I respect Boomer Esiason simply because he was one of the greatest quarterbacks in franchise history. You not going to wreck that manly love based on something trivial, minor; especially when Boomer talks. No. It doesn't work that way. We're fans of players that took us somewhere. Heck, we're fans of players that didn't really take us anywhere but played their guts off while they were here, like Corey Dillon.

Still, Boomer's insatiable dislike for Chad Ochocinco is a bit tiring. Oddly enough, I can see where he's coming from. He has pride in his former team; wants them to do well, but doesn't like the new era of individualism with professional athletes. Who knows. In reality, who cares. But even that doesn't deter us from our respect of Boomer for his accomplishments in Cincinnati. He might be rough with the Bengals at times, but I'm pretty sure you have been just as rough.

Back in 2007 Boomer went into a mini-tirade after Chad cost the Bengals 15 yards on an unsportsmanlike penalty after a touchdown celebration while the Bengals were well on their way to a 35-6 beating of the Tennessee Titans in 2007.

I remember writing at the time (actually, I don't remember writing it at all... thank god for search engines!)

It's almost like the Cincinnati-pride that Boomer illuminates betrayed his sense of complete Bengals criticism. You must complain about something. That's the typical Cincinnati reaction with the Bengals no matter what they do.

Boomer even went on to say, that this will be all that's going to be talked about this week. I guess he figured he'd get a good start using nearly two full minutes explaining why other networks will be showing the celebration. But in Cincinnati, we're celebrating. Dan Marino, of all people, was the voice of reason. It didn't hurt them and Cincinnati's offense was as flawless as flawless gets. Even so, Boomer attacked Chad's celebration without mentioning a single positive with the win.

I love Boomer. I really do. But, shut up.

Boomer is back on Chad's ass. Ken Paxson wrote:

I happened to briefly tune-in to the Pro Bowl on radio Sunday night just as Esiason was talking about the Bengals and Ochocinco.

Boomer said that he’s “not a fan of Ochocinco” and that Chad is all about Chad — not the team. He went on to say how he believes Chad’s antics leading up to games each week — like trash-talking defensive backs — get other teams focused because they don’t want to be shown up.

He said the Bengals should part ways with Ochocinco now, but pointed out that head coach Marvin Lewis probably doesn’t have the authority to cut or even properly discipline Chad because of heavy handed owner Mike Brown.

I can understand where Boomer is coming from. It wasn't a year ago that our dislike for Chad was at an all-time high because he did make it about himself while demanding a trade. We called it the Chad Johnson Character Suicide Campaign. On the other hand, I think a lot of us found a new respect for Chad this year. It helped that he patched his image using Twitter, interacting with the fans and generally showing a very positive and kind person. Generally speaking, the issues fans had with Chad were nil. Maybe status quo with a struggling passing offense; but that's not what we're talking about here.

I have no doubt that Boomer does favor the Bengals, while not showing obvious favoritism in the media. But the Bengals passing offense was stagnant, stale and unimpressive. Hell, it was a liability. Dumping Chad doesn't help the Bengals; it further pushes us into this gray zone where we have to blame someone, so why not Carson Palmer and Bob Bratkowski when perhaps the more obvious solution is upgrading the talent around Palmer.