Kingofpain89 wrote:I feel very sorry for any Cincinnati Bengals fans:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8041490?MSNHPHMA

So if Chad Johnson doesnt get traded before the NFL draft and doesnt come to the June mini-camp and doesnt play for the Bengals, cant the team just sue his ass for breach of contract?  Dont pay the guy, dont trade him, just let him sit on his whiny, complaining ass for a year.

But I'm sure Jerry Jones will probably jump at the chance to add another worthless, self-absorbed, punk to the Cowboys' roster.  Although Terrell Owens doesnt seem to be as much of a troublemaker as he was in Philadelphia I still believe he will cause a major stink in the near future.  Tank Johnson is a disaster waiting to happen.  And God be with us if "Pacman" Jones ever becomes a Cowboy.  

#1, this team of worthless human beings known as the Bengals should have been broken up long before, about the time they were all in a revolving jail door.  Management's problem by letting such a group of criminals operate without trading them off or cutting them long ago.

So far TO has been a model player and is still one of the top five WRs in the league. From what's come out of Philly last year I'm about ready to believe McNabb might have been as much of the problem as TO was there. As for Pacman, I'd love to have the guy, he's one of the top cover corners in the league, and he's operating pretty much on his last strike...another "make it rain" episode and he'll probably never play football again.  Likewise Tank Johnson.

One good thing about the NFL (from an owner's perspective) is the lack of guaranteed contracts.  Guys like Tank or Pacman can be signed with very little risk....if they screw up, you cut them and take the bang against your salary cap, but you don't owe the punks a cent more than the signing bonus.  So the risk for signing guys like this is minimal, while the upside is tremendous.  Especially for guys operating with a very thin margin of error...even if they are too stupid to realize one more screw up will stop the gravy train, their agents are smart enough to pound into them that they are basically going to have to fall back on their "college degrees" (giggle) if they mess up again.  Seems to be a powerful motivator in most cases.

As for Chad Johnson, the only problem with him is that you get a very talented head case with a large salary figure.  Unlike Pacman, for example, Chad isn't on his last gasp and will command a high contract with a giant up front bonus.  I'd personally stay away from him and hope Terry Glenn comes back healthy, Crayton is a little better, and maybe you can pick up a good WR with one of your two first round picks.  Unfortunately there would not be enough balls to go around with both TO and Ocho out there, IMO, and someone's feelings would get hurt....

Mike B.

"...#1, this team of worthless human beings known as the Bengals should have been broken up long before, about the time they were all in a revolving jail door.  Management's problem by letting such a group of criminals operate without trading them off or cutting them long ago. "

Uhh...You do realize, Badmike, that you just described more than one Cowboy player with this statement.  And the reason Cowboy management didn't cut anybody is because the owner breaks all the rules himself.  

A Dallas fan complaining about scofflaw players?  You do recognize the irony, yes?  

Murder....and worse?  

What did they do...play for the eagles?

FormCritic wrote:Murder....and worse?  

What did they do...play for the eagles?

LOL!    

Another "What the hell's going on in our public schools?" story:

http://www.parentdish.com/2008/04/16/dad-calls-from-iraq-son-gets-suspended/

The short version is that a soldier deployed in Iraq called his son on his son's cellphone during class, and the school suspended the kid for two days because of the "cellphone ban" in place, despite apparantly the family having an arrangement with the school in case the soldier needed to call his kids....

Since this story ran, Fox news made a big deal about it, and supposedly the school officals ran like cockroaches from a light once the phone calls from angry service men and their families began pouring in and soon they rescinded the suspension.

School's continual use of blanket unpopular policies is just going to just make vouchers and private schools more and more popular, and this will just add to the eventual ruin of the public school system, which is in worse and worse shape every year it seems.

Mike B.

FormCritic wrote:Murder....and worse?  

What did they do...play for the eagles?

Man, that's a low blow there...which is perfectly legal for an Eagle's fan!

Hey, Bring on Santa...we didn't finish with the bum.

-Len

Sir Kill Alot wrote:
Agreed,  but there should always be exceptions....and this seems like a good one.

Actually, we got by just fine in schools without cell phones back in the day.  If there was a family emergency, the parents just called the school and the kid was escorted from class by a teacher to the principal's office where they could speak with their parent.  I cant think of a reason why they cant do this today.

Cell phones should be banned in schools.  And in movie theaters, post offices, restaurants, churches, etc.  Can you tell just how much I hate the damn things?  Probably has something to do with the dumbass who almost ran into me on the freeway yesterday because they were too damn busy talking to some other asshole on a cellphone to notice that I was passing them and decided to change lanes (into mine of course) at the last second.  And Blackberries?  Dont even get me started on those evil things.  

Kingofpain89 wrote:
Actually, we got by just fine in schools without cell phones back in the day.  If there was a family emergency, the parents just called the school and the kid was escorted from class by a teacher to the principal's office where they could speak with their parent.  I cant think of a reason why they cant do this today.

Well, people got along just fine without the internet for years and years...but now that it's around, why not use it?  Sounds like massive "Good Old Days" syndrome here  

Plus some schools may define family emergencys differently...honestly, I could give a flying crap whether or not the school administrators who I wouldn't trust to feed my dog think my emergency is serious enough to pull my kid out of class...or, in the case of a natural emergency or school shooting, don't even have time to answer the phone much less send someone to pull my kid out of class.  I know it's selfish, but if a tornado knocks down the school, or if there is a news flash that six kids have died in a school shooting where my kid goes to class, I want to know NOW if my kid is in trouble, not when the school gets around to a press release sometime in the next few hours.  

Honestly, cell phones are lifelines for single parent families.  I suspect most people against cellphones in school either don't have kids, don't have a single parent family, or send their kids to private school...

Cell phones should be banned in schools.  And in movie theaters, post offices, restaurants, churches, etc.  Can you tell just how much I hate the damn things?  Probably has something to do with the dumbass who almost ran into me on the freeway yesterday because they were too damn busy talking to some other asshole on a cellphone to notice that I was passing them and decided to change lanes (into mine of course) at the last second.  And Blackberries?  Dont even get me started on those evil things.  

Movie theaters, yes. Churches, yes. Post Offices, yes.  While driving, yes. Restaurants....hey, how is a phone conversation any more distracting than a couple with six kids allowing the little demons to scream and run around like maniacs while I'm trying to eat my burger?  Ban the parents who think management at the local Bennigans should also double as babysitters....

Mike B.

Badmike wrote:The problem is that school administration doesn't want the responsibilty to have to choose between Emergency A, B and C when it comes to who is allowed to have a cellphone in class. Too much thinking = Not enough time to eat lunch, surf the net, flirt with the staff, go on paid for district trips, etc. So it's an all or nothing policy sometimes; the same kinds of policies that cause expulsion with "zero tolerance weapons bans" including butter knives accidentally brought to school:

Mike B.

Agree with this 100%, public school administrators hide behind "zero tolerance" policies too often.  If they can't be trusted to make a reasonable judgement, they should not be entrusted with the education of our youth.  U.S. public schools are a pathetic joke, and our leadership in the world technologically and economically is on the wane because of it.