Chad Johnson fully participated in drills on Saturday. He had only taken part in a few drills here and there Thursday and Friday, complaining that his ankle was injured.

As he left the field, all he would said was “Vote for Obama”. With all the bad publicity Johnson has gotten this offseason, I wonder how thrilled Obama is about the endorsement.

Marvin Lewis commented “I think it’s been good for him to get back into the flow of things. We still have to get some clarity on the ankle and being able to deal with that because it is something we dealt with a year ago.”

It’s good to see him in camp and participating. At least he’s not making as big of a distraction as I feared. But offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski had this to say: “He’s rusty. I told him he looked rusty. Nobody likes to hear that. He’s going against guys who have been out here for 14, 16 (voluntary) practices, you know. You’re going to look that way.”

With the 177th pick, the team selected safety Corey Lynch of Appalachian State. Lynch is a little over 6 feet and 204 pounds.

He should mainly help on special teams. Lynch blocked three kicks last season, including the one against Michigan that sealed the victory for Appalachian State.

There’s no real Bengals news today so I thought I’d talk a little about the Reds. They are 6-5 so far this season after losing 1-0 last night to the Pirates. Even though that record doesn’t seem great, there’s reason for hope.

Let’s start with the obvious; this team has some really good, young talent. Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez have both pitched well. Both are 1-0 and look like they’re not being allowed to go too deep into games which may be good for right now. Cueto has struck out 18 in 13.1 innings and Volquez has struck out 9 in 10.1 innings.

On offense, Jeff Keppinger is batting .310 with 2 home runs and Brandon Phillips is batting .311. Highly-touted prospect Joey Votto is off to a slow start hitting .238.

A big surprise has been Corey Patterson. I don’t think anyone was really sure what the Reds would get for him this season and he’s played well hitting .270 with 4 home runs.

Their division should be tough this year but they just might surprise everyone. I’m not sure if they’ll do enough to make the playoffs this year but if the younger guys improve, they shouldn’t be too far off.

Mark Curnutte of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will decide Odell Thurman’s fate for the upcoming season before training camp starts in July.

Thurman had already been granted permission to train at the Bengals’ facilities with the team. Goodell commented: “What we wanted to do was get him back in a structured environment. He’s in the program. He can make progress. If he can do that, we will make a decision prior to training camp.”

Thurman has managed to stay out of the news and being allowed to train is a good sign so let’s hope he stays on his best behavior and is on the field for the Bengals this season.

Opening night is tomorrow night here in Indianapolis. This should be a good season for several teams. Hopefully it’s an especially good one for the Bengals.

The team definitely has some talent but they’ll need some players to step up this year for it to be a successful season. The defense especially has to play better.

For the offense, if Tab Perry or someone else can step into that 3rd wide receiver spot, things should run fairly smoothly. They will need to take more shots downfield this year though. There were several games last year where the deep ball was just not a factor.

All in all, I’m excited and hopefully the Bengals can start the season off with a big win against the Ravens.

I’ve started a Franchise on Madden ‘08 with the Bengals. Two weeks into the season and I’m 2-0. If the real Bengals D starts off like my game, we’ll be in good shape. Ahmad Brooks had 3 ints the first week against Baltimore and added a 4th the next week against Cleveland. Joseph and Hall each have one for me. Joseph could have had at least one more but they seem to bounce off of his hands. Pretty realistic.

The offense has been playing very well but that’s no shocker. I left Kenny Irons in to see what he could do. He played well against the Ravens but just couldn’t break free against the Browns.

 The biggest difference between this version and past versions has been the game speed. Before, you could pretty much run at a player and dive and tackle them. Now, you can run at them and they’ll cut or speed away at the last second, making you look silly.

As I’m sure everyone knows, Madden 08 is being released today. There have been commercials all over the tv about it and I’m sure there are many offices missing employees today as some will stay home and try it out. I do plan to purchase it but I will wait until tonight or tomorrow to give it a go.

I’ve played Madden for several years now and there are always slight changes in the new version. This new version sounds like the best one yet. There is a new “weapons” option that will make players feel different than others at their position. Before, pretty much any player you threw out there felt like the rest.

The computer is smarter also. A QB won’t just stand there and take a sack; he’ll actually try to run if everyone is covered. And apparently, this version makes the passing game more difficult. It will be harder to throw the deep ball successfully now.

One other change is that you might actually fall down in bad weather now. Before, you might be playing in the snow or rain but your traction would still be great. Now, if you try to cut, you might fall down. That makes things more interesting when you’re chancing it on 4th down.

I’m looking forward to starting a season with the Bengals. For one, players don’t get into trouble so Chris Henry can play the whole season. I also want to see how many interceptions Leon Hall can get. But most of all, it’s fun to inflict punishment on the hated division rivals.

Feel free to give me your thoughts on the game if you play it. Maybe I’ll have an update a little later on some other new options in the game that I didn’t talk about already.

Epic Carnival has a funny article today about the Bengals signing Lindsay Lohan to a contract. Although it doesn’t really make the Bengals look good (they’ve done the damage to themselves), it’s still funny.

http://www.epiccarnival.com/2007/07/lohan-set-to-join-bengals-with-record.html

CINCINNATI - Following her arrest for driving under the influence and in possession of several grams of cocaine, Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis has offered refuge to troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan on his 53-person NFL roster, signing Lohan to a 7-year, $53 million deal.“Her ability to blow a 0.12 two weeks out of rehab shows some great potential,” said Bengals Director of Football Operations Jim Lippincott. “We’re taking a less conventional approach to scouting. After all our success turning high-profile athletes into criminals, we’re going to try to turn high-profile criminals into athletes. It makes sense on paper.”