I'm sure everyone has been following the Agent-gate controversy regarding our rookie Right Tackle. For example, here is the view from Who Dey Revolution:

http://www.whodeyrevolution.com/whodeyrevolution/2009/05/priority-sports-rips-hippopotasmith.html

And I'll take Mike Florio seriously this time, considering that he's a lawyer and he's commenting about possible legal action from Priority Sports (the jilted lover in this sordid triangle):

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/05/24/priority-sports-mulling-action-against-keels/

So Alvin Keels does such a wonderful job for Andre that the guy falls from a possible No. 1 position in the entire 2009 draft. Andre then switches to Priority Sorts who salvage a messy situation nicely. Andre goes No.6, and it could have been a lot worse.

So what does Andre The Giant Boob do next? He fires Priority Sports after the draft and before a contract is worked out with his new team. Whether or not he returns to Keels (and provokes a lawsuit), this is a bad sign.

I'm wondering if his "big lovable lug" persona is just an act. Or maybe he's too naive and impressionable. Whatever. Just get ready for a long holdout.

I'm concerned the lack of an agent is going to drag contract negotiations into the season. The specter of Carson Palmer getting slammed into the turf twice per posession is not causing me to do a happy dance.

Yeah, let's hope Anthony Collins picks up the Right Tackle position quickly.

I hadn't seen Chick Ludwig's blog post earlier, which says Smith should "grow up." Amen to that:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/chickludwig/entries/2009/05/23/bengals_andre_smith_needs_to_g.html

I kinda think this was Andre's plan all along. Pretty slick.

"We do do, and we do it at a very, very high level," Lewis said.

Interesting point CIN-C. If that is true I'm wondering who thought up the plan for him. Certainly not the same guy who told him to run the 40 topless LOL. BUT, dragging out your negotiations into the season is a great way to make sure you don't have to do anything strenuous during training camp. Maybe he figures he's indespensible and can start WITH a big signing bonus and WITHOUT conditioning. It's the old (or new) Michael Strahan ploy to get out of training camp even if it costs him money.

Andre The Giant Con Artist?

No matter which agent he uses, the dude will be set for life with his rookie signing bonus. On net, his deception (if that's what it is) will likely lead to a net loss. If not money-wise, then career-wise. A good con artist, by the way, doesn't make it immediately obvious that you've been mislead. Now the entire league knows about his (possible) machinations.

And if this switcheroo wasn't deliberate, then he has another set of problems. A newly-rich, highly impressionable, immature man is of course a train wreck waiting to happen.

Now you know why I want Mike Vick as our backup. This dude doesn't sign and Carson will be running for his life. After his first body slam we can put the "Dawg Killa" in and he can run around and win a few games.

_____________________________________________
January 6,1991: The last post season victory for the Bengals.

The Bengals can't sign Vick. Our Katie would go nuclear!

C'mon psycho, they are all about second chances.

"C'mon psycho, they are all about second chances."


And third, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th,...........


And when are the Bungles going to learn who to take--and who not to take in the draft?!?!??!!??!?!?!?!??!?!? This guy already missed the 3 most important days in his football career (Pro Day, Indy Combine, and Bowl Game)--what makes you think this guy will ever show up?

BTW--how's the hold out(s) going? LMAO. If he plays one F'ing game this year, it's going to be a damned miracle.





"So he got fired? Big deal. It's happened to the best of us. So he got kicked out of his house by his 400 lb'ed wife?!?!? That's probably better for him anyways."-OldSchooler on ChrisMBHater's absence

Here's the good news OldSchooler, now that he's going to play with the Cincinnati Bengals, we can be assured he'll never have another game big enough to miss...

BMN

LMAO!!!!!!!!!! Very true.





"So he got fired? Big deal. It's happened to the best of us. So he got kicked out of his house by his 400 lb'ed wife?!?!? That's probably better for him anyways."-OldSchooler on ChrisMBHater's absence

It actually happened. Smith is back with Keels:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blog09&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3ac78cbe8a-2b47-436d-a33e-623f9b65de7cPost%3ab033f04c-696d-4baf-bbc4-29882f713870&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending&sid=sitelife.cincinnati.com

(Criminy, why do the Enquirer blog posts have such obnoxiously long URLs? That thing is a practically War and Peace. I don't want to use TinyURL every time. Or to embed the link.)

I don't give a rip about one agent getting stiffed. What matters is what this might say about Andre the Giant Embarrassment. It shows apparent...

- poor judgment in returning to an agent that almost ruined his draft stock

- deception and manipulation directed toward the entire league (as well as the second agent)

- brazen dishonor paraded in front of the entire world

- unwillingness to at least go through the motions and pretend to do things the "right way"

- inability to learn from his mistakes

- unwillingness or inability to listen to the right people

Yeah, this could all blow over and Andre The Giant False Alarm could go on to have a nice career. But the red flags suggest otherwise.

Sounds like a typical Bungle pick so far. Underachievement and busthood are just around the corner Andre! Welcome to Cincinnati.

"I think I will try to stick to conversations that don't involve politics." - murf, April 17 2009

Chick Ludwig divines the cut-down tea leaves and sees the Bengals expecting a long holdout. There are 81 players left on the roster, and only 80 can go to training camp:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/chickludwig/entries/2009/06/20/rookie_tb_bernard_scott_signs.html

Mike Florio builds on this with some material from CincyJungle.com. The history of No. 1 holdouts for the Bengals makes the case even stronger, and his final comment seems right on the money:

"Heck, given Smith's actions this year, there's a moderately good chance that he'll sit out the season, that he'll play for the UFL, and that he'll re-enter the draft in 2010."

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/real_scouts/entry/view/25772/bengals_anticipate_andre_smith_holdout?

Heck, I'm finally starting to forgive Florio for last year's crazy Brown-to-hire-GM rumor.

Great comment here -

"However, there is a pattern that cannot be ignored: Since 2001, they have had a notable holdout every year (except for 2003). Given that, I have conclude that these repetitive, consistent issues are germinated by the Bengals oganization, rather than the players."


So true. The Murfs of the world might want to blame the players, but the organziation is the only true common denominator in these 1st round signings.

"The American Cancer Society says uninsured patients are 60 percent more likely to die within five years of their diagnosis."

Chick Ludwig, Hal McCoy and Marty Brennaman. Three guys that tell it like they see it even if team owners get their panties bunched up from it.

Here we go. The clock started ticking on Friday afternoon.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090731/SPT02/908010369/1066/Bengals+draft+pick+holds+out+

If we only make one post per day during the holdout, this will be an extremely long thread. Who knows how long it will last, but if I had to take a guess... I say he's never going to sign with the Bengals.

"This guy already missed the 3 most important days in his football career (Pro Day, Indy Combine, and Bowl Game)--what makes you think this guy will ever show up?"-Me


You know what's even better, Psycho--is that Mikey's----errrrrrrr---Jeff Slobson is going to point the finger in the direction of the agent/player. AND the fact that Mikey's going to say this:

"We knew that OT was an area of concern--but the greedy player/agent couldn't let us sign him and get him into uniform before the season started."--paraphrasing Hobson/Brown


LMAO.






"So he got fired? Big deal. It's happened to the best of us. So he got kicked out of his house by his 400 lb'ed wife?!?!? That's probably better for him anyways."-OldSchooler on ChrisMBHater's absence

He'll sign. He wont be able to play for a year I think if he doesn't. And if that is actually the case, he'll lose more money than if he just takes what Mikehole gives him IMO.

I think if he doesnt sign, he goes back into the draft in 2010.

BB

"Falc, just because I respond, please dont take it to mean that I give a sh!t about you. I respond because you are the type of person that needs to be told what a whack job you are or else you will go on thinking your behavior is normal and accepted. "

On the one hand, we have Mike Brown, easily the most stubborn man in sports. Possibly the most stubborn man alive, period. On the other hand, we have a player and agent who have shown themselves to be colossal knuckleheads. Neither side is likely to budge any time soon, even though the holdout hurts everyone.

Anyway, the Bengals signed a rookie offensive tackle today, but not the one we're waiting for:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/chickludwig/entries/2009/08/03/bengals_sign_ot_augustus_parri.html#comment-298890503

Joe Reedy believes a long holdout is likely:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090809/SPT02/908090367/1066/Perfect+storm+for+holdout

And for his next insight, he'll describe how August tends to be hot. Thanks Joe...

"The longest holdout in Bengals history is Justin Smith, who missed 51 days before reporting in 2001. He was the No. 4 pick."

Huh? Why doesn't Ricky Hunley count? The guy never signed. The Bengals finally traded him to Denver around October 10th of that year (1984).

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=y2cPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tYYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2172,6562529&dq=ricky+hunley+trade

I don't know when camp opened that year, but it had to be prior to August 9. So even if you stop counting at the trade, it was longer than 51 days. And that's after getting picky about it.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=On4UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OwMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4443,7470526&dq=bengals+open+camp+1984