chris henry

I wrote about him for Sunday's paper. And I'm loathe to admit I'm squarely on the fence in deciding what the Bengals should do with the guy. The knee-jerk opinion is, get rid of him. You can't say you want character guys on your football team while keeping someone like Henry. That's the easy, predictable rip. Then there's this:

In the Florida case, he hasn't been convicted of anything. His case comes up Tuesday. He's charged with carrying a concealed firearm. And while coaches like to blame most of their players' troubles on the people the players choose to hang around with, this one is solely on Henry: He was the one outside his limousine, brandishing a handgun. Allegedly.

But here's the thing: If you cover sports long enough, you learn there are few absolutes. As an opinion writer, I'd love to blaze the guns every day. Wrong, right, black, white. Let 'er rip. But it's usually not correct, or fair. And if you rip everything, all the time (see: Jay Marrioti) when you're really inflamed about something, no one can tell.

So with Henry, I'm inclined to see what the court says and trust Marvin Lewis' judgment. This time.

On a related matter, I got lots of e-mails after I wrote a column on Adam Dunn this week, wondering why I went "too easy'' on him. The column basically asked the question, "what do you want from this guy?'' while pointing out the good (OBP, OPS, power), the bad (Ks, ability with RISP) and the ugly (defense)... again, a chance to nail someone with a definitive opinion... but that wouldn't have been entirely accurate or fair... Dunn and I do not get along, but that doesnt mean I use the column as a bully pulpit... while I do believe he doesnt get as much from his ability as he could, I also realize he puts up big numbers, and he's only 26... so, again, I wrote more of a middle-of-the-road opinion. Not as sexy or controversial as it could have been, but probably more responsible. Live big.