Meet Chad Ochocinco. Many of you will already know who he is and recognise him as a lightning-fast wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL. His touchdown reception against the New England Patriots last Thursday took him level with the Bengals record for touchdown catches, and his 159 receiving yards took him past the 10,000 yards mark to make him only the sixth player to reach it with one team.
He is also a bit of a social media genius, tapping into a desire for complete openness, fan interaction and rich multimedia content in such a way that he has been able to offer some fantastic experiences to fans, court controversy with the NFL and become a demi-god among the social media types with whom I unfortunately must mix on a professional basis. In short, the man’s a star.
To his credit, he doesn’t always play with the wrong-shaped ball. In an interview on FSC’s Soccer Talk Live, Ochocinco spoke of his love for football. He trains with a football during the week and warms his legs up with juggling exercises before kick-off. He speaks with fondness about Arsenal (particularly Thierry Henry, whose presence attracted him to Arsenal home games during the NFL off-season) and Real Madrid, though he obviously doesn’t really follow a team as such.
But a couple of the comments Ochocinco made were quite thought provoking.
He mentioned, presumably with his tongue wedged inside his cheek, that he may yet have a football career ahead of him and that 2011 might just be his year. Wantonly thrusting aside the humourous slant on it all for a moment, it’s a fascinating prospect. Ochocinco is a supreme athlete and (by his own assessment) faster than any footballer currently playing with a ball-shaped ball.
The crossover between sports is one that a handful of guys might be capable of making and it’s been mooted before. Former England goalkeeper David James has spent time training in America and there was talk at one time that he might consider spreading his wings into American football (pointyball) in his twilight years. Disgraced sprinter Dwayne Chambers also touted himself around other sports after his athletics ban, and although he’d never admit it former rugby league star Martin Offiah is a fine footballer to this day.
The increased physicality of football and the proliferation of ‘athletes’ over ‘footballers’ all over the pitch mean that the idea that attributes are transferable is not as far-fetched as it seems. The sticking points are obvious; Ochocinco and his ilk may have the build and strength to succeed in modern football, but do they have (a) the technical quality and (b) the inclination to take a mind-boggling paycut?
That’s all theoretical of course. What’s cold, cruel reality is that professional football in the United States suffers not only from the competitive sporting market in which it dwells but the talent drain created within. Football is not, as often suggested, a sport played only by young girls in America. Young boys play the game too, along with baseball, American football, basketball or whatever combination of those sports suits their wishes and aptitude.
The difficulty arises when professional (or, more often, college) quality sportsmen hit decision time. Ochocinco claims to have begun playing football when one could count his years on the fingers of one hand but when it came to his transfer to Santa Monica College, en route to Oregon State, he had to make a choice. In his STL interview, Ochocinco revealed that his decision to pursue pointyball was influenced by his mother and his grandparents.
It certainly worked out for him, but his story brings into sharp relief a cloud over the beautiful game in the States. The diversion of American sporting talent away from football between the ages of 15 and 18 isn’t something I’ve looked into but I presume it’s significant. And the thing with a country of the USA’s size is that such a talent drain away from the world game isn’t just hindering the professional domestic league, it’s probably largely responsible for its failure to win a World Cup.
Tags: Chad Ochocinco, US Soccer
Regarding famous athletes in the US, the NBA’s Steve Nash was a two-sport guy in his youth, excelling at soccer, though he did pick basketball.
Thanks for your comment, James. Steve Nash is still a big soccer guy isn’t he? The Whitecaps, if I remember rightly?
Extremely fast, athletic, wide player who is not actually very good at football… worked alright for SWP!
Zing!
Roger Federer had to make a choice between tennis and football when he was 16, I believe. (possibly 13). And is it Cipriani who’s been training with QPR recently?