"There's no way I release Larry Johnson. No way.

He's Scott Pioli's and Todd Haley's most valuable player.

Within hours of the Chiefs turning in a Three Stoogeslike performance that called into question Haley's competency to lead an NFL team and Pioli's sanity as it relates to Matt Cassel, Larry Johnson created a distraction that took the spotlight off KC's rookie coach and GM.

Hell, I'd give Johnson a bonus, a laptop to carry to practice and the green light to tweet 24/7.

Short of Michael Jackson returning from the grave and announcing he'd sing the national anthem at the Chiefs' next home game, LJ's tweet smack talk and locker-room F-bomb are the best thing that could happen to Pioli and Haley this week.

Look, I'm not condoning LJ's actions. But a football player mumbling the F-word inside a locker room is about as surprising as a Klansman shouting the N-word at a cross burning, me passing gas at fat camp or an ESPN personality sexting with an intern.

Would the world be a better place if none of these things occurred? Absolutely. But there is little reason to act as if LJ didn't learn to be homophobic and insensitive the old-fashioned way. Football, like most male sports, is homophobic and insensitive. Coaches - not all, but enough - use the F-word. Four or five years ago Matt Millen, when he was the general manager of the Detroit Lions, used the F-word to describe a Chiefs receiver.

As for Johnson's tweets about Haley's credentials to be an NFL coach, the complaints that Haley never played the game?

I hope Haley and Pioli are not that insecure, because the truth is, there was no one inside Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday who didn't wonder about Haley's qualifications. He coached like an amateur golfer.

Now is not the time to cut Larry Johnson. Pioli could've and should've done that in February. LJ, pardon the cliche, is what he is. He's a moody, immature weirdo who pouts when things go poorly and broods when things are going well."