Not here to say "I told you so"

by BigBlueShoe on Jun 9, 2008 7:09 PM CDT Comment 24 comments

No, I'm not writing here to say I told you so, Bears fans. Though, I would be right to do so. Almost two years ago, I wrote this about then 2nd-year RB Cedric Benson:

Jerry Angelo, if you have any brain cells in that lump above your shoulders, you will cut Cedric Benson right now. He's not liked in his locker room. He complains about having to compete and share carries with Thomas Jones (who is so obviously better than him it's not even funny). Such behavior has no place in an NFL locker room. If such behavior is tolerated, the team will lose. That simple.

Cut him.

Needless to say, Bears fans (including my blogfather, WCG) were none to happy about me saying Chicago should part ways with the ~~3rd~~ 4th overall draft pick in the 2005 season. But, with Benson, the writing was on the wall. Now, two years after my suggestion, the Bears have finally taken my advice. After costing them the Super Bowl with his second quarter fumble, averaging 3.8 a carry for his career, pissing off just about everyone in the locker room, running Thomas Jones out of town, and getting involved in not one but two off field incidents that embarrass the team and fans of Chicago, the Bears finally cut Cedric Benson.

No, I'm not here to gloat. I'm not here to say I'm smarter than you. I'm not here to do that. I'm here to give you Bears fans a warning, some words of wisdom. Trust me. This is coming from someone who lived through Jeff George, Eric Dickerson, and a host of talented but me-first butt heads who choked the life out of my favorite team. These words come from experience, and they are as follows:

If you ever have a player on your team that complains openly about having to compete for their job, cut them immediately.

Seriously, I'm not kidding. You learn so much about a player's character by his willingness to compete. If he complains, whines, bitches, moans, insults, or belittles having to earn his starting job (or any job for that matter), I don't care if he can fly, has heat visions, or can blow monkeys out of his butt.

Cut. Him. ASAP.

Guys like Jeff George, Eric Dickerson, Ryan Leaf, and Dante Culpepper all, at one time or another, complained about having to earn their money. It doesn't matter how much talent or skill a player has. If he doesn't enjoy competing, get him off your team now! Demand the GM remove him from the facility. Mail him his things. Fumigate his locker.

Trust me, Bears fan. Matt Forte will make you forget Cedric Benson very quickly. Forte, unlike Benson, loves to compete. He loves to play hard and earn his keep. We Colts fans very much wanted him to fall to us, but (wisely) Jerry Angelo took him. Forte, combined with "the other" Adrian Peterson will be a BIG improvement.

And if ever the Bears bring in any player, regardless of his stature or his 40 time, who complains about having to compete for his job, take my advice. Demand the GM cut him immediately.

Sports both builds and exposes character, but it cannot instill a competitive drive. Benson didn't have that, and no player on your team should be without it.

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While

everyone else was heaping praise on Benson 2 years ago and calling him the best RB in the league you were saying he was no good. Nice call.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jun 9, 2008 8:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I find it ironic

that you say ” Not here to say I told you so” when you spend a whole fanpost explaining why you were right.

I am like your Dan Aykroyd and biglow would be Jane, the ignorant slut. -Chad

by thecoolest on Jun 9, 2008 9:27 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

and showing us a wcg post

where noone really says anything good about him anyway.

by mike b on Jun 9, 2008 9:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Um, can you read?

Seriously, can you? Most of the post is a warning, advice based on having to sit through numerous seasons in Indianapolis watching Cedric Benson-like players kill my team’s spirit. Yes, I was right. but i was not alone. Many objective fans saw that Benson was garbage, and that Jerry Angelo made a colossal mistake drafting him.

But that’s not the point.

The point is you Bears fans now had better start holding your players and your GM accountable, because right now your team is simply not very good. You don’t bust the #4 overall pick and simply “bounce back” from that. The point is if you see a player act like Benson again, DEMAND he get cut.

Chicago fans have a reputation for supporting crappy teams, negating an owner’s motivation to actually make the team better. This is why the friggin’ Cubs have sucked for over 100 years, and why the Bears have done next to nothing in the salary cap era.

Just a thought.

SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.

by BigBlueShoe on Jun 10, 2008 9:09 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can read

And the first half of the post really DOES come off as I told you so.

If you’d cut from:

"No, I'm not writing here to say I told you so, Bears fans. Though, I would be right to do so. "

straight to:

“This is coming from someone who lived through Jeff George, Eric Dickerson, and a host of talented but me-first butt heads who choked the life out of my favorite team. These words come from experience, and they are as follows:”

Your message would’ve come through a lot clearer. Instead you spend the first three paragraphs railing on how you haven’t liked Cedric Benson for the past several years.

That said, I agree with the second half of the post. You have no idea how much I was laughing during the Super Bowl when I saw Randy taking plays off again.

by Robert Rence on Jun 10, 2008 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, come on

I have to toot my horn a little bit. But I wasn’t here saying “HAHA! You suck! told you Benson was garbage! By the way, the Colts own you!”

SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.

by BigBlueShoe on Jun 10, 2008 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tooting your own horn is fine...

But you laid on the horn like you were behind a midget geriatric in traffic.

Looking forward to week two. Should be a good test.

by Robert Rence on Jun 10, 2008 11:33 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dear Captain Obvious

A LOT of Bears fans thought Benson was a bad pick when it was made. Most fans thought Benson was a bad pick after he held out. Just about every Bears fan knew Benson was a bad pick after the first year or two.

So your post was basically bragging that you saw two years ago the same thing that every Bears fan also saw. That’s like bragging that you just knew Peyton Manning was going to be a good QB after he made the pro bowl his third season.

If you want us to be impressed, brag that you knew Hester was going to be a historically good return man before he was drafted. But don’t brag that you knew Benson was going to be a bust. EVERYONE knew that, but they didn’t write a 5 paragraph fanpost bragging about it.

DEJESUS!!!

by tomas21 on Jun 10, 2008 7:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

well

but i did know peyton would be good.

but i won’t say i told you so or anything.

by mike b on Jun 10, 2008 7:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't bring the Cubs into this. That's a whole other story.

I am like your Dan Aykroyd and biglow would be Jane, the ignorant slut. -Chad

by thecoolest on Jun 10, 2008 11:23 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

oh and

the chargers botched the #1 overall pick and seem to have bounced back just fine.

by lopey986 on Jun 10, 2008 12:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Bounced back?"

You call it “bounced back,” I call it “it took the better part of a DECADE to recover.”

by hartley on Jun 10, 2008 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

meh

the chargers were also in much worse shape than the bears when they had the #1 pick. we mostly suffered from inconsistency and injuries which led to us having the #4 pick, the chargers were just a bad team.

i hardly think missing on benson is going to absolutely destroy this franchise and send it into oblivion as some seem to feel it will.

by lopey986 on Jun 11, 2008 7:46 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also

This is how much the Bears, as a team, HATED Benson:

NFL reporter extraordinaire Jay Glazer went on the Dan Patrick show this morning and offered up an insane depiction: Benson was so disliked, the defense tried to injure him in practice. "One year, they tried to hurt [Benson] to make sure that Thomas Jones was going to be the starter. That’s how bad it was … they went after him."
Glazer later added he heard this from about 10 Bears.

SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.

by BigBlueShoe on Jun 10, 2008 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

that was also widely reported when it happened,

its nothing new.

by mike b on Jun 10, 2008 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And yet

Jerry Angelo still traded Thomas Jones away instead of Benson.

That, alone, should get Angelo fired.

SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.

by BigBlueShoe on Jun 10, 2008 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is a cautionary tale

NO ROOKIE should ever hold-out. There is already animosity among the veterans at the contracts the young players are signing. Did you hear any of the comments about the Ryan deal? By holding out, it just amplifies the problem. Players will get their money, that’s a given. What they really need to be focusing on is building their profile with their teammates, as well as the media. Doing that, gives you some slack to work with in tough times.

by Santos Sorrow on Jun 10, 2008 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

haha

you should receive a demotion from blogger to espn analyst since all they do at espn is talk about how right they are all the time and don’t mention the 9 out of 10 times they are wrong. thumbs up big guy!

by lopey986 on Jun 10, 2008 12:15 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

This thread reminds me of this scene

from Talladega Nights:

Larry Dennit, Jr. (Greg Germann): “Early word out of NASCAR is your little obscene gesture’s gonna cost you 100 points. Do you know how much that costs us in sponsorship dollars?”
Ricky: “Well, with all due respect, Mr. Dennit, I had no idea you’d gotten experimental surgery to have your balls removed.”
Larry Dennit, Jr: “What did you—What did you say? What was that?”
Ricky: “Well, what? I said ‘With all due respect.’”
Larry Dennit, Jr: “That doesn’t mean you get to say whatever you want to say to me.”
Ricky: “I sure as heck does.”
Larry Dennit, Jr: “No, no, it doesn’t mean that.”
Ricky: “It’s in the Geneva Convention. Look it up.”

by Santos Sorrow on Jun 10, 2008 6:48 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

4th

Overall pick.

by Subotai on Jun 10, 2008 7:37 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Great post overall ...

Two comments:
1. Garrett Wolfe is the answer … bahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha!
2. If a dude can shoot monkeys out his butt, he’s a starter. No competition. Give him whatever $$ he wants. I want that dude starting on my team. Monkeys out of his butt!

by smithie love on Jun 10, 2008 3:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

It's about time they run the most expensive bum out of Chicago!!!!!!

Benson is yet another example, why I hate the College experts. They overhype too many players, who do absolutely as pros, too many go under the radar late in the draft and end up being stars . Glad he’s gone, now we know why he ran so crappy. It’s hard to run with a handover, at times stumble along, couldn’t hold onto the ball well and ran into his own O-Linemen.
Now I think, Jerry Angelo should be fired over drafting Benson, add in holding out rookie year, issues with teammates and you expect more for a 1st Round, 4th over all. Then he trades Thomas Jones to gamble on Cedric and add in he knew all the problems with him. Jerry just quit, because your close to hearing, YOUR FIRED>

by Monsterofthemidway on Jun 12, 2008 3:25 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs