Odell Thurman was officially banned for another season of football today.  He had come into the league with such great promise and now has become maybe one of the saddest Bengals stories in the history of the franchise.  His life is in the balance.

Anyone who cannot keep themselves from self destructing and being able to pursue a dream to play in the NFL must have serious personal issues.  Thurman showed flashes of brilliance his rookie season.  He was slated by the Bengals fans to be the future of the teams defense, and the swagger the Bengals defense that the team had been missing for years.  He gave the fans something to get excited about and provided them with a light at the end of the long losing tunnel.

Watching Thurman play football you could tell it was his passion.  Never have our photographers taken more pictures of a Bengals player who seemed to be smiling and having fun when he was on the field.

Nevertheless, life has a funny way of working its way out.  Thurman despite his brilliant rookie season quickly became the icing on the cake for the Cincinnati Bengals and their continued inability as a team to get over the hump.  His off the field issues quickly began to over shadow his ability to play the game.  His issues and inability to get himself onto the filed has left the Bengals with a hole in their defense that they are still trying to fill to this day.

Thurman is gone for another season, and the chances of him ever making it back into the NFL seem to be slim and none.  He has made his bed, and appears to have decided to sleep in it for the rest of his football days. 

As for the Bengals, what seemed to be at first one of the greatest Bengals drafts of all time, the 2005 draft has become nothing more than a reminder to Bengals fans that their team has serious issues, and fans are left wondering of they will ever be fixed.  Chris Henry and Odell Thurman are both gone do to major off the field issues, and David Pollack and Tab Perry are gone due to injuries.

In the end, Odell Thurman has come to represent the Bengals as a team in general, always a day late and a dollar short.  At times if it were not for bad luck, the Bengals may have no luck at all.  Thurman has will not see an NFL football field for a long time, and the Bengals may be waiting just as long to see a truly winning season or the playoffs.

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