Bengals’ receiver Chad Ochocinco has been fined $20,000 by the NFL for flashing a dollar bill at an official during a replay challenge in Cincinnati’s 17-7 win over the Ravens last Sunday.
In the third quarter of the Bengals’ eventual victory, Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer completed a 15-yard pass to Ochocinco. Baltimore challenged the call, contending that he was out of bounds, and the Ravens won the challenge.
While the play was under review, Ochocinco held a $1 bill at his side. The official appeared aware of his antic and waved him off.
“I was just being me,” Ochocinco told the NFL Network after the game. “I wasn’t going to do it for real.”According to a league spokesman, Ray Anderson, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, fined Ochocinco for violating a rule that “prohibits use of abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures toward game officials. He was also in violation of Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (f) of the Playing Rules which prohibits possession or use of extraneous objects that are not part of the uniform during the game on the field or sideline.”
The NFL also cited Ochocinco using the word “bribe” in his postgame comments to reporters.
“You don’t mess around with the integrity of the game,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Friday. “It’s not a matter for jokes. Chad crossed a line there, and I told him he has to understand that. I think he does now.”
I don’t know; I’m not surprised that the NFL fined him because they don’t want him or anyone else to make a habit of pulling pranks while on the field, but to say that Chad crossed the line is a bit much. He was just trying to have some fun and never means any harm by his pranks.
Again though, the NFL had to fine him or else players would be trying to outdo each other (or themselves in the case of Ochocinco) every week and while I don’t mind the occasional stunt, I wouldn’t want pranks to take away from the actual game itself.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
