2B- Monday, September 8, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

2B - Monday, September 8, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

No mds, Ocho Cinco

V
CLIF REEDER Daily
Sophomore Lexi Zimmerman had a season-high 51 assists in a win against Georgia
Tech this weekend.
Despite youth,
'Moverpowers
Yellow Jackets
Zimmerman leads But this weekend, the Wol-
verines weren't focused on their
the way for Blue in offseason losses, only on their six
straight victories to open this sea-
impressive victory son.
No. 25 Michigan proved inex-
By RYAN KARTJE perience wasn't a problem at the
Daily Sports Writer Georgia Tech Invitational on Sun-
day. In their first true test of the
The Michigan women's volley- season, Michigan toppled the host
ball team's offseason was riddled Yellow Jackets, 3-2.
with losses. "The match could've gone either
The Wolverines' all-time leader way two or three times," Rosen
in kills, Katie Bruzdzinski, gradu- said. "But somehow, we always
ated along with three other start- managed to pull it out."
ers, leaving coach Mark Rosen The Wolverines (6-0) were
with four huge holes to fill. down two sets to one, but reeled off
Michigan also had to rebound a convincing victory in the fourth
from its heartbreaking loss to set, 25-20, leadingthe entire set.
eventual National Champion Penn Georgia Tech (5-1) narrowed
State, which knocked them out of Michigan's lead to 12-11 in the fifth
the NCAA tournament. See YELLOW JACKETS, Page 6B

Ifor one, was happy to see
that the NFL didn't let the
receiver formerly known
as Chad Johnson wear "Ocho
Cinco" on his jersey yesterday.
Ocho
Cinco played
yesterday's
game with a
"C. Johnson"
nameplate on
his uniform,
just like he
has the past NATE
seven sea=- AT
sons. SANDALS
In a state-
mentreleased
by Ocho Cinco's team, the Cin-
cinnati Bengals, the NFL said it
wouldn't allow the jersey name
change and would continue to list
the receiver as Chad Johnson on
the official stats because "certain
issues remain to be resolved."
The NFL didn't explain why
it wouldn't'allow the switch, but
I'm happy to list mine here.
Johnson legally changed his
last name to his nickname, Ocho
Cinco, in the hopes of creating
buzz and furthering his own
celebrity. It was a move made
with purely individual goals in
mind.
Call me old fashioned, but
when I watch a team sport, I'm
watching for the team.
We live in a post-Michael Jor-
dan era, a time when the super-
stars draw more attention than
the teams they play on. Ocho
Cinco is a five-time Pro Bowl-
er, but a player should achieve
superstar status solely by their
actions on the field, not their
brash comments to the media.
Remember, this is the same
player that has been fined by the
NFL several times for ridiculous
touchdown celebrations, includ-
ing one in which he mocked the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. C
This is the same guy who said
he could beat Michael Phelps in
a swimming race during the Olym-
pics last month.
This is the same wide receiver
who threatened to sit out the 2008
season unless he was traded over
the summer because his team

0i
0

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco was forced to wear a "C. Johnson" nameplate on his jersey yesterday,

wasn't supporting him.
Having followed Ocho Cinco's
exploits since his breakout 2005
season, it's clear to me that John-
son only cares about himself and
his image. Allowing him to put
"Ocho Cinco"_on the back of his
jersey was only going to further
separate him from the Bengals.
Now I've never played compet-

itive football and I've never met
Chad Ocho Cinco, but it I'm pretty
sure no one would have heard of
him without the rest of his team.
I'd like to see Johnson make it to
the endzone for another celebra-
tion playing 1-on-11. It wouldn't
happen. But by the way Ocho
Cinco acts, you get the feeling he
thinks he could doit all on his own


.

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if he had.the chance.
The NFL has taken a lot of heat
in the past couple of years, espe-
cially under new commissioner
Roger Goodell, for being the "No
Fun League."
,,Maybe chat's true, Thed|WL
probably isn't as fun as it was just
six years ago, when Terrell Owens
was pulling Sharpies out of his
sock and dancingwithpompoms
after touchdowns. (Remember
that TO got an endorsement deal
with Sharpie out of that. Try
arguing that it's just for fun and
not about money now.)
There's no question it's hard
for a football player to market
himself for endorsement deals.
It's hard to know what most
footballplayerslooklike because
they always wear helmets.
Butthere's arightwayto mar-
ket yourself and a wrong way.
The right way is by playing
so well that people have to take
notice. Those players get just as
many endorsements, ifnot more,
than anyone else. Just look at
Donovan McNabb and all those
soup commercials.
Thewrongway is pulling
ridiculous stunts to get more
attention.
Most of us learn that acting
out will only get us in trouble by
the time we reach third grade.
It's nice to see that Goodell and
the NFL are making sure that
characters like Johnson are
finally getting the memo.
But based on his performance
yesterday, maybe it's just that
Ocho Cinco doesn't play at his
best wearing a jersey with his
family name. He was practically
invisible in the Bengals loss at
Baltimore, registering just one
reception for 22 yards.
If his jersey had Ocho Cinco
on the back, I'm sure "Johnson"
would have gone for 200 yards
and three touchdowns.
- Sandals can be reached
at nsandals@umich.edu.

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