Chad Johnson=T.O.?
In Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback today on cnnsi.com, he wrote about Chad Johnson (a wide receiver for the Bengals) and his theatrics. I’ve been watching football for some time and, up until this year, I got to see Randy Moss at least twice a year playing the Packers. This equates to seeing lots of theatrics and celebrations. Who can forget Randy Moss’ “mooning” last year? Or T.O. pulling out a sharpie to sign a football? It seems with some of these players, there is always some disrespectful way for them to draw attention to themselves.
At first glance, Chad Johnson looks like he might be the same type of guy. A few weeks ago, he did an impression of a bad Irish Dance after he scored a touchdown. And yesterday, after Johnson scored a touchdown, he ran over to a cheerleader, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. Both events gave me a good chuckle. And then compare that to Randy Moss’ mooning where I gasped instead of laughed.
Peter King had this to say about it:
Johnson and Owens are demonstrative guys who want the ball badly. Owens plays angry. Johnson plays with joy. That’s the difference right there. Maybe that’s because Owens is angry and Johnson is happy…
Was that hilarious or what? Johnson scored on a 68-yard bomb from Carson Palmer late in the first quarter — a great catch and run play. Sprinting out of the end zone, he curled around, ran toward the cheerleaders around the 10-yard line, took his helmet off, ran to the nearest Ben-Gal, dropped down on his knee, took her hand and said, “Will you marry me?” She, and 66,000 other people (and a few Colts, I might guess) chuckled. “Last Tuesday,” Johnson said, “I went to the head of the cheerleaders and told her when I scored against the Colts, this is what I was going to do, regardless of what side it happened on. So I told her to have the cheerleaders ready. It was just my way of trying to have fun this week.”
And it was fun, like his RiverDance in Chicago and some of his other gems. “I will never degrade an opponent,” he said. “What I do is only for fun. My goal is for people to come to games and to say, ‘What’s he going to do today?’ It makes the game fun. I respect the game. I love the game. I have fun playing, and I want fans to have fun watching.”
A few weeks ago, I told my HBO colleague Cris Collinsworth that I wasn’t sure about Johnson’s act. I’d read when he got an idea for the offense he’d call coach Marvin Lewis, even if it was the middle of the night, and run the idea out by him. Lewis gets little enough sleep, I said to Collinsworth; it’s ridiculous Johnson can’t wait till morning. Collinsworth told me not to be down on Johnson, because he had a big heart and loved football. And Lewis told me Johnson’s insatiable work ethic has worn off on the other receivers. “Now T.J. [Houshmandzadeh] is in here at night,” Lewis said. “He figures if that’s how Chad’s getting the ball thrown to him, he wants a piece of that too.”
I think that players like T.O. and Randy Moss are incredibly talented people who risk throwing away their careers for a little time on Sportscenter. And maybe that’s all they want. But I also think that players like Chad Johnson might just have their priorities in check. He’s out there to have fun and work hard for his team without being overly selfish.
What do you think? Is Johnson just like the rest of them? Or do you agree with me?
I saw the Colts Bengal’s game Sunday, and it was a great game (Both teams are good, Colts are over rated.
When Johnson scored he wrote to TO, ‘I feel ya’ or something. That was stupid, but the joke was there and that was good.
The commentators the whole game talked about the lively mood Johnson brings to practice and his play
is evident of his talent. Either way he good and on a team w/ a decent QB, that is all a receiver needs
to be happy- a defense would be nice too though.
BTW - Go Broncos (8-2)!
Comment by Other Matt — 11/21/2005 @ 5:55 pm
broncos suck. packers rule. 2-8 trumps 8-2 in the high draft pick race.
anyway, i wouldnt really say randy moss was into celebrations. you usually saw him do something
when he was pissed off, or wanted to get at the other team’s fans. i dont know why, but i just
dont remember him doing anything like a joe horn cell phone or TO ray lewis imitation. i could
be wrong though…
and i dont really think i would say TO was trying to disrespect anyone. who cares if he makes fun
of ray lewis’ little dance (which is real dumb anyway)? what about when ray lewis stands over someone after he makes a
big hit? how come that isnt “disrespect?” i would much rather see TO dancing around and doing
something silly than something like that. makes it more fun. who doesnt want to tune in to
see a really good player like that make a great play, then do a fairy dance while smoking 3
cigarettes on top of the dallas star?
let these guys do whatever they want. call TO stupid for the other dumb things he does. send me cash.
Comment by Neill — 11/22/2005 @ 11:49 am
I agree that Chad Johnson is a little easier to take than either T.O. or Randy
Moss, but at the same time I don’t mind the celebrations (I
thought Moss “mooning” the fans was funny, I didn’t really understand what the
big deal was). What gets Moss and T.O. in to trouble is the crap they do
off the field, either running people over with their SUV or being a stupid,
immature teammate.
Go BEARS!!! If they could just convince Farve to come play in Chicago for a few
seasons we could stop this nonsense about the Colts being the best team in the
league. How about a Favre/Kyle Orton trade,
staight up? There is no way in hell Favre is going to win another Super Bowl
with the Packers, even if they suck enough this year to get Reggie Bush.
Comment by Jon — 11/23/2005 @ 11:28 am
You’re a Bears fan… of course the mooning wasn’t a big deal.
And Favre might have a chance next year. Reggie Bush, Sherman out, Holgren back in, Jim Bates still there as defensive coordinator, spending some money to improve the secondary and pass rush… we may be ok…
Comment by Tara — 11/23/2005 @ 11:48 am
I absolutely enjoy Chad Johnson and do not like TO for the reason Peter King opened his article and the reason Chad gave when he said, “I will never degrade an opponent.”
Also, the cheerleader he picked is INCREDIBLY hot.
Comment by Trendon — 12/3/2005 @ 12:06 am