Enough Bashing!

[Bengalbob]

Hobson just posted a reply on the Bengal.com site to what has become a common gripe around here, his cap space calculations. First off, though he's a little touchy in his response, I have to say he's justified. I definitely don't think it's fair for people to question his honesty based on this issue. You can slice and dice cap space a lot of ways, but in the end the Bengals will spend what they spend. Does it really matter what Hobson tells us?

Thoughts?

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5117

Hobson's Choice: Let's be honest

March 9, 2006

Q: I know you'll never respond to this question on the Bengals page, but I have to ask it anyway. Why do you mislead us in terms of how much money the team has under the salary cap? I'm a member of a large Bengal bulletin board community where we have some very knowledgeable fans. We often discuss our cap situation and always wonder why you seem to undercut what the team really has. Yes, we know we have to pay our draft picks. Yes, we know we have our own players to re-sign. Yes, we know we need to have room left for contingency situations. Yet, when we do the math, we see a team that has enough cap room to comfortably go after some top notch free agents. You make it sound like we are in the poor house while in actuality the Bengals are pretty healthy when compared to other teams. Yes, we realize the Bengals are conservative in their approach to deals and contracts, but the bottom line is that we do have the cap space to sign top-name free agents if the Bengals really wanted to. Instead of selling us a bill of goods about being strapped against the cap, just level with us and say the organization's philosophy is not to go out and spend on top tier free agents. At least if you were honest, we could better appreciate the direction the team is headed.

--Ralph, Panama City, FL

RALPH: I think you’ve got me confused with the people that make the decisions around here. We all know the math, but not everybody agrees what to do with the numbers. Please don’t confuse your opinion with my integrity.

Frankly, I’m amazed. I think that’s the one thing you have to try hard to do when covering the cap is not mislead. I think I’ve given an accurate picture of how the Bengals read the cap and that’s what I want to know. How do they read it? How do the people making the decisions read it? Yeah, I know what I would do. I know what you would do, but we’re not making the call. I’m trying to cover the people who do.

It happens every new cap year. Some huge number rolls out in January about how far they are under the cap, and you don’t think that’s misleading? Then, when the rookie pools come out and the tenders come out, it gets adjusted down to the number with which this team deals. I’m not undercutting what the team has. That’s what the team thinks it has.

Yeah, I know a lot of teams don’t budget their rookies until they sign. But the Bengals don’t do that. So that’s the real number because that’s how they see it. Is that dishonest because you don’t like the number and think they should do something else?

I don’t know how many times I’ve written about how this team doesn’t like to hand out big bonuses because they don’t like to push money into future years. About how they like to develop their own and about how they like to sign their own instead of signing big name free agents. I mean, you’ve got to be kidding me. That’s all I’ve written about the last month. Hell, the last 10 years.

Dishonest? I think the honest thing is to admit that people simply don’t like how they do it and they have to get mad at someone and they all think they have a better way and maybe they do.

It’s always the biggest debate in Bengaldom. Could a Sam Adams or a Marlon McCree put this team over the edge or some other veteran free agent?

Personally, I think yes. Personally, I think the best way to counter Carson Palmer’s injury is to get better on defense in a hurry instead of spending a bucketful on a backup quarterback that won’t make a whole lot of difference between an 0-4 or 1-3 start if he has to put up 30 every Sunday.

But, they can make a pretty good argument against it when they show that the big-time free agents succeed about half the time, especially the older guys, and many times all you get out of it is dead money. I mean, I look at the Super Bowl teams, Pittsburgh and Seattle, and they pretty much played with kids and guys they re-signed, so I don’t think the Bengals are on Mars on this.

And they’ve done a good job re-signing guys and juggling the cap in putting together a core that’s here through ’08 and ‘09. People cried about the $2.2M they saved on cutting Warrick. But no one wept when they gave it to Palmer as part of his extension and beat the CBA mess by a few months. They’ve been at the cap or over it since they moved into the stadium, so it’s not like they’re putting cap money in a Swiss bank account.

It’s a fair debate. Good fodder.

But mislead? I think it’s a downright lie to suggest I’m selling a bill of goods when all I’m doing is trying to show the goods. Or bads.

Yes, you know the Bengals are conservative. Yes, you know they’re cautious. I know. It's what I report. You wish they weren’t.

But that doesn’t make me a liar.

(Today’s report is the Bengals have an extra $7.5 million to spend in free agency. Honest.)

[TippCityRick]

I just sent him an email approving of his response. We've got to remember guys, it's only a game.

There's no reason to question his or any other writers integrity. Do I agree with everything he or King or Zimmerman or Banks or Pasquerelli or Clayton or Mortensen or Easterbrook or Eisen . . . (ok, I need to shorten my weekly reading list) write on every subject? Nope.

It's only a game; a diversion; entertainment.

Now, anything Schwienhart writes about the draft I stand and salute. That dude does his homework!!!!!!

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Good for Hobson.

[bengalboomer7]

Never much cared for Hobson, but I do applaud him for taking up for himself. Gained some respect from me, as if he cares

[ArmyBengal]

Ralph from Panama City, FL = F*CKING ASSCLOWN !!!

WHODEY !!!

[HoosierCat]

Even I don't blame Hobson. Like he says, he doesn't make the decisions. He's just toeing the company line. But like they say, crap flows downhill, and Geoff's office is right at the bottom of the mountain.

[cover2]

Just remember one thing about Hobson and all the reporters....It's their job to write stories about the Bengals and they do that by staying close to the Bengals. He is not going to be able to write something negative and expect them to give him information....in this regards its an extremely tough job.

In my mind there is not a lot of differnce between Mike Brown and Chris Henry.......Henry pulled a gun on crowd of people because he is just plain stupid.......Mikey pulled a gun on the city of Cincinnati and said if you don't give me this stadium and these concessions I'm out of here and his record dealing with players

and the fans I might add is legendary.

The Bengal Zone is good and in it we fill in the blanks that they can't write about in the Newspaper.

Hey its all good and I want the team here and yada yada....but don't try to blow smoke up my A..!

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Even I don't blame Hobson. Like he says, he doesn't make the decisions. He's just toeing the company line. But like they say, crap flows downhill, and Geoff's office is right at the bottom of the mountain.

There is another side to this. The problem is that Hobson needs to decide which he wants to be: objective journalist or company spokesman. I'm not saying Ralph Whatshisname was fair in his attack. I'm also not saying Geoff is necessarily wrong in his assessments of the Bengals. But I think it is fair to say that the articles Hobson writes are necessarily pretty soft on team management, etc. even compared to Post/Enquirer articles.

I'm sure Hobson is a great guy, and he does a good job of communicating with the fans. But at the same time, he's sort of positioned himself in a "no-man's-land" between objectivity and PR where he'll never convince people of objectivity, and probably piss off ownership even if he tried to be objective. He can't win.

I think he'd do better if he more clearly advertised himself as a fan-friendly PR guy. Trying to be anything else isn't realistic and simply increases expectations of objectivity that can't be met.

All that said, I like his column because I don't expect hard-hitting investigative journalism from him. He's a good guy doing a good job, so like everyone else has said, LAY OFF RALPH!

[HoosierCat]

Just remember one thing about Hobson and all the reporters....It's their job to write stories about the Bengals and they do that by staying close to the Bengals. He is not going to be able to write something negative and expect them to give him information....in this regards its an extremely tough job.

Well, Hobson is employed by the Bengals. He has tens of thousands of rea$on$ not to rock the boat. He operates in a murky area between real journalism (if there is such a thing), public relations, and marketing (an area I'm very familiar with myself). Is his reporting on the salary cap usually slanted to downplay the Bengals' funds versus those available to the rest of the league? Yeah, it is. But Fox News is slanted. CNN is slanted. The New York Times is slanted. Caveat reader.

I can certainly sympathize with Ralph. It gets old, year after year, watching teams that are near or below the Bengals on the revenue food chain find ways to get things done while the Bengals profess poverty (while raking in sizeable profits). Had the strategy produced results, it wouldn't have been so bad, but it didn't. Even our current success was founded in part on the Bengals biggest-ever dive into FA back in 2003. And Hobson nailed it when he said it would be better to shore up the D in FA than go fritter away dollars and space on yet another third-tier QB. But like he also said, he doesn't make the calls.

I'm sure Hobson is a great guy, and he does a good job of communicating with the fans. But at the same time, he's sort of positioned himself in a "no-man's-land" between objectivity and PR where he'll never convince people of objectivity, and probably piss off ownership even if he tried to be objective. He can't win.

I think he'd do better if he more clearly advertised himself as a fan-friendly PR guy. Trying to be anything else isn't realistic and simply increases expectations of objectivity that can't be met.

Yeah, I agree.

[HairOnFire]

I can certainly sympathize with Ralph.

You do realize that the letter writer is actually RalphMTSU from the Huddles board, right? IMHO there isn't a bigger dink on the internet than that guy.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Mikey pulled a gun on the city of Cincinnati and said if you don't give me this stadium and these concessions I'm out of here and his record dealing with players and the fans I might add is legendary.

How freaking stupid are you? Mr. Brown NEVER said he was going to leave Cincinnati. He did say he needed a new stadium to compete. Well, we gave him his stadium, and guess what, we are competitive. Looks like he flat out told the truth. Mike Brown's record of dealing with players is phenomenal by the way. He has always treated them right. He has always treated his players and former players like family.

[HoosierCat]

I can certainly sympathize with Ralph.

You do realize that the letter writer is actually RalphMTSU from the Huddles board, right? IMHO there isn't a bigger dink on the internet than that guy.

<chuckle> No, I hadn't. I should have, now that you mention it. I'll have to pop over and see his reaction.

And for the record, I am a WAY bigger dink than Ralph.

[HairOnFire]

I can certainly sympathize with Ralph.

You do realize that the letter writer is actually RalphMTSU from the Huddles board, right? IMHO there isn't a bigger dink on the internet than that guy.

<chuckle> No, I hadn't. I should have, now that you mention it. I'll have to pop over and see his reaction.

Last time I checked he was happily accepting the back slaps directed his way by the other dinks on Huddles. Only a few posters had bothered mentioning that he was wrong to question Hobsons integrity or that he had been properly bitch-slapped by Hobson for having done so. Thus, RalphMTSU remains a hero of the stupid.

[cover2]

I mean if he Mike treats everyone like family it must be true.

[Stripes]

Well done, Hobson. I don't always agree with him, and in many cases regarding the cap I don't. Still, he spoke his position well here.

[Whur CHad At?]

I am glad Hobson defended his intergrity here. f**k you Ralph from Panama City.

By the way...isn't the media always supposed to be misleading?

[HoosierCat]

Only a few posters had bothered mentioning that he was wrong to question Hobsons integrity or that he had been properly bitch-slapped by Hobson for having done so.

Right or wrong, Hobson has only one person to blame for questions about his integrity -- and it isn't Ralph. It's the guy Geoff shaves in the mirror every morning. And that's not because of anything he's written for bengals.com. It's a direct consequence of the career choice he made. He chose to go from (theoretically) objective reporter to corporate hired hand. That transition's price has always been a loss of integrity in the eyes of the public. Remember David Brinkley, toppping off a 50-year career in journalism by becoming a paid mouthpiece for ADM, supermaket price-fixer to the world? Or the more recent "pundit payola" scandals involving conservative columnists like Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher? Hobson made the same choice...and the consequences were inevitable.

[HairOnFire]

I fail to see why there should be any questions about Hobson's integrity. He was dead on about his first responsibility being reporting the teams viewpoint on various issues as well as his long habit of including his own differing opinions about many of those same issues. Is he at fault for expecting his readers to be smart enough to discern the difference? Well, probably, but only because so many of his readers seem to be hopelessly and perhaps deliberately fugtarded, like RalphMTSU.

I have no problems with Hobson. He does a difficult job very well.

[HoosierCat]

I fail to see why there should be any questions about Hobson's integrity.

It's just the nature of the beast. You don't get to be on a corporate payroll and retain your standing as "objective." That's not limited to sportswriters and team web sites, it's just a general journalistic principle. Taking money from the people you cover is, for obvious reasons, a no-no.

He was dead on about his first responsibility being reporting the teams viewpoint on various issues as well as his long habit of including his own differing opinions about many of those same issues.

Yup. And in politics, they call that guy a spin doctor. You take the facts, funnel them through a certain perspective, and voila! That he gets to tack on his own objections is nice, but his testy response to Ralph suggests to me he's aware which part of the equation he's getting paid for (and it isn't providing his opinions).

[HoosierCat]

Just to add to be clear: I'm not saying that Hobson lacks integrity or is presenting himself as anything other than he is. But raising questions about the motives of a journalist-turned-corporate (or political) writer is hardly an unusual occurance.

[Bengalbob]

I fail to see why there should be any questions about Hobson's integrity. He was dead on about his first responsibility being reporting the teams viewpoint on various issues as well as his long habit of including his own differing opinions about many of those same issues. Is he at fault for expecting his readers to be smart enough to discern the difference? Well, probably, but only because so many of his readers seem to be hopelessly and perhaps deliberately fugtarded, like RalphMTSU.

I have no problems with Hobson. He does a difficult job very well.

Hair, I couldn't agree with you more. Even if he did put a positive spin on everything (which he doesn't), I can't understand how that in and of itself makes him dishonest. We all know where he's coimg from and who he has to please (at least to some extent). Read what he has to say with that understanding and move on . . .

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Mikey pulled a gun on the city of Cincinnati and said if you don't give me this stadium and these concessions I'm out of here and his record dealing with players and the fans I might add is legendary.

How freaking stupid are you? Mr. Brown NEVER said he was going to leave Cincinnati. He did say he needed a new stadium to compete. Well, we gave him his stadium, and guess what, we are competitive. Looks like he flat out told the truth. Mike Brown's record of dealing with players is phenomenal by the way. He has always treated them right. He has always treated his players and former players like family.

Do you want Hobson's job by chance?

Cincy Post Article 1999: "The whole time you're taking in all the impressive features of the new stadium, you find yourself wondering what the Bengals did to deserve such a fine facility except threaten to leave town if they didn't get one."

Bill Koch seems to disagree with you.

[Spain]

Thats Hobson posting this. Dude as a linguist I must say Hobsinzing the numbers has become a word. Good luck guy

Spain

[cover2]

It's just the nature of the beast. You don't get to be on a corporate payroll and retain your standing as "objective." That's not limited to sportswriters and team web sites, it's just a general journalistic principle. Taking money from the people you cover is, for obvious reasons, a no-no.

It's just the nature of the beast. You don't get to be on a corporate payroll and retain your standing as "objective." That's not limited to sportswriters and team web sites, it's just a general journalistic principle. Taking money from the people you cover is, for obvious reasons, a no-no.

Exactly!

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

Mikey pulled a gun on the city of Cincinnati and said if you don't give me this stadium and these concessions I'm out of here and his record dealing with players and the fans I might add is legendary.

How freaking stupid are you? Mr. Brown NEVER said he was going to leave Cincinnati. He did say he needed a new stadium to compete. Well, we gave him his stadium, and guess what, we are competitive. Looks like he flat out told the truth. Mike Brown's record of dealing with players is phenomenal by the way. He has always treated them right. He has always treated his players and former players like family.

Do you want Hobson's job by chance?

Cincy Post Article 1999: "The whole time you're taking in all the impressive features of the new stadium, you find yourself wondering what the Bengals did to deserve such a fine facility except threaten to leave town if they didn't get one."

Bill Koch seems to disagree with you.

Yeah, I'd take Hobson's job in a heartbeat. He's got a lot more access to the team than we do that's for sure.

Also, in 1999 Koch was still an assclown trying to feed of the hatred of the losing of the Bengals and the anti-Brown movement.