Love him or hate him, Chad Ochocinco is one of those guys you simply can't ignore. Whether he's tweeting all night, staging a ridiculous end zone celebration or arguing with Skip Bayless, he's always doing something to distance himself from the crowd. The latest in a long line of attention-grabbers? He tried to bribe an official with a dollar. Yep, a one-dollar bill.
The attempted -- and fake, by the way, because he was smiling the whole time -- bribery occurred during the Bengals' pivotal victory over division-foe Baltimore. It didn't work -- and, again, he wasn't really trying to bribe the official -- as the play in question went against the Bengals after review. Hopefully Ocho kept his dollar and will be tucking it elsewhere in celebratory fashion.
More Coverage: Reborn Bengals Shut Baltimore Up | NFL Photos
- People who think he was actually trying to bribe the official and should get in serious hot water with the league.
- People who think Ocho is such a clown that his antics need to be dealt with just to put a stop to the madness.
- People who think bribing officials is too delicate a subject and shouldn't be openly joked about, even though it was clearly evident he wasn't serious.
On the flip side, he was just trying to have fun.
"You saw that?" Ochocinco said after the game. "I was going to give them a dollar just to bribe them. 'Just give me the call, give me the catch, we need this one.'
"I might get fined. Mr. [Roger] Goodell, I'm sorry. I'm just having fun."
While I don't actually think it's creative or funny (seriously, people do this every Saturday when I officiate elementary football ... when you hear a "joke" roughly seven billion times, it ceases to be funny and becomes more than annoying), this is nothing we should work ourselves into a tizzy about. It's just a guy, who is desperate for attention, trying to have fun with his job. I can't find a problem there -- again, other than the fact that it's an overplayed and uncreative "joke."
Hat tip: Dan McQuade of Philadelphia Will Do for the screen grab. Good stuff.
Comments (Page 1 of 6)
how
This was a preplanned joke and most likely will turn out to be an expensive one for Ocho The league will take that dollar and 9.999 others or more. No one can seriously think he was serious. It's not like he suddenly decided to try to bribe an official and reached in his back pocket for his billfold.
It was Attempted Bribery this week, what will it be next week!! The league needs to shut this and other buffoons down. This is the NFL not Ringling
Brothers Circus
Do you have NO sense of humor. The NFL needs a little lightening up. After all we already have NASCAR becoming a bore. I think what he did was funny, no one in their right mind would think he was serious, except you maybe. I bet even Roger Goodell had to laugh. Maybe not, he doesn't have much of a sense of humor either. It was great!
Really, what happened to a sense of humor and actually having a little fun? I am not a Cincy fan, but LOVE this guy. I remember the days of the "Icky Shuffle" when fans looked forward to the end-zone celebrations. I wish they'd just stop penalizing players for this stupid stuff.....the fans LOVE it! The fans are the ones buying the tickets, the merchandise, and spending all their hard earned dollars on overpriced food and beer.....let the players entertain them!
Another person wanting to take the Fun out of the NFL. I personally get a kick out of the little things they do. The cell phone in the goal post was one of the best.
I can't stand Chad O., however, isn't there something a bit more important in our lives than this? I know, if the NFL doesn't put a stop to this, we might soon have players actually treating fans with respect!
MARKUSHKA, I BET YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE CRY BABY RAVEN FANS.GO TELL YOUR MOTHER THAT CHAD OCHOCINCO DOESNT PLAY FAIR AND HE HAS FUN PLAYING FOOTBALL.DUDE, LIGHTEN UP,GET A LIFE.
Thats why NFL sucks....the players cant have fun.
Fun is not their job, winning football games is. THey can save the fun for off the feild.
How do you figure fun is not their job? Their job is to play football, they should be doing something else if it's not fun for them. Player Antics have always been a part of football.
i think it's funny.remeber when saints player took his cell phone out and called his mother after a touchdown?let the guys have fun dammit!
If Tom Brady did, I wonder if he would get fined. But I guess he's not that uncreative right.
Even though I'm not a Bengals fan I do tune in every week just to see what new and crazy thing OchoCinco will pull. I think that the NFL has gone way too far in trying to suck the fun out of the game. I miss the days of organized endzone celebrations.
I remember in school there was a class clown, he irked the teacher (nun) and when ever he would answer hunerd (one hundred) sister would give him an "F" but he still passed to the next grade at the end of the year with the rest of us, I'm 72 yrs. old now and I still remember the class clown.
Is he spanish?
Of course it wsa only a joke. Unless of course NFL refs CAN be bought for a dollar. If that is the case, maybe Dan Snyder should toss money that way instead of his loser team. This is just a joke too. With what he pays his team, a dollar may be too much for him to handle.
Im not an Ocho Cinco fan...but come on!!! It was hilarious! Can we say NFL,,,No Fun League again?
aol u suck for putting in this article nfl u suck too can no one have fun today get the thong out of your ass and enjoy life no harm was done
Yeah, I guess it would be a huge laugh if Ocho-Stinko got suspended and cost his team a game or two. (MORON!!!!!!!!)
No, if it were Tom Brady, they'd fine the ref for not laughing and going along with the joke.