But I Thought The Cincinnati Bengals Were Turning Things Around?

"His conduct can no longer be tolerated. The Bengals tried for an extended period of time to support Chris and his potentially bright career. We had hoped to guide him toward an appropriate standard of personal responsibility that this community would support and that would allow him to play in the NFL...But those efforts end today, as we move on with what is best for our team."

Chris, in this statement made by Bengals owner Mike Brown, is troubled wide receiver Chris Henry, who was released earlier this off-season.

All is done with the Henry story now.  Nobody has resigned him, he will likely have to go somewhere and get a real job because his spoils from his short time in the NFL will soon be running out...right.

Well, actually, somebody did resign him.  Somebody did take a chance to give Henry another shot.  In fact, the team was the Cincinnati Bengals.

Apparently, Chad Johnson's shoulder injury and T.J Houshmandzadeh's hamstring injury were enough to help Brown have a change of heart.

I thought this couldn't get any better for my laughter of the day, then I read my new Sports Illustrated.

The Bengals got a full feature piece on what a great job they were doing at becoming an organization that cares about their image.

A great quote from the article comes as a caption under a picture of Henry.

"Though he had 17 career TD receptions, Henry wore out his welcome with his off-field troubles."

I guess that he will get a chance to be welcomed all over again, as yet another franchise makes a seemingly impossible move for the wrong.

Luckily, however, the reason that Henry was re-signed was explained to us about a month ago, as Brown made his usual press conference at the start of training camp.

"I guess the world is divided up between redeemers and non-redeemers," Brown said at the time. "I happen to be a redeemer. I think people can be made better and right. If that's a fault, so be it."

So at least we know that Brown isn't a "non-redeemer." (I can use a double-negative if one is in a quote...right?)

I think it is a fault, but at least I got a good little laugh for the day.  I hope you enjoy this whole situation as much as I do.

I'm Joe W.

Joe also writes for Hoops4Life.com, a basketball fan's site.