Cut down day is never easy. For a professional athlete it may mean the end of a long sought after dream. Sometimes, it is just a bump in the road. However, it is never easy to have someone tell you you're not good enough.
 
Remember the days when you were trying to make the elementary, junior high or high school teams and you had to wait until the coach posted the names of those who made the team? Or maybe the coach called your house? You wanted the news, but, you didn't want to answer the phone.
 

Many of the players the Bengals cut the other day had never been cut from any sport in their lives. They have always been the best of the best. They were the one's in high school who never had to worry. In the pros most have to worry some day.
Very few players get to pick their time; usually they think they have more left than what the team thinks they have left.
 
Getting cut hurts. I was cut four times by three teams. Yes, the Bengals got me twice. However, it doesn't always mean the end of the line. When I was cut by the team who drafted me, the Detroit Lions, in the second to last cut of 1978, all of those cut with me ended up on a team that year. Included in those was Dick Jauron, current coach of the Buffalo Bills and former teammate with the Bengals.
The problem, when do you stop chasing the dream and are you prepared when it ends?
 
In Detroit, on cut down day, they came into the cafeteria at breakfast and started yelling out names. Man, you didn't want to hear your name, or "get your play book." We had one running back who had a solution for being shown the door, don't show up to breakfast. For that matter, disappear. That's what Richie Cunningham did. He was a running back out of Happy Days High, just kidding, Long Beach State. No one knew where he was. Finally, after much hunting, the coaches decided to give up the search. They assumed he had left the camp. Oh no.
We stretched, and broke out to our position groups and low and behold there was Richie jumping in line with the running backs. It seems Richie had been hiding in the bushes for several hours, in full gear, waiting for his chance to show them one more time what a mistake they were making. Apparently, the coaches didn't see it the same way, after practice they did release him and saw him to the car and onto the plane.
 
Cut down day is never easy. The team hopes that they are putting the right mix of players together. They certainly hope they didn't make a mistake. Can Willie, Rudi, Deltha still play at a high level? Did Ahmad Brooks just need a wake-up call?  Can Stacy Andrews handle a full season, or Chris Perry?

What we do know is come Sunday, the 7th the games count and I for one can't wait.
 
For many the dream continues, and for others? As Paul Brown used to say, "It’s time to move on to your life’s work."