Odell Thurman released by Bengals

[NeedsMoreCheese]

Less than a month after the NFL reinstated Odell Thurman from his two-year suspension, the troubled linebacker is out of a job.

The Cincinnati Bengals staunchly supported Thurman during his suspension for violating the league

[NeedsMoreCheese]

So when are his flights to Oakland, Minnesota, and Dallas scheduled for?

[Da big3]

stupid, kept him for 2 years, when he finally gets to play, they relase him...

[Icness]

Real classy organization
They stand by him while he battles thru one of the nastiest addictions I've ever heard of in a pro athlete, holding his hand for 2 years and helping him get his life back in order. Then the grandmother who raised him and was largely responsible for helping him get mentally prepped to get clean dies, he goes to her funeral, and they cut him for it.

There is so much freaking negative karma around this team. They might not win 3 games.

[Da Schwab]

Could this situation turn into a lawsuit or Players Association investigation?

I understand that the Bengals wanted him to be there to practice the new D scheme, but the fact that they cut him for missing a voluntary workout is absurd.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Even more grating than all this (which looks worse and worse the more we hear about it) is the Odell was arguably the best LB (though absent) on a unit that was the worst positional unit in football last year. A starting threesome of Brooks/Rivers/Thurman could have done damage. Now, Dhani Jones has to start (again) and, unless Rashad Jeanty drastically improves, the Bengals' LBs are going to be the worst in football again.

I wish Icness could detail the fall and rise of Odell Thurman, but it's probably best for Odell that he doesn't.

On paper, Cincinnati could compete for a wild card, but the negative karma is just so stifling.

[swede]

Granted, Odellhad more documented problems but I'll be damned if I didn't think Ahmad Brooks was going to blow up Cincy with Chris Henry or something.

Was he battling alcoholism or what Icness? Guy was a phenomenal player on the field.

I always will have a soft spot in him because as he was getting a sobriety test Chris Henry puked out the passenger window of the car he had been driving.

[NeedsMoreCheese]

Could this situation turn into a lawsuit or Players Association investigation?

I understand that the Bengals wanted him to be there to practice the new D scheme, but the fact that they cut him for missing a voluntary workout is absurd.

What do voluntary mean??

[Icness]

I heard this from a former teammate about Thurman:
He woke up every morning, lit a joint and drank half a bottle of vodka. He showed up for workouts and positional meetings with a coffee travel mug that was like 90% Kahlua and 10% coffee. He drank at least 3 bottles of liquor almost every day, sometimes more, and smoked higher-grade pot that you can get without serious connections. For one of his urine tests he just laid it out and told them he needed help, and for about 2 months he literally could not sit down, he had the shakes so bad. That was during his rookie year. He really tried to get his crap together and a lot of his teammates tried to help him out and it had some success. Then the next summer he went back home and fell off the wagon. He wound up borrowing serious $$ from a lot of people to support his habit. This player lost touch with him during his suspension but said he heard Thurman was really struggling physically, very ill and unable to do anything football related.

I haven't talked with this guy in over a year but I've heard that Thurman did actually kick the alcoholism and passed every weekly drug test. To do this to Thurman after all that is completely classless and total BS.

[bigrich88]

I heard this from a former teammate about Thurman:
He woke up every morning, lit a joint and drank half a bottle of vodka. He showed up for workouts and positional meetings with a coffee travel mug that was like 90% Kahlua and 10% coffee. He drank at least 3 bottles of liquor almost every day, sometimes more, and smoked higher-grade pot that you can get without serious connections. For one of his urine tests he just laid it out and told them he needed help, and for about 2 months he literally could not sit down, he had the shakes so bad. That was during his rookie year. He really tried to get his crap together and a lot of his teammates tried to help him out and it had some success. Then the next summer he went back home and fell off the wagon. He wound up borrowing serious $$ from a lot of people to support his habit. This player lost touch with him during his suspension but said he heard Thurman was really struggling physically, very ill and unable to do anything football related.

I haven't talked with this guy in over a year but I've heard that Thurman did actually kick the alcoholism and passed every weekly drug test. To do this to Thurman after all that is completely classless and total BS.

For any person to break these habits is a very hard thing to do. Not only did he realize he had these problems, but he had the ambition to stop drinking and stop using drugs and after the hard work to kick the addictions the Bengals award him by releasing him. Not only will this be damaging to his confidence but the Bengals doing this classless move to him might lead him to go back to his bad habits.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Wait a tic...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/f ... index.html

Let's see how this plays out.

[bigrich88]

Wait a tic...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/f ... index.html

Let's see how this plays out.

I hope it's not true. If it is his career is shot.

[Icness]

League suspension for all of 2008, and that's pretty much the end of his career. I'll give the Bengals a little less harsh reaction, because it appears they knew this was coming. The grapevine says he fell back in with his old ways and company during the trip home for his grandma's funeral, and when Marvin Lewis confronted him about it, Thurman fessed up and then the team cut him on the spot.

[HMFFL]

Another wasted talent and one that could have been a very solid NFL player. I hoped for the best, but obviously the league doesn't need Odell, and the right decision was made.