Ocho-Snake-O?
Dear Hines Ward: Chad Ochocinco sees your Dancing With The Stars title, and he keeps trying to raise you another stunt.
He's trying, and trying, and trying.
The Bengals wide receiver's wild, locked-out offseason could soon include a second potentially dangerous foray into the animal kingdom. And this idea comes in direct response to a comment the Bengals' owner made earlier this week.
Bengals owner Mike Brown told the Cincinnati Enquirer he wished Ochocinco would concentrate more on football instead of his attention-grabbing stunts. What nerve.
"Next maybe he'll be a snake wrangler and we'll watch to see if he gets bit," Brown said. "They amuse me in a way, but they concern me because, let's face it, we want a football player. We aren't hiring a bull rider, a dancer or a soccer player."
Planet Chad has been all of those things in the last 15 months. Ochocinco was on Dancing With The Stars last spring, but he wasn't able to join Ward or Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith in the ranks of football players who won the show's title. Earlier this year Ochocinco had an extended tryout with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer this offseason in addition to picking fights on Twitter and challenging his head coach, Marvin Lewis, to a steel-cage match.
Two weeks ago, he rode a bull in a Professional Bull Riders event in Duluth, Georgia. He didn't last long, but he kept his word.
And when he got word that Brown had suggested snake wrangling, he took to his popular Twitter account to share both his excitement and some of the research he's done on the subject.
"I've partnered with Snake Jungle to go out and become the first black #SnakeWrangler thanks to my owner Mike Brown for the great idea," was one of his tweets on the subject.
All this, of course, comes on the heels of a season that saw the Bengals go from running the table in one of the NFL's toughest divisions to losing 10 straight en route to a 4-12 year. In the aftermath, longtime quarterback Carson Palmer has sold his Cincinnati house and has vowed to retire before he ever plays another down for the Bengals.
Neither Ochocinco nor the Bengals will ever be accused of being boring. Will they ever be friendly again? Brown doesn't often trade or cut established players who are still under contract, and Ochocinco still has a year left on his current deal. Ochocinco, 33, is the Bengals' all-time leading receiver
Lewis said earlier this month that during the offseason there's not a lot the team can do to prevent players from taking part in dangerous or questionable off-field activities -- and there's nothing they can do about them during the lockout.
In response to a question about picking players for the future, Lewis said, "we hope their passion is football."
--Zac Jackson