It's not like I've been quiet on the whole T.J. Houshmandzadeh is acting kind of funny because he might be a clown angle. It's not that I think he's a mean spirited person, or even hateful. I'm sure, like most people when you interact with them personally with no cameras or hot latino women dancing, that Houshmandzadeh is a fine fellow. I'm adult enough to know when you can separate a persona from a celebrity to a person with character; often times, people don't see the latter.
And maybe that's the case with Houshmandzadeh. But I find some of the things he says to be a little disingenuous and beneath him. The quote that irked me for a long time was:
"It’s so different from Cincinnati, where I played for eight years. When you’d go out there, there were always people stopping you to take your picture or get your autograph. In Seattle, you can just go about your business. There are so many millionaires out there that they couldn’t care less who you are."
Still, to be fair, I wasn't absolutely sure if he was ripping Cincinnati, or simply, in a round about way, showing some elitist side to himself. Whatever. I prefer Cincinnati without the snobbish Thurston Howell III accent anyway. But it irked me. It irks me less now than it did then. It also made you wonder if Andy Fuhrman deserved to be fired. I mean, maybe he did for other things. But for ripping into Houshmandzadeh?
Geoff Hobson wrote on Tuesday that, "Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh admitted on Sirius radio this week that he wanted the Bengals to lose every game this season once he left via free agency back in March." One point honesty. Minus two points for being unable to let go of a team that does surprisingly better after you left.
“No, I’m not shocked. They have a lot of good players in Cincinnati. They’ve got players on that team that are really, really good,” he said on the air. “I am not shocked at all and I told somebody yesterday, you know what is weird when I left the Bengals, I wanted to stay, but I had to go. And there was something in me like, man I wanted them to lose every game.
“And it’s almost like you get a divorce from your wife. You really don’t want to be with her but you see her with another dude and you’re like, ahhhh. And it really doesn’t bother you, but it kind of does and then you finally get over it. So you know what? I want them to do well. Carson is my boy. Chad is my boy. I’ve got a lot of boys on that team and I want them to do well and I’m happy they are doing well. I really am. But, initially, I didn’t want them to do well and I don’t know why that was the case.”
Perhaps, you're a jerk? Or just trivial. Whatever. It doesn't even matter. Houshmandzadeh left. The Bengals are 4-1. That is all that matters.
Note: TennBengalfan wrote about this in the FanPost that deserves a look.