Babeled

Last week, Chad Johnson, the wide-receiver for the Cinncinnati Bengals legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco.  Chad Johnson, or I guess I really should call him Ocho Cinco, first used his new name during the 2006 season.  Cinco’s career numbers speak for itself, with a total of 49 TD’s, 559 receptions, and 8,365 yards.  While his stats have been very impressive since 2003, his career has been littered with on the field antics.  He is best known for his endzone dances, in fact, Fox Sports voted him the #1 showboat in sports in 2006.  #85 loves all the attention he gets from the media and the public, whether it’s bad or good.  He has also attracted attention from the media by sporting a bleach blonde mohawk, wearing his bling bling, and opening his big mouth.  Obviously, this guy loves the attention, just as Dennis Rodman does.

Dennis Rodman won five NBA Championships on two different teams, the Detriot Pistons (1989 & 1990) and the Chicago Bulls (1996, 1997, 1998).  As a power forward, Rodman was a fierce defensive player and a great rebounder.  He was selected seven times to the NBA All-Defensive First Team and twice as an All-Star.  Phil Jackson was recently quoted saying that Rodman was the best athlete that he ever coached.  What a compliment to be given by the guy who coached many other great NBA players, such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaq, and Scottie Pippen.  Nevertheless, Rodman is probably most remembered for his “bad boy” attitude and goofy appearances.  On the field his is remembered for dying his hair multiple colors (sometimes at the same time), his tattoed appearance, his fights (both verbal and physical), and numerous other altercations.  Let’s not forget that this was the same guy that kicked a camera man in the nuts after falling into the sideline.  Off the field, Rodman is remembered for wearing a wedding dress, having affairs with celebrities (Madonna and Carmen Electra), claiming to be a bisexual, and wrestling in the WWF.

Getting back to the main idea behind this post, I believe that Chad Javon Ocho Cinco is the Dennis Rodman of Football.  While Ocho Cinco has not done all of the things that Rodman did, he is undoubtedly an “attention whore”.  Why else would he change his name to the spanish representation of his jersey’s number?  Whether it be wearing a wedding dress or racing a horse, both of these supreme athletes will constantly be overshadowed by their off-the-wall antics.

Image used in Post

Ocho Stinko image courtesy of Flickr user Bearman2007 published under the CC license.

Popularity: 10% [?]

The Olympics are here and I have not watched any of it.  Nevertheless I might as well be watching since all anyone at the office wants to talk about is the goings on in Beijing.  For obvious reasons, the prowess of Michael Phelps is the source of 90% of the discussion.  Unless you live under a rock you know about his 6 for 6 Gold Medal count thus far, with two more events to go.  The other 10% of Olympic discourse is reserved for the ridiculous backyards of the woman beach volleyball players.  Do yourself a favor and exploit Google Images.

But enough of that, this particular nugget of information I read on CNN.com regarding Phelps’ morning diet is unbelievable…

His day starts with three cheese-tomato-onion-fried egg sandwiches, an omelet, three powdered-sugar-covered slices of French toast, a bowl of grits and three chocolate chip pancakes to top it off, according to news reports. Phelps told reporters earlier this week he was instructed to eat between 8,000 and 10,000 calories every day. Other news reports put the total as high as 12,000 calories.

Look’s like there is no Wheaties Box in Phelps’ future.

Popularity: 14% [?]

J-E-T-S: Jets, Jets, Jets!  Somebody make it stop!  Sadly, those chants will be louder than ever after today’s edict of false hope was bestowed upon a beleaguered franchise.  Brett Favre, lord and savior, is now a New York Jet. Can you believe it?  Sadly it’s true and it looks like Jason Morgan’s wish was a total failure.

It is a shame that an all-time greats of the National Football League will finish out the twilight of his career in a uniform that does not bleed nearly as pure as Packer Green.  I’m not even going to touch upon the melodrama that unfolded between Favre (the King of indecision) and the Packer organization, but isn’t it going to be awful to see a player of his caliber and importance in another uniform?

Situations like this represent all that is wrong with sports.  When players like Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan, Willie Mays, Joe Montana put on another uniform it is sad and unfortunate.  Granted more often than not the player is always of diminished skills and just cannot let go of the game.  Nevertheless, there is something to be said for an organizational mainstay to live out his entire career with one team.  Where is the pride of legacy?

Now we all have the joy of watching Packer great Brett Favre in an impostor uniform; playing for New York’s other team.  Of course this will not stop Jet fans from thinking this is their year.  I just hope that after Favre embarrassed himself this off-season he does not resort to wearing pantyhose and fur coats like the Jets other legendary Quarterback.

Update: Whoops!  This is going to be interesting for the marketing folks at Electronic Arts.  As a sendoff for the legendary quarterback, Brett Favre is set to appear on the 2009 cover wearing his Packer Uniform.  So much for that!  The game is set to ship to retail stores in August.  Will they update the cover?

Either way, this further magnifies the embarrassment and awkwardness of the entire situation.  Personally, I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Donovan McNabb has been a man surrounded by controversy since being drafted second overall by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999. There were jeers and boos from the crowd who had hoped that the Eagles would draft Rickie Williams over McNabb. In retrospect, who got the last laugh out of that one?

I became disenchanted with Donovan McNabb in the 2002 season. I saw a lot of passes being thrown at receivers’ ankles. Then there was the inability to seal the deal, as it were, and get the Eagles to the Super Bowl. As the years went on I saw in McNabb a quarterback who had excellent mobility trying desperately to reject that athletic ability and evolve into a pocket passer. Seeing as most pocket passers would benefit from a bit more mobility, I consider this a devolution in McNabb’s style. Then there is the issue with his fragility. He has had season ending injuries in 2 of the last 4 years and continues to look frail as he had another ankle injury in the 2007 season.

And let us not forget the T.O. factor. I am going to make this very simple for everyone regardless of your opinion of T.O. or McNabb. McNabb’s quarterback rating in 2003 was an anemic 79.6. In 2004 (the year T.O. really played in Philadelphia) McNabb’s QB rating was a robust 104.7. The next year (T.O. was on the Eagles roster but did not play most of the 2005 season due to quarrelling with McNabb and the franchise) McNabb’s QB rating dropped to a barely middle-of-the-pack 85. Anyone still think T.O. didn’t matter in Philadelphia and that McNabb was really the superstar? If so, you clearly have no concept of what QB ratings mean or football in general

Despite all of this injury-laden history, Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie continues to stand behind the Reid-McNabb show.  During his State of the Team address yesterday, Lurie focused mostly on contracting strategies but also discussed Reid and McNabb.  This speech included bold statements such as:

They have been one of the most special, successful duos in probably the history of the league and it’s still just there.  They are both in their prime, coach and quarterback, and it’s been awhile since we’ve been able to really appreciate Donovan healthy.

This anecdote is especially troubling to me.  It is clear that Lurie is deluded about his quarterback’s true value to the organization.  While he clearly acknowledged the injury situation, Lurie did not place any blame on the quarterback for not maintaining proper game-day fitness-levels.  McNabb isn’t going away anytime soon, based on Lurie’s remarks.

Attached is a NFL QB analysis that shows where McNabb falls out when compared against 9 other NFL starting quarterbacks. When viewing the graphs inside the file please note that the size of the bubble corresponds to the size of the salary. The other two axes are labeled.

The good (for McNabb): McNabb and Brady are tied for highest touchdown to interception ratio at 2.2 TDs per INT. McNabb was 2nd best in INTs per game at 0.7.

The bad (for McNabb): McNabb has the 3rd highest salary with the 3rd lowest QB rating. He also had the lowest completion percentage at 58.5% which significantly trailed the other 9 quarterbacks who all were above 60%. McNabb was middle of the road in just about every other category analyzed.

After all the analysis, McNabb is a better quarterback than I gave him credit for but he still trails the top QBs in several production categories. What he does not trail the top QBs in is salary. There are certainly a lot worse options for the quarterback position out there but McNabb sure is expensive given his production. All I am saying is that maybe Donovan McNabb is a solid starting QB; however, he is certainly not a future Hall of Famer based upon numbers and production.

Popularity: 16% [?]

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of taking in my first horse race.  I went up to Monmouth Park Racetrack with family and friends for some gambling, grilling, and good ole fashion beer drinking - in no particular order.  The experience was better than expected, even with the flood gates unleashing a two hour thunderstorm and over an inch of rain.  Fortunately I grabbed some decent photos with my Canon Digital SLR while it was still dry.

For this picture I was shooting in RAW mode with a wide open aperture value of f/5.6 and the shutter speed set to 1/1250.  My ISO setting was at 400. My post editing consisted of High Dynamic Range processing of this photo with Photomatix Pro 3.

Image Used in this Post

Race Horse image courtesy of flickr user Greg Molyneux published under the CC license.

Popularity: 18% [?]