Cincinnati Criminals

So, how pathetic are the Cincinnati Bengals? They are this pathetic:

They just resigned Chris Henry. He’s the punk criminal they reluctantly cut in April because the team was leading the league in thuggery. Facing major criticism, the Bengals felt they had to make some gesture to show they had standards after all.

They did — sort of, maybe. For 3½ months.

Even on the Bengals, Henry’s lawbreaking stood out. A judge called him a “one-man crime wave.”

Overall, the Bengals had 10 players arrested in a 14-month span from April 2006 to June 2007. (“Criminal Chris” was certainly included.)

The team’s namby-pamby coach, Marvin Lewis, was painfully unable to enforce any kind of discipline. The Bengals became a league joke.

Henry was trouble as soon as the Bengals drafted him (third round, 2005). He was arrested four times between December 2005 and June 2006 — possession of marijuana in Kentucky, carrying a concealed weapon in Florida, drunken driving in Ohio and giving alcohol to minors in Kentucky.

He was suspended by the league for two games in 2006 and the first eight games of last season.

Finally, after his fifth arrest in April, the Bengals cut him. He was accused then of punching an 18-year-old college student in the face and breaking his car window with a beer bottle.

When it happened, team owner Mike Brown said, “His conduct can no longer be tolerated.”

Well, after the Bengals had some other receivers injured, apparently it can be tolerated.

Jeez, this is lame.