Ochocinco pranks Ravens’ defenders

That crazy Chad Ochocinco is at it again.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Ochocinco sent gift baskets containing deodorant to the Ravens’ secondary and to linebackers Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis.

Chad Ochocinco, the Bengals’ flamboyant wide receiver, said today on 105.7 FM that he sent gift baskets containing deodorant to the Ravens’ secondary and to linebackers Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis.

“I not only sent them gift baskets, but I sent them something they could use so they don’t sweat,” Ochocinco said.

The Ravens and Bengals meet at 1 p.m. Sunday in Cincinnati.

Ray had this to say in response:

Not to take the fun out of this post, but I don’t think it was wise for Ocho to poke an angry dog with a stick. Considering the source, I’m sure Baltimore won’t get too riled up over the gift baskets, but the Ravens already have revenge on their minds after the Bengals beat them a couple weeks ago at their home turf and will desperately be seeking a win this weekend.

I think this is the week the Bengals start missing what Antwan Odom brought to the field. They didn’t need him in their Week 7 trouncing of the Bears, but the Ravens’ offense has been firing on all cylinders and just routed a good Denver defense last Sunday. Even for how good Cincinnati’s defense is, they still need the front four to generate some pressure or else Joe Flacco will pick them apart.

Browns drop to 0-4 under Mangini

The Browns’ 23-20 overtime loss to instate rival Cincinnati on Sunday really summed up Eric Mangini’s start in Cleveland.

Carson PalmerThe Browns did the improbable in the fourth quarter by blocking an extra point following a Chad Ochocinco 2-yard touchdown pass to force overtime. Then they really did the improbable by allowing a gimpy Carson Palmer to scramble 15 yards in the extra period to set up Shayne Graham’s game-winning 31-yard field goal with four seconds remaining.

Did I mention that Palmer’s scramble was on fourth down? Had they stopped the Bengals on that play, Mangini and the Browns were looking at a tie at the very least, which certainly would have been better than suffering their fourth consecutive loss.

The good thing for Cleveland is that they fought hard after trailing Cincinnati 14-7 early in the first half. They also forced two key turnovers and the offense looked more efficient with Anderson under center than they did with Brady Quinn in previous weeks. Jerome Harrison rushed for 121 yards on 29 carries, while rookie receiver Mohamed Massaquoi caught eight passes for 148 yards.

But moral victories don’t really count when you’re 0-4. Mangini deserves time to build the roster he wants, but in the meantime he still needs to produce a victory or two because the Cleveland faithful has suffered enough. A win today would have given Mangini a little support.

Hell, a tie would have done the same thing.

Blogging the Bloggers: Twitter battles, The Tom Tebow song, and more

- FANHOUSE provides its take on the 2009 NBA schedule. Christmas Day features five games, including the Knicks-Heat and the Clippers-Suns. Wait…what?

- EVERY DAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY has “The Tim Tebow Song.” Pretty catchy.

- NO GUTS NO GLORY informs us that any Packers caught Tweeting during team activities will be fined $1,701. What I want to know is how they came up with that number.

- SHUTDOWN CORNER has video of Reggie Wayne showing up to camp in construction gear and a dump truck. Don’t worry, Reggie explains the metaphor.

- PRO FOOTBALL TALK has the transcript of the Chad Ochocinco/Mark Schlereth mini-feud on Twitter yesterday.

Carson Palmer completely healthy?

After missing virtually the entire 2008 season with an elbow injury, Bengals’ quarterback Carson Palmer says that he is 100% again.

“I’m great. I feel great. I’m 100 percent healthy, throwing, lifting, running all that stuff,” said Palmer, who played in just four games in 2008 after opting to forgo reconstructive surgery to repair a partially torn ligament and tendon in his right elbow. Instead, Palmer chose to let the tissue damage heal with rest and rehabilitation.

And while he admitted his arm strength wasn’t where he wanted it to be during a late June minicamp, Palmer told FanHouse this week he’s now 100 percent physically, and confident in his belief that the elbow shouldn’t hamper him in 2009.

“It’s just a big weight off of my shoulders. I didn’t know if I was going to have the ‘Tommy John’ surgery – I still wouldn’t be able to throw, to this day, if I had had that,” Palmer said. “I’m just thankful I didn’t have to go through that. The doctors who said that it would heal were right and it did heal. So I’ve been throwing, just doing everything to get geared up for the season.”

The Bengals aren’t as bad as they appear to be – they’re just incredibly dysfunctional. The defense has a couple of young, talented pieces to build around (i.e. Keith Rivers, Leon Hall, Rey Maualuga, etc.) and if Palmer can stay healthy, he gives this team a chance to stay in ballgames.

Of course the offensive line is a bit of a mystery and if this team is relying on Cedric Benson to be a consistent (key word: consistent) every down back, then it might be in for a rude awakening. Throw in Chad Ochocinco’s daily antics and it’s hard to get a good read on if Cincy is a potential dark horse or heading for a 4-12 season.

Either way, the Bungles will certainly be an interesting team to follow in ’09.

Ochocinco: ‘MJ’s death just as sad as 9/11’

After the news of pop star Michael Jackson’s death reached the public, athletes everywhere started to share their disbelief on the web. One of those athletes was Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco, who said Jackon’s death was just as sad as the 9/11 tragedy.

“Okay, first Mrs. Fawcett now Mr. Jackson, please tell me that this is a mistaken rumor, if not this is just as sad as 9/11 …

okay not as bad as 911, its sad period, both situations my goodness people, they just said he is okay in the hospital …

The 9/11 was a bit over the top, i am just in an emotional state right now, bare with me while i regroup people, be back in 10 minutes …

Sorry 85 million times, today sucks man, i still have my jacket with the zippers on it, wow”

Comparing Jackson’s sad death to a national tragedy was just flat out stupid. Ocho obviously crossed the line, realized it and apologized. But this is proof that certain athletes should stay off sites like Twitter, where the public can read their half-wit thoughts at any time.

Ochocinco at it again, challenges Merriman to boxing match

In this week’s installment of “Ochocinco, as The World Turns,” Chad challenges Shawne Merriman to a boxing match.

Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco and Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman are known for their talk on the field, but it’s their online chatter that’s becoming good offseason entertainment.

Ochocinco said this week on the social networking site Twitter that he was confident the Bengals would win the Week 15 matchup between the two teams and challenged Merriman and the San Diego defense.

Merriman’s reply of “Are you serious?” prompted Ochocinco to challenge the Chargers OL to a boxing match. The receiver, who is sparring this offseason, also posted: “Shawne Merriman tryin to stop Ocho Cinco, CHILD PLEASE, better chance at finding Osama!”

In response, the Chargers linebacker, who’s working his way back from knee surgery last season, posted a video of himself sparring, looking ready to shut up the Bengals receiver Ochocinco.

A brief tale of the tape gives the advantage to Merriman, who’s 6-foot-4 and 272 pounds compared to Ochocinco, who’s 6-1, 192.

As usual, Ocho is just goofing around trying to get a rise out of people. Two weeks ago he put fake tattoos on his face, last week he said he as staying at Carson Palmer’s house for the summer and this week he’s challenging Merriman to a fight. It’s all an act.

Glad to see he’s having fun again, although I’ll reserve laughing until he actually puts up good numbers this season.

Palmer’s wife slams door on idea of Ochocinco moving in

Earlier this week, Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco said he was going to be staying with quarterback Carson Palmer in July in order to make up for lost time after the wideout skipped most of the team’s OTA sessions.

But apparently Mrs. Palmer has nixed that idea:

Carson said Shaelyn got either a text message or e-mail from a friend, saying Ochocinco planned to stay with the Palmers in the days leading up to training camp. Shaelyn gave birth to twins — a boy and a girl — on Jan. 20.

“As soon as I walked in the door from work the other day, she just gave me that look,” Palmer said. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, calm down. It’s media stuff. It’s Chad being Chad.’

“I told her, ‘Don’t worry. I haven’t made any commitments to having to clear out the boxes in the (spare) room to make a bed for him. Don’t worry about that. It’s not going to happen.’ ”
Undeterred, Ochocinco keeps insisting he’s staying with the Palmers.

“No,” Carson said. “I just told him that unless he’s picking up my mortgage for the month of July and August, he can’t stay. He’s not living for free. I don’t need another kid around the house.”

I’ve been critical of Ochocinco this past offseason, stating that he’s been more of a distraction than a funnyman like most perceive him to be. And his face tattoo joke was flat out stupid.

But I’ve got to admit, him telling the media that he’s staying over at the Palmer house is pretty damn funny. I can’t get the image of Chad showing up at Carson’s front door with an overnight bag and a big ass smile on his face out of my head. Or him knocking on the door of the master bedroom and asking to borrow a toothbrush because he forgot his.

Hilarious.

Chad Ochocinco thinks we care

Attention everyone: Chad Ochocinco “punked” us. Yeah, he got us real good.

Late Wednesday, the flamboyant wide receiver had three tattoos implanted on his face. On his right cheekbone are two crosses. Ochocinco then had a miniature map of the state of Florida, his home state, inked into his left cheekbone.

On the bridge of his nose, Ochocinco now has the letters OC, presumably to tout his name, which was legally changed in a Florida court in 2008.

The wide receiver declined comment, saying he would speak with the media in the Bengals locker room on Thursday.

But on his Twitter feed Thursday, Ochocinco said they were fake.

“The entire twitt (sp) world and media outlets got punked, that was my twitt joke from yesterday, they follow I’ll have fun with it,” he wrote.

“My grandma would kill me if I had damn facial tatts!!! Fun while it lasted, back to normal, I felt different to,” he said.

Boy, that was a good one, Chad – you really had us there. Outside of the Cincinnati TV station that reported this story, nobody cares. This isn’t news and the only reason why I’m posting something on it is so that I do my part to criticize the antics of Chad Ochocinco Johnson Phillip McGillacutty Wilson 8-Ball Perez (or whatever he’s calling himself these days). This is a man so desperate for attention that it’s beyond the point of sad.

Word of advice, Chad: Cut the crap and just play ball. Show up, work hard and go home. Nobody cares anymore about what you do or say because your act is tired and old. Punk that…

Ochocinco reports to Bengals’ OTAs

Receiver Chad Ochocinco reported to Bengals’ voluntary workouts on Tuesday, marking the first time he showed up to any voluntary workout since 2007.

The Bengals got a surprise Tuesday when they confirmed wide receiver Chad Ochocinco showed up at Paul Brown Stadium before a voluntary workout and took a physical.

There was no word if he would practice, which would be his first voluntary workout with the club since 2007. He indicated Monday he wouldn’t show until next weekend’s mandatory minicamp.
It was in stark contrast to last year’s return to a media circus during the minicamp after an offseason he ripped the club and demanded a trade in hopes of securing a new contract. No media access had been scheduled Tuesday and there won’t be until Thursday.

Chances are, Ochocinco reported just to make sure he was there early for when HBO tapes the Bengals for their next installment of “Hard Knocks.” Lord knows Chad doesn’t want to miss any opportunities being in front of the camera.

Lewis, Ochocinco finally speak

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis says that he has spoken with Chad Ochocinco and that he anticipates the receiver showing up for the team’s June 18 minicamp.

Lewis acknowledged after Tuesday’s practice that he talked to Ochocinco a few days ago, a rarity in an offseason Ochocinco has been ducking calls from the 513 area code.

“The biggest thing I told Chad just the other day is with a lot of the new things we’re doing he’s going to have to play catch up,” Lewis said. “He’s excited about that and is working hard. Chad learns football very quickly and he’ll be able to get his feet on the ground. What he found last year when you’re working with a team and you’re doing football, there’s a lot more stress on it. When he gets here I will judge how much football I’ll allow him to do until he proves he’s in the shape our players are in.”

The Ocho didn’t report until mandatories last year, which he limped through because he needed arthroscopic ankle surgery. Then after missing the first week of training camp, he missed the last two weeks of the preseason with a separated shoulder.

Asked if The Ocho is going to be his starting receiver in two weeks, Lewis said, “I’ll see him when I see him.”

It’s about time Ochocinco earns a starting spot. It’s been a long time since he’s had to work for a starting gig and this is the perfect offseason for Lewis to drum up some much-needed competition in Bengals camp. Ironically, the person likely to give Ochocinco his biggest competition is Chris Henry, who has apparently been outstanding so far in workouts.

If Ochocinco shows up to camp and outperforms Henry, then he deserves the starting gig. But if Henry beats him, then Ochocinco should accept his role (whatever it may be) and stop being a distraction.

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