Odell Thurman

Congratulations to Odell Thurman, who has been given a second chance on life. Cautious hope that it's all he needs. Would it be that we'll be writing and talking about him with the same voice we used with Josh Hamilton. Overcoming addiction requires more vigilance than anything he'll ever do in sports.

And this: Willie Anderson was right about Mike Brown. Anderson told Mark Curnutte that Brown deserves much credit for sticking with Thurman. I believe that. I've seen it with many other players here, starting with Stanley Wilson. Sometimes it works, as it did with Wilson, if only temporarily. Sometimes, it makes Brown look overly forgiving, almost naive. That's OK.

While mixing in a little social work doesnt always help the bottom line, it shows a side of the Bengals owner we don't see very often. Thurman needs to help himself now. Time to reward the compassion.