction to overcome." And nobody would call it a distraction if Carson Palmer got caught with a trunk full of meth and got suspended for the season. Someone not playing isn't a distraction per se, it is just a loss.

[Screwball]

So you don't think Chad Johnson's behavior is capable of dividing the locker room?

Is it capable of dividing the locker room? I think so. Is it? Depends on whose quote you go by. Personally, I don't think it is but I have no way of knowing for sure one way or the other.

My point earlier in the thread is that this latest camera incident is not that big of a deal at this point in a lost season. I also believe that while Chad Johnson's occasional perceived attitude problems are an issue, it pales in comparison to the players and coaches on the defensive side of the ball.

Lastly, I think that the 10 arrests in such a short time last year really messed with the cohesiveness of the team. They seemed to lack focus in big moments, and lost games they really shouldn't have lost. I think a lack of focus was evident, and that was a direct result of dealing with distractions throughout the season.

[deltachi8]

I never understood why everyone thinks someone getting arrested, especially a lesser player is some big "disruption". If someone I work with gets arrested on their free time, the last thing I am is disrupted.

And how many reporters ask you about your co-worker who was arrested? How many stories in the papers, talk shows, blogs, smoke signals are produced about it?

When they are high profile players, as Chip pointed out - ones that are counted on in your game plan - you bet it is a distraction.

[MaineRed]

So the reports and the blog articles and all that go away when people don't get arrested?

Playing the "reporters are asking questions card" means that the Patriots are distracted by the spygate scandal and the questions about them running up the score and the undefeated record.

This is the big time, the questions, the pressures are going to be there no matter what. A guy on the Bengals getting arrested is just a big as a distraction to the media as it keeps them off the back of Chad. When things are calm on the legal front the talk is all about Chad.

I concede suspensions and the such hurt the team. I just question all this "distraction" talk. Teams are only distracted when they are losing.

[camisadelgolf]

So the reports and the blog articles and all that go away when people don't get arrested?

Playing the "reporters are asking questions card" means that the Patriots are distracted by the spygate scandal and the questions about them running up the score and the undefeated record.

This is the big time, the questions, the pressures are going to be there no matter what. A guy on the Bengals getting arrested is just a big as a distraction to the media as it keeps them off the back of Chad. When things are calm on the legal front the talk is all about Chad.

I concede suspensions and the such hurt the team. I just question all this "distraction" talk. Teams are only distracted when they are losing.

I agree with you to an extent. I don't think these things are nearly the distraction the media makes them out to be, but I do, on the other hand, think it is some distraction--just not enough to make the difference of six wins/losses or anything like that.

[TeamSelig]

Couldn't agree more. There are folks who want to have it both ways. They don't want to hear a bad word about guys like Chad but as you say feel it neccessary to jump on anyone who so much as blinks when they should be doing something else.

Everyone is an expert on all teams but when it comes to THEIR team only they are allowed to comment. I understand if some Cub fan was here bashing the Reds but this isn't BengalZone or Buckeye Zone.

I understand that, but some of you guys are really getting into it, and I'm just wondering what you want us (Johnson fans) to say?

[Redsfaithful]

That's a pretty ridiculous twisting of what I said.

Maybe I didn't say it well enough.

You tend to take up for your own people, even when you may not be happy with what they're doing.

Agree, disagree... whatever. But save that Hitler memorabilia drama.

I just think it's pretty ridiculous to compare people defending Chad to fans defending Marge back in the day. Of course people are homers, that's not exactly anything new, but defending someone who repeatedly made racist remarks just isn't the same as defending someone who celebrates after scoring touchdowns. It's a bizarre comparison.