Chad's Return to the Bengals Brings Little Local Fanfare

Alright, so I admit it. Of all stories being produced before the team's first practice during this week's minicamp, the return of Chad Ochocinco will probably take top billing. From our local perspective, it's simply a matter of adapting. From an outside perspective, Chad's return is similar to Aragorn's acceptance that as Isildur's heir, he must take the throne of Gondor for the final battle for Middle Earth.

After missing every voluntary camp this offseason, capitalizing on his nature of being an entertainer in the reality television business (thanks to Hard Knocks, no doubt), Ochocinco finally returns to the Bengals. Carson Palmer's recent public comments that Chad needs to be here, oddly enough, took an unexpected direction with people questioning Carson's need to address this publicly. Though you and I both know the likely motivation behind it; to get Chad ready.

In truth, Chad's return holds little public interest within our elite circle of Bengals fans. How quickly will Chad pick up the added changes in in the team's passing game we've heard about? What will Chad's impact be with the likes of Jerome Simpson, who has filled in for Chad during his absence? Will he still get a good number of snaps? These are the questions we want to know.

Outside of our circle, the box that supposedly exists beyond the imagination of Bengals fans, is simply his return, as if he were on a crusade and his only way back was when he finally found the Holy Grail, or a talk with Jambie the Genie. James Walker wrote about it. USA Today's Sean Leahy did also. Nothing there, aside from Chad actually coming to practice. Now, if Chad had actually not shown up. Now that would have been a bombshell. The only bombshell that would have replaced the sudden loss of Touchdown Jesus Monday Night.