Chad Ochocinco Delighted to Talk to NFL Commissioner
Chad Ochocinco gets a bad rap. Everybody knows that the longtime Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver is one of the NFL's premiere pass-catchers, but he has a reputation of being something of a selfish, attention-seeking diva.
While Ochocinco has done some things in the past to deserve a reputation such as this, those who follow him on Twitter should know better. The truth is that the dude is cool as hell, and I definitely recommend following him if you aren't already.
After all, who knows what you might be missing out on? If you're lucky, Ochocinco might just drop something exclusive.
On Thursday, for example, Ochocinco tweeted that he had received an "amazing surprise phone call" from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
As for what they talked about, Ochocinco indicated that it was nothing major. Goodell just asked him how he was doing and how his workouts were going, and it sounds like that's about it.
However, seeing as how the league is currently in a lockout right now, this is slightly more significant than you might think. Players aren't even allowed to talk to their own coaches, so the fact that Ochocinco shared a few words with the commissioner has a lot of people scratching their heads wondering if this is some kind of violation.
As far as Ochocinco is concerned, that Goodell even thought to call him was significant enough.
"[Truth is] I was nervous as hell when [Goodell] called me earlier," tweeted Ochocinco, "just the thought of him taking the time out to call is cool as fudge."
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Of course, the lockout implications were not lost on Ochocinco, but he seemed content to let people draw their own conclusions:
Its a lockout,let alone the offseason and the NFL commissioner called and we held an hour convo.Not sure how yall look at it but that's cool
Needless to say, some people have chosen to look at this phone call as a case of blatant hypocrisy.
For example, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk asked NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello, who re-tweeted one of Ochocinco's messages, what everyone should make of Goodell's phone call.
According to Aiello, ?normal social interaction? is permissible while the lockout is in effect, whether we're talking Goodell or the teams.
When asked if that could lead to some kind of slippery slope, Aiello merely said, ?Life is a slippery slope."
Well, I guess that's true... but it's still not much of an answer. As Florio points out, how do you police "normal social interaction" when the definition is apparently quite vague?
Not to fault Ochocinco for tweeting about it, but the only reason this is an issue at all is because it went public. But now that it is public, Goodell comes off as a villain. It may not be fair, but the perception of the general public is that Goodell deserves as much blame as anyone for the current crisis in the NFL, and the fact that he appears to have broken one of the lockout's major rules makes him look like a hypocrite.
Personally, I'd rather not worry myself with such things. As much as I love football, I think I would be better off wrapping my head around the NBA playoffs or a nice, relaxing baseball game. But I guess that's just me...
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