Tuesday morning links and notes

Are Bengals fans that moonlight as Buckeyes fans seriously that upset that Carson Palmer ripped anything Buckeyes? I've been a Buckeyes fan probably longer than a Bengals fan, and personally, I couldn't give a rats-ass about what ANYONE says about the Buckeyes. They're damned good, playing the best football in college football (though they've lost a couple of championship games, no one is on that type of streak). Do I have a problem when a player defends his alma-mata by talking trash about their biggest opponent in the upcoming season? Hell, no. We do it all the damned time. For a lot of people that complain about athletes being so privileged, when those athletes actually do something that we do all the time, they go nuts. I have no problem with anyone being loyal to their team -- after all, we as Bengals fans are the most loyal of the bunch, knowing the crap we go through.

One blogger said he found it "convenient that Palmer chose to spout off on an LA radio show". Well, he does live in Southern California, so yea, convenience is key here -- contrary to popular belief, Cincinnati is only his home during football season, but not what he calls "home".

Chad Johnson is recovering slowly and won't be "nowhere close to 100%". We've always suspected that most of Chad's off-season character-suicide campaign was due to an overbearing puppet master named, Oil Slick. When Oil Slick left town, Chad slowly came back to the team. Perhaps he's just saying the right things, who knows. He seems on-board though and that's all we could ask for after that off-season. We've never argued what Chad said regarding the team; in fact, most of what he said sung the same tune that a majority of Bengals fans sing. It was how he said it that made Bengals fans more defensive than supportive. Lesson learned, we move on.

Training camp battle between Rudi Johnson and Kenny Watson? I doubt it. Much of Watson's success last season was due to the fact that he actually performed while the other running backs where injured. In comparison to his team-mates, he was fantastic. In comparison to the NFL, he had a decent season, but doubtful that he takes over for a healthy Rudi.

Talks between the Bengals and Andrew Whitworth's agent continue.