Chad Johnson=A Notch Up In My Book

So, tonight I went back up to the Bengals training camp (no surprise there) with my mom, dad, Em, and Chris, and Mark to watch more practice. Now, during the offseason I was not happy with Chad Johnson. I felt he was being selfish and whiny. I still recognized him as a great player, but I was very put off by his attitude.

However, tonight at camp a young boy (about 5 years old) yelled "Chad, I love you!". Chad turned around and replied "You do?" then motioned for the boy to come to him. He lifted him over the fence. Chad was gone with the boy for at least 40 minutes or so. When they returned the boy had one of Chad's shoes in each hand with Chad's signature on each shoe.

Now, I do have to say that watching the joy on that child's face really brought my view of Chad up. I personally got to see him show selflessness and it was refreshing.

Geoff Hobson from Bengals.com writes:

"Wide receiver Chad Johnson (ankle) joined in the past-practice sprints and seemed to go at a decent pace. He was taped, but not in pads, when he gave the crowd of about 400 some excitement when he plucked five-year-old Bryce Short of Lexington, Ky., wearing a No. 85 jersey, and took him along for some rehab work on another field. When Bryce showed up back on the big field, he waved a pair of autographed CJ shoes."

After practice, players were signing autographs (apparently it was autograph night). I sat and watched others get autographs 2 nights ago and I planned to do the same until I saw Shayne Graham autographing near my seat. I decided I'd see if I could get an autograph and I was surprised at how easy it was. The players almost seemed happy to autograph my little $1 "Camp Journal".

I got autographs from Shayne Graham, DeDe Dorsey, Ben Utecht (got to tell him I'd be looking to draft him for my fantasy league to which another player said "Why? He won't get you any points."), Antwon Burton, James Johnson, Stacy Andrews, Daniel Coats, James Blair, rookie Jerome Simpson, and none other than Chad Johnson himself.

Overall, a great night.