Gregg Doyel Wants Us All To Look At Him

Look, I'm not someone who will have a #85 C. Johnson or Ochocinco jersey anytime soon, but the hatchet job by Gregg Doyel was ridiculous.  As former Cincinnati Post writer and 1530Homer blogger C. Trent Rosecrans often preaches...don't ask a question that makes you the story.  That's exactly what Doyel was doing, making himself the story.

Think about it this way.  In the new Call of Duty, there's a scene where you are infiltrating a terrorist cell, and as a result you have to shoot up an airport full of innocent people.  In my opinion, this level was more about drawing attention to the game than actually being relevant to the plot.  LOOK AT US!!  WE CAN BE CONTROVERSIAL!! 

Same applies here for Doyel.  Trust me, I'm not saying Chad is the best team player of all-time.  His act is wearing extremely thin with me and I'm sure with other players on the team.  But, in contrast to '05, the 2009 Bengals finally have the maturity and the locker room presence to basically ignore all of Chad's faults and just benefit from his positives. 

Doyel is right that Chad's behavior is (at times) childish...but it's not like that is something new.  Chad plays it off as being ultra-competitive, I call it acting like a spoiled child.  This has been going on his entire tenure in Cincinnati. 

One thing that has changed sine 2005 is that Chad knows that even when his stat line are zero's across the board, if the Bengals keep winning, he stays relevant.  So even though internally he's frustrated about not dancing across the endzone, he's now smart enough to realize that a winning Bengals team means the playoffs.  And playoffs could mean the Super Bowl...and that keeps Chad on your TV, in your newspapers, and on the Internet machine deep into the winter months.

I'm not Chad's biggest fan, but Doyel was out of line this time.

Comments

[Leo deTrotskyo]

"His act is wearing extremely thin with me and I'm sure with OTHER players on the team." (emphasis mine)

Jason, either A) you are on the current roster and as such have supplanted ThemeCreator as my WDR Hero, or B) you're not on the roster and you're taking this pseudonym thing way too seriously. ;)

[Joemama]

Mr. Doyel, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul...Gregg Doyel does not rule. Actually he is a big heaping bag of douche

[vince]

gregg doyel is the absolute worst, most unprofessional sports "journalist" of all time. he is all shock value and I appreciate WDR pointing this out.... but the solution is to just pretend he and his articles don't exist. don't read them. don't talk about them. ignore him and he'll go away because the only thing he can do is write idiotic controversial drivel.

[Carl]

Nice pic, Doyle....What an ass-grabbing douche

[Mockenrue]

Vince has it right. The fact that you are talking about Gregg Doyel only ensures Gregg Doyel's continued employment. CBS might even promote him, raising his salary and awarding him another "G" on the end of his first name thanks to all the buzz he's creating. If you want him gone, spread the word to never click on his stories. If he stops getting hits, he stops being relevant.

[CurseofBoJackson]

Doyel is a grade 'A' ass clown, Carl beat me to the punch, but just take a look ta his pic! When he did the show with Mo on 1360 few years back (for the record I liked it but it's apparent now that Mo carried it), he was all "MMA... MMA" He wants to be a super cool MMA guy. Lame

[BMN]

It's actually not the *worst* article I've read. While it's easy to criticize from the outside, every author needs as many subjects for copy as possible. With the Bengals upcoming schedule, the best subjects of conversation are Larry Johnson, the possibility of "trap games" and.....well, in Doyel's mind, this.

But the way Doyel inserted himself into the article was a bit "pot calling kettle black" ("Chad shouldn't be so self-centered! Oh, and let's get back to *me* and how *I* revealed this attitude in Chad......"). It also revealed that he wanted to bait Chad into saying something that would make good copy for him and Chad wisely rejected it.

Chad still has a lot of that "look at me" attitude, no doubt. But I think there's a grand difference between some sideline pouting and punching a coach in the locker room. As long as the team shows that it's operating in a winning fashion, I think Chad will be a big part of the ride.

[Wyatt]

Plus, he wrote another one today dredging up B Scott's past, and while it was somewhat complimentary, it was definitely "damning with faint praise" as the old saying goes. Basically a hatchet job on B Scott's character with the "well, it's not who he is anymore" in an attempt to go "See? I don't hate the Bengals, even though I tried to get Chad 8-5 to pull a TO." This guy is a huge douche.

[guttersnake]

My response to Mr. Doyel via email -

"As a military officer, I hate guys like you - goading journalists. Self said, you knew what you were going to write before you started your interview. In this case, there is no correct answer. Either Chad agrees and you win, or Chad disagrees and you see malice. I understand the technique of writing what you see, but perceptions, while most commonly accepted as truth, are not always such. Real journalists get into the story rather than simply perceiving it. Then they report upon something that the average member of his readership would not normally be able to experience.

We all see Chad’s sideline sideshow. Tell us something we don’t know… there is more to Chad then what you see. A lot more."

[Broken Hippo]

Doyle is a douche fag. I would like to kick him in the face.