The thought that he might be innocent did cross my mind—and that perhaps the Bengals moved to quickly. But, a few factors make me think the Bengals made the right decision.

First, I didn’t see any of the Bengals players rushing to Chris’s defense—which leads me to believe that Bengals players knew that his dismissal was just a matter of time. Secondly, Henry’s track record demonstrates that when you see smoke, there is fire. Thirdly, although Henry is talented receiver and certainly able of making exciting scoring plays, I was dismayed at his lack of improvement over his tenure. Part of it can be explained by his lack of playtime (which is his own fault) but aside from the streaks down the sideline, he never seemed to be in sync with Palmer, he wasn’t a good pattern runner, and wasn’t good in traffic.

Releasing him and starting fresh was the only decision.

Cutting Henry was probably overdue, so whether or not he’s guilty of this infraction is kind of moot at this point. Given his history, the club giving him second chances, and the hit what little national reputation the Bengals has taken over the last couple years, even that initial ticketing for driving with an expired tag/suspended license was probably enough for him to get axed.

55 is Ahmad Brooks’ number until such point as he is cut or makes a deal with Rivers to trade it. If he ends up suspended over his looming court date, then fine. Give the number to Keith but, as of right now, Brooks is the veteran here and Rivers the rook.

What will define this season, as it has every season since he took over the team, is Mike Brown’s palsied hand at the wheel and the glaring lack of a general manager. Then comes the things BeerRun pointed out, then whether Odell can both return to ‘05 form and keep his nose clean, then how far into this season our thoughts turn to whether our 2009 first round pick will be 1st or 2nd, how many compensatory picks there will be for Justin, Landon, and Madieu, and when Carson will finally up and say, “Fuck Mike Brown. I want to be traded!”. Then, in an odd twist of fate, the formerly disgraced but now rehabilitated, Hocho Cinco, will become Che Guevara to Carson’s Fidel, as we rise up to overthrow Mike Brown and institute community ownership of the Bengals. The Peter Max-style image of Ocho’s gold-toothed display is plastered on tee shirts, placards, and banners everywhere there are disgruntled football fans. Meanwhile, Ben “Humpty Dumpty” Roethlisberger has a great fall off of his souped up Segway and has to have his entire skull replaced with a Kevlar and carbon fiber dome emblazoned with the Steelers’ logo. The corpse of Paul Brown is exhumed and does guest appearances with Ken Broo on “Sports Rock”, before being laid out in state on the 50-yard line of the stadium that bears his name. Ken Broo finally admits he is actually David Caruso without make-up, as his Chuck Norris-esque acting ability has hinted at since early NYPD Blue.

Given his below average speed and his suspect hands and route-running, I can only guess that we signed Purify to bolster Mario Urrutia’s self-esteem. That, or we need a continuing representative in the city court system to keep our attention off the man behind the curtain in the owner’s box.

I think Keith Rivers should wear 57, like former Bengals great and all around good citizen, Reggie Williams. 55 was a tradition at USC, 57 passes for one here. Oh, crap, isn’t Dhani Jones 57. Maybe he’d give it up or, failing that, will go out and get himself arrested for riding his bicycle while reading or something.