As Geoff Hobson's job becomes tougher by the day and the spin he puts on this season devolves into the absurd, I started to wonder why he does not just walk away from this gig. Surely a rational man, who cares about the integrity of his writing (he was once a journalist), would not voluntarily work at a job that forces him to prevaricate for a living. Why would he put his reputation on the line for the Bengals? It makes no sense.
As I was reading his mailbag today (first time in awhile I must say) it hit me: Baghdad Hob is signaling
to Bengals fans the moves of the franchise in order to prepare us for disaster. He is in on the joke. He knows how bad it is. His answers to the questions do not include a single thing he actually thinks about the situation. Rather, he is reporting the thought process of the (lack of) braintrust in charge. In this way, he is actually a true journalist, reporting behind enemy lines (but in really junior varsity way, so it's more like Behind Enemy Lines II, which I am shocked to find out exists), getting the real inside scoop and dishing it out. Perhaps this is not an original take but I think this is the best way to read his columns.
Take his response concerning our offensive line.
It may be disappointing that our once formidable line lies in shambles but it is not surprising to anyone who follows this team closely and understands football. So why would Hob be "surprised." Well, Hob is not, but guess who probably is? Mike Brown! I am sure he was and is still puzzling over why our line sucks even as he signed an aging Anderson over Steinbach, watched Ghiacuic slowly "undevelop" into the IHPM, and can't figure out why Levi falls apart right after signing a nice extension. At the end my guess is by "critics" Hob means himself. A donkey can see the O-line is the problem.
The rest of the article discusses how we might potentially reshuffle Whitworth over to right tackle to replace Andrews (who sanely has decided to never remain with the Bengals long term) and have Collins replace Jones at left tackle. The article of course makes no mention about how we should perhaps think about replacing our desperate tackle situation by drafting either of the two world class prospects Andre Smith or Michael Oher.
No instead the next question deals with how we might need to bring in Michael Crabtree, another receiver. Again, Hob does not believe any of this, he is just letting us know that the Bengals (mis)management school of thought is that drafting receivers, another corner and reshuffling our line is the way to fix our epically bad offense. More receivers? Apparently they are studying at the Matt Millen School for Terrible Draft Strategy. God help us all.
Anyway, Hob is not spinning, he is just writing the warped the view that comes from the top down. Keep fighting the good fight Hob, it is a valuable service.
If we draft another WR on the first day, I will vomit in my mouth. I'm hearing Beanie Wells seeing how mikey loves his Buckeyes, but Beanie will solve nothing behind this stupidly bad O-Line, & I see another poor FA period coming up too. Too bad they were too busy franchising Justin Smith when they could have kept Steinbach the same way...Thx Mikey!!!
Posted by: Deric | November 28, 2008 at 06:58 PM
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