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C LeCharles Bentley (2001 Rimington Award & 2 time Pro Bowler)

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If someone on the Raiders wanted to wear 00, I could see his point. But if he thinks he's the all-time greatest center or something, he truly is an a**hole of enormous proportions.
His cocaine comment borders on slander.
hell, he isn't even close to G Blanda for games played - he had 340 regular season games, and I don't even know how many post-season games. Otto certainly built a legacy among the Raiders, (I'm sure he played more games for the Raiders than anyone) but he seems to think his legacy among the NFL is a bit larger than it is.
If players are still allowed to wear #32, then they ought to be able to wear 00.
 
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It's amazing that Otto feels his '00' should not be worn by anybody in the NFL. He had a Hall-of-Fame career, but his football legacy isn't like Jackie Robinson in baseball or Wayne Gretzky in hockey.

I hope that Bentley is able to always take the high road (no pun intended) whenever a reporter asks him about Otto's comments. I'm not sure I'd be able to. I'd say something like:

" I never realized that Otto was wearing the number of his IQ on his back."
 
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Wow. What a miserable, bitter old cocksucker this guy is. Otto should be honored that in the age of the "me first" athlete, that a young star with a rock-solid upbringing and impeccible values tried to "honor" him by wanting to wear his jersey number.

Otto could have simply said he was against it and left it at that. To punk LeCharles like he was some wannabe Homey from the Hood was moronic. A huge percent of today's professional athletes have no idea of the previous greats of their chosen sport and what they meant to its history. I remember reading a story once that Roger Clemens didn't even know that "Cy Young" was actually a player after winning the award, just thought it was a name of an award.

I'm surprised that this story and Otto's feelings didn't get the attention of the National Sports media, or maybe it did and I missed it. Jim Rome (as big a tool as he can be) would have had a field day with it.
 
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Centered by confusion

Offseason acquisition LeCharles Bentley having minor difficulties adjusting to Browns' system

By Patrick McManamon

Beacon Journal sportswriter

BEREA - There are athletes, and there are honest athletes.
Ask LeCharles Bentley what he can learn about the Browns' offensive line in the weekend minicamp, and he'll tell you.
``Absolutely nothing,'' Bentley said Saturday.
Now that's honest.
For linemen, minicamps are about getting blocking calls and language down, but even that doesn't go smoothly.
``I don't know what's going on half the time,'' Bentley said. ``Half the time I don't think guys know what I'm doing.''
Take deep breaths. There's no need to panic about the Browns' new center, or about the Browns' new offensive line.
Even coach Romeo Crennel said he doesn't learn much about linemen in minicamps.
``They can learn the offense,'' Crennel said. ``They can communicate and make protection calls and know when to slide a short distance and when to slide a long distance and maybe pick up some tricks at a slow tempo.
``But those guys, both offensively and defensively, they need to be able to put on pads and work with pads. That's when you find out the most about those guys.''
Bentley called joining the Browns and assimilating a new system ``a learning process.' He said he's still doing some of the things he did in New Orleans, where he played his first four years.
``Sometimes I'm making calls that I'm used to,'' he said. ``I'm trying to unlearn those things and put them into this offense.
``This is a process that's normal.''
As to when the line will get things together, Bentley was again candid.
``I don't know how long that takes,'' he said. ``A lot of this is new to me. The quicker I get it down the better for everybody else. I think it's more on myself being a center to get everyone on the same page.''
But it will happen. And when it does...
``It's over,'' Bentley said.
The offseason was all positive for Bentley. He signed a lucrative contract to play in his hometown, but he said ``all the confetti has fallen and it's back to work.''
And he's not wearing the ``00'' number he had hoped to wear.
The league ruled earlier in the spring that it would not allow exceptions to uniform numbers, so Bentley had to change. He picked No. 57.
``I understand they had a ruling to make and that's part of the rules and regulations,'' he said. ``I wasn't trying to get around that. I guess I'm not bigger than the NFL.''
The reason he wanted double-zero? To honor former Raiders center and Hall of Famer Jim Otto, who wore it in his career.
``I thought I was doing it for a good reason,'' he said, ``but it wasn't a good enough reason.''
 
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Dispatch

6/23/06

LeCharles Bentley has declined to talk about his request to wear "00" in honor of Hall of Fame center Jim Otto since the NFL rejected the idea earlier this spring, but you can’t help but wonder if he would still do it.

The former Ohio State star, an All-Pro in two of his four seasons with the New Orleans Saints before signing with the Browns, wanted to wear it to draw attention to Otto’s remarkable 15-year career. But at an Oakland Raiders charity golf tournament, Otto told the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times that he thought Bentley’s request was "ridiculous."

"To let him wear my number, that I built into a legacy, all it takes is one ounce of coke up his nose and that legacy is gone," Otto said. "I don’t know who he is. I played 15 years with the Raiders. He’s played, what, three or four years in New Orleans? What kind of legacy would he give double zero? I don’t think he should wear it, and I don’t think anyone in the NFL should wear it."
Click to expand...
 
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Browns made a huge upgrade by signing Bentley to replace Faine
JEFF SCHUDEL, Morning Journal Writer
07/27/2006
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
BEREA -- Yeah, the Browns needed a nose tackle and a pass-rushing linebacker in free agency. They hit the jackpot when they signed wide receiver Joe Jurevicius.


But the position they needed above all others was center.

After three years of Jeff Faine finishing the season on injured reserve, and three years of Faine being pushed backward when he wasn't injured, coach Romeo Crennel decided it was time for a change. Even though he was not around for the first two years of Faine's Follies, Crennel knew the Browns needed an upgrade at center.

''The position was at the top of the list,'' Crennel said yesterday after the first practice of training camp.

The Browns didn't just get a center in free agency. They signed the premier center on the first day when they wooed LeCharles Bentley from New Orleans with a six-year, $36 million contract.

Bentley went to St. Ignatius High School and Ohio State. He is one of four local players signed in free agency. More important than his ties to Cleveland is his ability to block. He already is one of the most popular players on the team, particularly with quarterback Charlie Frye.

''LeCharles Bentley is going to be a great player, he already is a great player -- but he's going to be a great player for us,'' Frye said. ''He brings a physical presence to the offensive line. Just his smarts, he is a very big guy, being able to adjust to defenses ... especially in our division with the exotic fronts the Ravens and Steelers use.

''Anytime you bring guys back home, you know how much the fans love the Browns and they loved them growing up, so it's real nice to see them back.''

Bentley is listed at 6-foot-2, 309 pounds. His biceps are the size of thighs of some men.

Faine's media guide weight was listed at 303 pounds as a rookie. By last season, it was a more realistic 291 pounds.

Whatever his true weight was, he lost more battles than he won, and that was reflected in part by the fact the Browns scored only four rushing touchdowns -- an all-time low.

Centers are difficult to measure statistically, but in four years with the Saints, Bentley went to the Pro Bowl twice -- once as guard in 2003 and last season as a center. He was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2004.

Bentley likes what he sees in Frye. He said football players know instinctively when a teammate is going to be good, and he says Frye has that talent.

''He has the work ethic and he has the ability,'' Bentley said. ''If he didn't, he wouldn't be the starting quarterback. I think he has all the intangibles. We'll have to see what he does.''

With Bentley, the plan is for the Browns to be more of a running team than they were in the past, according to right guard Cosey Coleman. Bentley, Coleman and right tackle Ryan Tucker are supposed to clear paths for Reuben Droughns inside the 5 -- something the Browns rarely did last year.

''Our goal is to be 10 times better across the board,'' Coleman said. ''A big emphasis on the offensive line is going to be running the football. We got Reuben 1,000 yards last year but we have to build on that and improve in other areas.''

[email protected]
Click to expand...

http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16973548&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46370&rfi=6
 
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CPD

7/27

Bentley a luxurious necessity


Thursday, July 27, 2006Bud Shaw
Plain Dealer Columnist
You know LeCharles Bentley's background. St. Ignatius. Ohio State.
Cleveland holds a spot in its heart for its own, a spot softer than the housing market. But that's hardly the reason to celebrate his arrival.
Bentley calls his homecoming "confetti and balloons," and is wise enough to already have summoned the cleanup crew to sweep it away.
"It's over," he said Wednesday. "Put away the newspaper clippings. It's football everywhere you go."
Oh, the places he's been.
The 26-year-old Bentley has twice made that NFL all-star game they hold in Hawaii. Can't seem to place the name right off hand. But that's what recommends him the most, not growing up here.
Sources say it's the Pro Bowl and it's played in February. It's also open to Browns players, but evidence of that is slight beyond the rumor that Jamir Miller made it to one.
The last time a Browns offensive linemen played there is even more of a historical search.
"Let's see," Doug Dieken said, giving it some thought after practice Wednesday, "it would have been Cody Risien."
Dieken, Joe DeLamielleure and Tom DeLeone all made it following the 1980 season. Risien was a Pro Bowler in '86 and '87. Bentley was 8 years old.

The lack of a 1,000-yard rusher in Jim Brown's town until Reuben Droughns staked his claim this past season no doubt went hand-in-hand with the muffled acclaim of so many of the Browns' offensive lines.
The drought nevertheless failed to prompt the expansion Browns to correct the mistake. General Manager Phil Savage changed that thinking in this off-season. Ryan Tucker is the only lineman who predates him.
Bentley's natural position, center, is the least sexy of any on the line. A single season of watching Jeff Faine's undersized finesse convinced the Browns of the need to remake the offensive front inside-out.

"That position was at the top of our list," coach Romeo Crennel said after the first full-squad workout. "And he was one of the better players at that position. He was on our radar screen. It worked out and we we're excited about that."
Crennel ends a lot of sentences talking about being excited. Expect him to ramp up to ecstatic if Bentley can manage to keep the Steelers' Casey Hampton from disrupting every handoff.
Quarterback Charlie Frye was asked about the Browns signing some free agents with local connections. The list includes Bentley, receiver Joe Jurevicius, offensive lineman Bob Hallen and punter Dave Zastudil. Frye didn't need urging to talk about Bentley.
"He's gonna be a great player for us," he said. "He brings a physical presence to the offensive line. And he's a real smart guy."
Bentley hears that and laughs, saying, "I'm pretty smart."
Celebrating his return as a reversal of the region's brain drain - college kids leaving the state to work - should be delayed until after the Browns face what Frye calls the "exotic fronts" of the Steelers and Ravens.
"I don't feel too bright right now," Bentley said. "I'm trying to get a system down. The good thing is I got Joe Andruzzi and Cosey Coleman beside me."
With that, he was off to sign more autographs for a fan base that would turn out 1,000 strong to see Browns players mow the grass. Imagine if there's ever really a reason for confetti and balloons in Bentley's hometown.
 
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