Really, what else could explain why he always, consistently, ignores or runs down the Bengals? For those who are unaware, one of King's first jobs after he graduated from Ohio University (Go Bobcats) was to cover the Bengals for the Cincinnati Post. And based on his career at Sports Illustrated, he must have had a horrible time when he was here. How else do you explain how he "covers" the Bengals?

As some of you may know, we here at WhoDeyFans have a certain opinion of King. But when we disagree with him, we try to do so with, you know, facts.

If somebody did call him a fat idiot back when he was here, congratulations. You were the first of what I'm sure is many. And you were right.

What has gotten my wrath from King today is his list of the current Dream Team. Granted, these lists aren't really about anything other than trying to drum up some site traffic. Which is why I'm not going to link to it. If you want to publish crap to try and get people to visit your site, Sports Illustrated, I don't want to make it easy for people to come to your site. Let me know when you decide to start actually covering the game.

Anyway, what's got me worked up is that he went out of his way to not choose a single Bengal for his Dream Team for this year. The big omissions, in my mind, were no Carson Palmer (his final choice for QB was Vince Young) and no Chad Johnson (Mike Furrey? Mike Furrey!!??)

I don't know what to say, so I'll let the numbers talk for me.

2006 Season------TD------INT-----CMP%-----Rating
Carson Palmer------28-------13-----62.3%------93.9
Vince Young---------12-------13-----51.5%------66.7

The story on Young is that when he was made the starter he "elevated the team." But that's just it, a story, and as a writer, King loves stories more than he loves the truth. The other thing about Young is that he can make things happen with his legs. I'll admit, he does have that over Carson, but show me the last running quarterback who won a Super Bowl, and I'll give you one of Michael Vick's prized puppies.

I'd take three seasons worth of impressive-to-awesome football over 15 games of mediocre football with legs and a story.

But, hey that's me.

Oh, and the other thing:

2006-------------REC-----YDS------TDS-------Google searches it took
--------------------------------------------------until I figured out who he was
Chad Johnson-----87------1369-----7------------0
Mike Furrey------98------1086-----6------------1

More catches for less yards and one fewer touchdown. Sounds to me like defense don't key in on one guy because he does less with the ball when he has it.

Plus Mike Furrey's a year older than Chad, but has been in the league two years fewer. And outside of last season, in his other four seasons, he has a grand total of 21 catches.

One more thing: Mark Furrey plays for Detroit. Yeah, I didn't know that either. And based on his picks for his "Dream Team," I wonder if Peter King knows that.