This guy is hilarious!!..."I may be crazy but Im not supid"
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/bengals/2008-06-03-chad-johnson_N.htmChad Johnson might report to the Cincinnati Bengals in time for the mandatory minicamp next week.
In a story he wrote as guest editor of the edition of ESPN the Magazine that hits newsstands Wednesday, Johnson said he will return to the Bengals.
"Am I coming back? Of course I am. I told my coaches I'm going to California to act, but the truth is I may come back to the Bengals as early as June," Johnson writes. "I may be crazy but I'm not stupid."
Johnson could be fined $8,000 maximum by the Bengals if he were to miss the mandatory minicamp, according to the league's collective bargaining agreement. Minicamp is June 12-14.
The club then could fine him up to $14,288 a day for missing training camp, according to NFL figures. Bengal training camp will start Sunday, July 27, when players have to report to Georgetown College near Lexington, Ky. The first two practices will be July 28.
Johnson, a five-time Pro Bowl player in seven seasons with the Bengals, has been at odds with the organization since the end of the 2007 regular season. He has demanded a trade and at one point said he would not report to the team under any circumstances.
He has four years remaining on a contract extension he signed in April 2006, and the Bengals have said if Johnson wants to play in the NFL that he will have to honor his contract and play in Cincinnati. In fact, the week before the draft, the Bengals turned down a trade offer from Washington in which the Redskins were offering their first-round pick in the 2008 draft and a conditional third-round pick in 2009 that could escalate to a first-round selection.
In seven seasons with the Bengals, Johnson has had just one winning season and one playoff appearance – in 2005.
He has said he is frustrated with the losing climate.
"If we want to be like Indy and New England, we have to pay for difference-makers on defense," Johnson writes for ESPN the Magazine. "Our offense is fine. But if they're fussing about paying me, a guy among the league's best, you know damn well the Bengals aren't (going to) give the defense what it needs. So I just said, 'If we aren't (going to) do what we need to do to win, can I please leave?' It's simple. I just told (them): 'If y'all won't change then I have to.'"
Johnson is clearly unhappy with the Bengals. He set a single-season franchise record in 2007 with 1,440 receiving yards and has been one of the NFL's most productive receivers since 2003.
"Management told me I had a bad year. I was asked to stop being me. Okay, but how does that work? I am what some people would say is the face of Cincinnati," he writes.
"If I can get out of Cincinnati, the sky's the limit. What could I do in a place like Philadelphia or Dallas? It would be ridiculous. It's (going to) be like a whole new me, like Ocho Cinco 2.0. Yeah, I like that. Ocho Cinco 2.0."
