When former Bengals center Eric Ghiaciuc speaks, do you listen? He might have more insight on the Bengals than any of us, but you also can't disregard that lingering thought that a player whom wasn't re-signed, could feel disrespected -- that's how players think today. However, while Ghiaciuc struggled against the big nose tackles in the AFC North, being a chatty Kathy about the lockerroom during his tenure in Cincinnati doesn't seem to suit his character.
For the most part, he held true to that, talking about the obvious distraction that Chad Johnson brings to the lockerroom.
Center Eric Ghiaciuc comes to the Chiefs after four seasons in Cincinnati. In recent seasons life with the Bengals has sometimes been a reality show, with player problems off the field and personalities like Chad Ochocinco Johnson dominating the attention and headlines.
“As much as you try to focus on football with your day-to-day routine of meetings, lifting, walkthroughs, practices, games, you can focus but it’s still there,” Ghiaciuc said of the distractions. “It’s like when you turn your head, it’s still behind you. I think we were doing our best to focus on what needed to be focused on in our profession, but it was there and it was a bit of a problem.”
I can't say I'm too surprised. We knew that the arrests in 2006, the drama-Chad-queen in 2008, all led to a multitude of questions and attention that had nothing to do with the game. The irony here though is that this summer seems to be the quietest summer for the Bengals in a while. So far.