Levi Jones off limits to reporters

That's what Enquirer Bengals man Mark Curnutte wrote this morning. It's something I've never understood. Jones is a grown man. Can't he make that call? What does the team think Levi's gonna say? It's like with Rich Braham's "deep bruise'' last year. Man broke his leg. What's wrong with simply saying that? It's just a very weird thing. Football coaches are generally the most paranoid, secretive people on the planet, but the Bengals occasionally "take it to the next level'' as they say.

And: As for kids being disillusioned by M. Vick... get over it... I always liked Charles Barkley's take on the athlete-as-role-model, and I'll say this until they cart me off to the home:

Athletes aren't role models. Most of them need role models.

Why do we persist, in the face of so much evidence, to think that athletic skill equals social grace? Never has. Never will. Tell your kid to admire his parents or a good teacher or two.

Live big, Gil Thorp.