| 30 June 2010
By far the most-surprising thing about the Cedric Benson news is that no one found out about it for a month. In this day and age, that is unheard of.
Benson was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges on Tuesday for punching a bar employee in Austin, Texas (where he played his college football for the Longhorns). The incident took place on May 30, yet not one word was leaked until Tuesday. That is amazing. High-profile (or even sometimes low-profile) athletes get pulled over for speeding and you're likely to read about it somewhere. So, for Benson to have punched a bar employee to the point the guy was spitting blood and for us to not find out about it for a month is mind-boggling in the year 2010.
As for the affect this will have on the Bengals this season, maybe I have a different perspective on this due to how I found out about the news - which I will get to in a moment - but I don't think this will turn out to be a big problem for Benson and/or the team. The only possible issue would be a one-game suspension handed down by the NFL for a repeat violation of the league's personal conduct policy (I can't imagine it would be more than one game) but hopefully Benson can avoid that. And even if that happens, put me in the camp that believes Bernard Scott could get the job done and then some if he needed to start.
The Bengals have stayed out of trouble for the most part since their highly-embarrassing stretch in 2006. There have been exceptions like Rey Maualuga's DUI arrest in January, but the team has turned around its image to some extent. The Benson news obviously won't help that situation though.
As for how I found out about Benson's arrest, trust me, usually people don't inform me of breaking Bengals news; it's the other way around. I am usually in front of a computer or watching sports most of the day. My real job entails covering sports, so I can get away with that kind of lifestyle. It's once in a blue moon that one of my fellow Bengal fan friends will inform me of news regarding the team.
However, I'm taking the week off of my real gig and took the family to the Columbus Zoo on Tuesday. Was away from the computer all day and had my phone off. When I got home, I had an email from a friend that just said, "Cedric Fuggin Benson" in the subject line and then just "Damn, that sucks about Benson" in the email (presuming I knew what he was talking about).
Well, immediately I assumed Benson tore an ACL or something and was out for the season. So, when I did a quick search and found out the real news, I was actually relieved. Like most things in life, it's all about perception, is it not?
So, we'll see how the case turns out and whether Roger Goodell will hand down a one-game suspension. However, given the fact that it's a misdemeanor offense and no one was seriously hurt (and we haven't even heard Benson's side of the story yet) I would venture to guess this won't be a big deal.
And did I mention that I would take this over a torn ACL? Or a ruptured Achilles? (Sorry, Willie Colon and Steeler fans. I was starting to think that injury only happened to Bengal players. Colon, Pittsburgh's starting right tackle, will miss the entire 2010 season.)
[UPDATE: Wow, there are several twists to this story. Now it sounds like Benson was actually the one that was assaulted first. A few women wanted to take pictures with Benson and a man came up and objected to Benson posing with the women. Benson said it was the women who requested him to pose with them for pictures and then the man punched him. Soon after, another man approached Benson and Benson thought it was a friend of the man who had punched him. So, Benson punched the guy in the face. However, it was actually a bar employee and not a friend of the man who originally punched Benson for taking a picture with the women. It will definitely be interesting to see how all of this plays out, but it doesn't seem like all that big of a deal from my vantage point.]
