La vida del señor Ochocinco
Be it the star receiver, the entertainer, or the news reporter: Chad Ochocinco is changing how we view sports media.
Old-school receivers would maybe do a little jig in the end zone and that’s that. However Ochocinco and even Terrell Owens have made it spectacle when a touchdown is scored. This keeps it fun for them, and America loves it. It’s even gotten to the point where Ochocinco is receiving suggestions for possible future celebrations.
Some of these require past knowledge of Ochocinco and his antics. His celebration with the letter telling the NFL to not fine him again or his hall of fame jacket. However any person can enjoy most of his other celebrations. Putt-Putt, posing as Santa Claus, doing a touchdown dive into the opponents fans, and doing a riverdance all are family-friendly celebrations that bring a great energy and fun to any stadium and home game room throughout the country.
Aside from that he also has had some funny antics that are really harmless but haven’t always gone over well. He has sent Pepto-Bismol to the Cleveland Browns because of the stomach problems they’d have after guarding him. He also sent deoderant to the Baltimore Ravens DB’s saying they’d need the whole stick when defending him. Another one he wanted to do but wasn’t allowed to, was sending mustard to the Pittsburgh Steelers who play in Heinz Field.
The media has torn him down for this seeing it as a distraction and unprofessional. HE’S JUST HAVING FUN! He isn’t having a sex boat trip, he isn’t abusing his wife, he isn’t involved in a dog-fighting ring, he isn’t even cussing out teammates. So what’s the problem here? Nothing. Absolutly nothing. The problem is the media trying to find something wrong in everything
The media is searching for anything and everything they can to make a star athlete look bad. However the bad thing for them is that he has talked to Marvin Lewis about his “antics”. Marvin has told him to go for it, and why not? It gets the team publicity and he isn’t doing anything that could convince kids to do something illegal or will get them in trouble. This is what’s wrong with all media. They will only try to tear people down and not try to bring people up.
The ironic thing is that Ochocinco is one of the most involved players in the media themselves. He owns the Ochocinco News Network, is on the news all the time, and is one of the most involved facebook and twitter althletes in the world. His news network wasn’t only interviewing players, but also was interviewed by ESPN. This guy is a media gold-mine and clearly a fan-favorite. That leads to a big controversy he is causing however. Roger Goodell, the Commissioner has said that tweeting during a game isn’t allowed, but also at one point wanted to put a twitter policy in place of what can/can’t be said on there.
Personally I would love to read Chad’s thoughts during a game. Lewis could make it so he can only do it when the coaches aren’t talking to him, and limit it to lets say… 4 tweets a game. I understand the concern with that, but that would be a huge boost that the NFL needs.
The “twitter policy” however is ridiculous. It didn’t go through, but just the policy being thought of seems to almost shut down any player from expressing themselves. The media should’ve been all over that piece. Instead they focused on Ochocinco wanting to tweet in a game, distracting the team, and tearing him down as a person. The media needs to be more like the Ochocinco News Network. Fun, entertaining, and showing what the people really want. People watch negative news because they like to know what’s going on. However they don’t know that there are positive stories to be found.
Those positive stories are really what America wants to see. They want personal stories on the athletes and fun interactive things to do. The Ochocinco News Network and Ochocinco’s twitter account will soon be one of the most sought after sources of information because that’s what Chad is going to show and tweet about. America will finally get what it wants, whether the media and Goodell like it or not.
This is a wonderful post! I love the irony that you point out about the media and his own role as a member of the media. Is he a media member? Is twitter a media outlet? I don’t know. Fun guy, fun post. Style-wise, an imbedded photo or two of him “Being him” at various points in the post would REALLY enhance the look and feel. Great links – I had fun checking them out and being reminded of some of his gags. Here’s a new one . . . things we should see are fuzzed out:
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2010/03/03/chad-ocho-cinco-running-naked/