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| Willie Anderson was a leader, a fan favorite, a professional and one of CincyJungle's favorite all-time players. |
Finally, a former player chimes in about the team's front office problems, in a clear-minded, un disgruntled bitterness tacky trivial whining. No. This is Willie Anderson, former God of the Cincinnati Bengals who's deeply respected in the lockerroom and highly favored among fans and media. Asked about the team's front office, he simply said "People in the organization continue to mislead him (Mike Brown) about players." Assessment on himself, included.
In all honesty, this makes sense, doesn't surprise, and vindicates Brown to some degree; in his mind, not ours. I hold the belief that Brown knows business, unable to drop an ego that prevents the team from hiring a football-minded executive to care for the team's personnel decisions; a task last held by his father, and football legend, Paul Brown. He relies on others, such as Pete Brown.
I won't dig into this like beating Barbaro into submission, I'll leave that to sites like WDR (who announced their fourth task, their best one). Based on the history of similar boycotts, frustrations, alumni feedback, and the lack of pride of desiring exponentially greater success, nothing will change.
"I was mad at Mr. (Mike) Brown when he made the decision, for about the first month," Anderson said Tuesday in a phone interview from Baltimore. "I was in a hotel and trying to find a place to live. My teammates welcomed me, but it was one of the toughest things I've done. It was difficult for me to start over."
Hindsight is always 20/20, but in my honest opinion, jaded by favoritism, letting Anderson go was a mistake.