August 31, 2008

The Return of Ocho Cinco: The Cincinnati Bengals receiver has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in Broward County, Fla., a switch that became official this week.

posted by AaronGNP to football at 02:17 AM - 24 comments

well, if he actually had the balls to change his legal name to Ocho Cinco, maybe we should actually call him that.

Wait, this is Chad Johnson, who am I kidding.

posted by boredom_08 at 03:06 AM on August 31, 2008

Southern Californa radio sports personality Vic "the Brick" Jacobs frequently refers to Kobe Bryant as Ocho Cinco. (Bryant's Lakers uniform number is 24.) I only hope Chad Johnson's name change can put a stop to that.

posted by Newbie Walker at 04:33 AM on August 31, 2008

He should have gone that little extra and changed his first name to Richard.

posted by dyams at 09:31 AM on August 31, 2008

I hope he gets that trade he wanted afterall...to a team where 85's already taken.

posted by captaincavegirl at 10:16 AM on August 31, 2008

I don't get it. What is the correlation between Chad and the Spanish language? I'm guessing none. Nonsense and this guy just go hand in hand.

posted by UniqueFreak at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2008

Nonsense and this guy just go hand in hand.

I only think it's 'nonsense' if you somehow position pro sport (esp. NFL football) as 'sensical'. This is spectacle and entertainment at a level unrivaled at any time in history. Prince changed his name to a symbol. We know her only as "Madonna". Other entertainers do it all the time. Nonsense? Only if the way we valorize these people makes sense.

I'd say that nonsense and pro football go hand in hand.

posted by Spitztengle at 12:28 PM on August 31, 2008

Didn't Left Eye from TLC have Andre Rison's # tattooed on top of an Atlanta Falcon? Then he got traded. I thought that was funny. Please tell me there is a similar future in store for Ocho Cinco.

posted by BoKnows at 12:31 PM on August 31, 2008

Not on an Atlanta Falcon of course, I meant to say along with an Atlanta Falcon on her arm.

posted by BoKnows at 12:42 PM on August 31, 2008

Didn't Left Eye from TLC have Andre Rison's # tattooed on top of an Atlanta Falcon?

I'm guessing that was before she burned down his house?

posted by cjets at 01:07 PM on August 31, 2008

Small technicality cjets.

posted by BoKnows at 01:16 PM on August 31, 2008

I love Chad John..er, excuse me, Ocho Cinco but he really needs talk to someone that speaks spanish because the proper pronunciation for the number 85 isn't Ocho Cinco, it's Ochenta Cinco. Now, if he leagally changed his name then that's his name. He's not hurting anyone by his actions and is having fun, so what's the problem? People can be a little too uptight these days and understand that yes, he may be a somewhat of an attention diva but so what? Who is he hurting? He's not out there with friends shooting up a club or getting arresting for driving drunk.

Leave the guy alone and enjoy the way he plays the game. I just know that I have never seen someone like Ocho Cinco that manipulates the media as well as this guy. Let him have his fun since that's what sports is all about anyways. Even if this is a bit off the wall.

posted by BornIcon at 09:20 AM on September 01, 2008

"Ocho Cinco" still translates to "eight five", which is still reasonably valid, stupid though it is. This reminds me of an article I recently read about how New Zealand is cracking down on what parents are naming their children. Some of their children are ending up with names like "Sex Fruit", "Fish and Chips". and "Number 15 Bus Terminal"...makes "Ocho Cinco" seem common by comparison.

posted by TheQatarian at 04:47 PM on September 01, 2008

I'm totally on board with this. As pointed out, this is all about spectacle and entertainment...Chad Javon Ocho Cinco has always been about that.

In fact, in an effort to revitalize my fanatasy football team I have renamed my team. It had for years been simply the Vikings, in honor of Ocho Cinco, and the fact that someone of Hispanic descent has won several years in a row, I am now the Vikingos Resurgente! (the fact that I changed my team name before Chad did gives me a sense of street cred)

posted by dviking at 05:14 PM on September 01, 2008

Well, that all depends. There are those on this site who feel that you need to be on a winning team to even have a nickname. Got a winning record dviking?

posted by tahoemoj at 02:49 AM on September 02, 2008

"Ocho Cinco" still translates to "eight five", which is still reasonably valid...

No, it's not and I'll give you an example: If Chad is offsides, the ref isn't going say, "Offsides, number 8-5", he'll say, "Offsides, EIGHTY-FIVE" so although it may translate as 8-5, it doesn't mean EIGHTY-FIVE. You don't have to take my word for it but consider this, spanish is in fact my first language.

posted by BornIcon at 07:15 AM on September 02, 2008

tahoemoj...I have a winning record overall, and this season has just begun!

My personal feeling about athletes' nicknames is that they have to be given to them, they can not make them up themselves. Nor, can they just decide one day that they don't like their nickname, as in Pacman Jones.

posted by dviking at 10:04 AM on September 02, 2008

Ocho cinco doesn't still qualify as a nickname right? Now, that it is his legal name, a new nickname is in order. How about "Johnson"?

posted by BoKnows at 12:13 PM on September 02, 2008

I don't think it'll stick.

posted by tahoemoj at 03:45 PM on September 02, 2008

How about a slightly different version of "Johnson"...we'll just call him Dickhead.

posted by dviking at 05:07 PM on September 03, 2008

That's what all the underprivileged children in Cincinnati and Miami call him when they get Christmas presents from him. And the kids at his youth football clinics in the city, you should hear how they 'dis him!

posted by tahoemoj at 01:12 PM on September 04, 2008

That's what all the underprivileged children in Cincinnati and Miami call him when they get Christmas presents from him. And the kids at his youth football clinics in the city, you should hear how they 'dis him!

I'm assuming that this was posted with a sarcastic undertone but if it wasn't, then these kids are ungrateful.

Off the field, Chad does what he can with his time to help out the community as alot of pro athletes do but most pro athletes would rather not make the front page of the news with all the good that they do with their time & money.

Plus, what sells newspapers isn't a positive story anyways, but a negative one and that to me is just sad.

posted by BornIcon at 07:22 AM on September 05, 2008

That's what all the underprivileged children in Cincinnati and Miami call him when they get Christmas presents from him. And the kids at his youth football clinics in the city, you should hear how they 'dis him!

I'm assuming that this was posted with a sarcastic undertone but if it wasn't, then these kids are ungrateful.

Off the field, Chad does what he can with his time to help out the community as alot of pro athletes do but most pro athletes would rather not make the front page of the news with all the good that they do with their time & money.

Plus, what sells newspapers isn't a positive story anyways, but a negative one and that to me is just sad.

posted by BornIcon at 07:22 AM on September 05, 2008

It was indeed sarcastic. I do wish Johnson, er sorry, Ocho Cinco, woul concentrate a bit more on football, but its his life so, eh. I just object to names like "dickhead" being thrown toward a guy who's just having a little fun. People act as if Chad is a bad guy, afoul of the law, or somehow a terrible person because of all this. It seems to me that, compared with the antics of many around the league involving guns, drugs, strippers (o.k. maybe that's cool), dogs, fists, and other things, maybe people shouldn't be so quick to apply monikers to him for choosing to apply a silly one to himself.

posted by tahoemoj at 12:34 PM on September 05, 2008

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