Dillon shouldn’t be named to Ring of Honor
Corey Dillon has sealed his legacy with the Bengals. He doesn’t deserve to be in the team’s Ring of Honor.
Cincinnati’s all-time leading rusher made that clear when he called the selection process “garbage,” “criminal” and other unprintable comments during a scorched-earth interview with The Athletic published this week.
Dillon showed his attitude hasn’t changed much since he was barreling over defensive players and running for more than 8,000 yards two decades ago. He’s still disgruntled. He’s still bitter. He still hates the Bengals. Dillon isn’t worthy of a spot alongside Anthony Munoz, Ken Riley, Paul Brown and other Bengals greats.
Dillon is among 13 nominees for the 2023 class. Bengals season ticket holders, presumably representative of the teams’ most diehard and loyal fans, picked two new inductees for this year. The voting ended June 9, but the new class has not been announced.
But in the interview, Dillon talked like he knows he’s going to fall short. He implied the Bengals’ decision to have fans select the Ring of Honor inductees will keep his name off the Paycor Stadium façade.
“That’s garbage,” Dillon said. “This should be solely predicated on the authorities of the Bengals. The owner. The president. Whatever. There should be a special committee. This ain’t a popularity contest. This is football. You are going to put in somebody who is more popular than somebody who got stats?”
Oh, so now Dillon wants Bengals ownership on his side. It’s the same front office he repeatedly blasted and embarrassed during his tumultuous seven seasons — a run during which the Bengals failed to post a winning record.
The same team owner Dillon demanded to trade him ahead of the 2004 season.
The same team owner Dillon embarrassed by throwing his helmet and shoulder pads into the stands after the last game in 2003.
The same team owner Dillon humiliated in 2000 when he said he’d rather flip burgers than play for the Bengals.
Seems Dillon would have a better chance to make the Ring of Honor with the fans voting.
But public relations have never been Dillon’s thing. He’s never known when to be quiet, especially regarding the Bengals. He never fully appreciated the Bengals made him the highest-paid player in franchise history at the time he signed a five-year, $26 million deal in 2001. He never fully appreciated that fans loved how hard he ran and that he was a lone source of hope during an otherwise miserable era.
Dillon had a good shot to get into the Ring of Honor, if not this year, then probably sometime soon. He may still get in, but his comments have given voters reason to remember all of Dillon’s issues when he played in Cincinnati.
Dillon embarrassed Cincinnati — as a player and now former player. And Bengals fans aren’t likely to reward someone for regularly taking a dump on their hometown.