Now Chad Johnson really is Ocho Cinco. The Cincinnati Bengals nutcase wide receiver has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco. The change became official this week. On the Bengals team website, Ocho Cinco said,

“It’s something I don’t think anyone has ever done before. Have I ever had a reason for why I do what I do? I’m having fun.”

This all started 2 years ago in October 2006, when Johnson said during an interview that in honor of Hispanic heritage month, he would go by the name Ocho Cinco – a reference in Spanish to his uniform # 85. The correct way to say that in Spanish would actually be Ochenta y Cinco. No word yet if Ocho Cinco will be allowed to wear that on his jersey, or if the NFL will fine Ocho Cinco, or as his coach says, Ocho Psycho, for this stunt.

Heisman trophy contender Chris “Beanie” Wells injured his right foot during second-ranked Ohio State’s 43-0 victory over Youngstown State on Saturday and had to be carted off the field and did not return. X-Rays were negative, but after visiting doctors, his status was unknown.

Beanie however said he might have hurt it before the play he went down, saying

“I may have rolled it or planted wrong a play or two before. Something just didn’t feel right. Then I think I felt a pop. But the X-rays are OK, so we’ll see how it feels in a day or two.”

On the play where Wells went down, he fell to the ground without even being hit, fumbling away the football on a first and goal at the Youngstown State 2. He had to be helped off the field and carried to the locker room on a motorized cart. Beanie did however return to the sidelines in the 4th quarter wearing a boot on the foot.

How long Beanie is out for remains to be seen, but if he can’t play vs. USC, Ohio State’s hopes of losing the national title game to an SEC team for the 3rd year in a row might be in serious jeopardy.

2 days after (now former) Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti returned from Beijing where he covered the Olympics, the highly opinionated, controversial columnist in who’s honor this blog is named after, has resigned from the Sun-Times after 17 years to pursue other opportunities.

Mariotti told the Sun-Times rival paper, the Chicago Tribune in a phone interview that he decided to quit because while he was in China, it had become clear to him that sports journalism had become a web site business, and not many people there were writing for newspapers. He also said he doesn’t see himself having a future writing for newspapers, and that he doesn’t know what he will do from here, except that he will continue to be a panelist on Around the Horn.

In the city of Chicago, rich in sports tradition and loyalty, Jay Mariotti is regarded as the face of the Chicago sports media. With his no bullshit approach, always asking the hard questions that no one else wanted to ask, blasting the truth, and pulling no punches, Mariotti is the model of how sports writers, and newspaper writers in general ought to be.

What Mariotti does from here is not known yet. Mariotti has said he is talking with websites about writing for them. His bio on the Sun-Times website says he is planning to write a book soon. Maybe now he can write that book. Regardless of what happens, I wish Jay nothing but the best. When he gets his new gig, you can expect it to be reported here, with a new link to his work.

So with the recent news of Chicago Bears left tackle Chris Williams having back surgery to fix a herniated disk that the Bears knew about when they drafted him, but claim is unrelated to the previous condition, what is Jerry Angelo when it comes to success in the first round of the draft? 0 for what? I’ve lost count. In any case, Jerry Angelo has done it again, ignoring the warning signs and trying to spin it as something new. Give it up Jerry, admit you messed up. Explain why he was slipping on other team’s boards over concerns on his back? Explain why you took him, when other left tackles were there at #14? Explain how 3 tests before the draft didn’t catch this? Ladies and gentlemen, I nominate Jerry Angelo for worst GM of the year. Enjoy your 3-13 season thanks to no line, no WR, no RB, no QB, and no defense. This is possibly the worst team I’ve ever seen.

With the United States winning the men’s 4x100m medley relay in world record fashion, Michael Phelps has achieved his goal of winning 8 gold medals in these Beijing Olympics, topping Mark Spitz and his 7 golds in Munich in 1972. Unbelievable. 8 gold medals. 7 world records, and an 8th Olympic record. Wins by the slimmest of margins, and wins by wide margins. When it looked like his dream of 8 gold medals would be shattered, at the last instant Phelps or his teammates turned it on and got the gold. To recap, this is what happened:

400 m Individual Medley: WR 4:03.84
4 x 100 m freestyle relay: WR 3:08.24, the anchor leg swimmer Jason Lezak was one body length behind the French team when he dove in, Phelps also set the American record for the 100 m freestyle, with a lead-off time of 47.51
200 m freestyle: WR 1:42.96
200 m Butterfly: WR 1:52.03
4 x 200 m freestyle relay: WR 6:58.56, first ever relay team to go under 7 minutes
200 m individual medley: WR 1:54.23
100 m butterfly: OR 50.58, was trailing until the end when he out-touched Milorad Čavić of Serbia
4 x 100 m medley relay: WR 3:29.24

What an unbelievable performance. The greatest Olympic performance ever, in my opinion. To go with his 6 gold medals, and 2 bronze medals from Athens, Phelps has more Olympic gold medals than anyone else, and with 3 more medals in London, he will have more Olympic medals than any other Olympian ever.

The long-standing negotiations between Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls seem to have ended, when Ben Gordon said on Friday that he doesn’t see himself playing for the Bulls in the upcoming 2008-09 NBA season, saying,

I guess it’s safe to say I’ve played my last game in a Bulls uniform.

Gordon said that his agent has been talking with other teams about a possible sign-and-trade, saying,

I’m pretty optimistic it’ll happen. It’s very likely.

Gordon’s agent has also said that playing in Europe is a possibility, but the only certainty is that Gordon won’t sign the Bulls one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million. Gordon has also said that because of the slow pace of negotiations that he feels he’s being stiffed, and with a logjam in the backcourt, he feels going somewhere else is best, saying

“It’s a numbers game. Last season at the trade deadline, they brought in more guards and I saw my minutes drop and didn’t understand why. This year, the problem’s still the same. I don’t see it getting better, so maybe it’ll be a better situation for me personally somewhere else.

After turning down a 5-year, $50 million contract last year, Gordon feels that he should be the team’s highest paid player because he’s the leading scorer. If the Bulls were to comply, they would have to top the 6 year, $71 million contract they recently gave to Loul Deng, which will never happen as long as Jerry Reinsdorf is running the show, as it would put the Bulls over the luxury tax limit, and JR has said he won’t pay the luxury tax for a team that isn’t a title contender. (Like he’d pay it for a title contender, but I digress)

Who the hell is Ben Gordon to want to be the team’s highest paid player!? He’s not a superstar worthy of that kind of money. He doesn’t play any defense. He clanks a lot of shots. And so what if he’s the team’s leading scorer. He doesn’t even average 20 points a game. What good is that? Why do you think you’re better than Monta Ellis, who recently got a 6 year, $67M contract from the Golden State Warriors? You’re not. Being the leading scorer on a crappy team is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. Congratulations. Would you like a cookie? Ben Gordon can go rot in hell for all I care. He is a useless scumbag and he sucks.

Last week, the entire Spanish men’s basketball team posed for an offensive photo in which they put their fingers over their eyes to give them a slant eyed look and look more Chinese. Team Spain says it wasn’t meant to be offensive, but I don’t think many people find it that way. I am appalled that in the year 2008, people are still doing this sort of shit. On the other hand, this should be the final nail in the coffin to Madrid’s hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics, which were already seen as slim, as London will be hosting the summer games in 2012, and Russia will host the winter games in 2014, thus meaning that 3 consecutive Olympics would be in Europe if Spain got the games.

2 weeks after trading Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds continued their fire sale, sending Adam Dunn to the Arizona Diamondbacks in return for prospects.

Arizona has a 1.5 game lead on the Dodgers right now, and with LA getting Manny Ramirez at the trade deadline, this should counter that move. Despite the low batting average of Adam Dunn, the free agent to be this winter, he is among one of the most disciplined hitters in the game, despite his high strikeout total, which is the result of him having a massive power swing, and the fact that he goes into a lot of deep counts, evidenced by him being among the leaders in pitches seen per plate appearance.

Recently, Detroit Tigers OF/DH Gary Sheffield complained about not playing in the field, and not playing everyday, saying

“I can be in the outfield and play every day. I don’t want to DH. I don’t feel like a baseball player when I DH. I don’t know how to be the leader that I am from the bench. I can’t be a vocal leader. I can’t talk to guys from the bench because I don’t feel right about it.

“I’m in a role now where I don’t know what to do, really. The guys are out there busting their butt for nine innings, they come in and they hit and they grind. I just sit down and hit. That’s all I do, so I can’t be in a leadership role from that position.”

What an idiotic statement from Sheffield. As Manager Jim Leyland pointed out, shoulder injuries have limited his time, and one of the conditions of Sheffield accepting the trade to the Tigers from the Yankees was being a DH, saying

“I told him that all I had here for him was a DH. If he did not want to accept that, do not accept the trade. I’m still confused by the article because it talks about ‘platoon doesn’t set well.’ Gary Sheffield never platooned here.

“Platoon is when you have a left-hand hitter and a right-hand hitter. One plays against right-hand pitching and one plays against left-hand pitching. That is a platoon.”

Leyland said Sheffield played in 39 of 51 games before going on the disabled list in May and played in 36 of the last 43 games, entering Monday’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Anybody that has a brain knows that’s not a platoon.”

After reading the article, I must say that I agree with Jim Leyland here. What an idiotic statement from Gary Sheffield. No wonder people hate this scumbag.

First Carl Crawford goes on the DL. Now Evan Longoria goes on the DL. This is not good for Tampa, 2 integral parts to their first place team on the DL. With 71 wins and a 4.5 game lead on the Boston Red Sox, this would have been an uphill climb even with them healthy. That climb just got a little steeper. Crawford, was batting .273 with 57 RBIs and 25 steals, went on the DL with a right hand injury on Sunday, and might face season-ending surgery. Longoria, who began the season in the minors, was hitting .278 with a team rookie-record 22 home runs and 71 RBIs. He went on the DL when he was hit by a pitch on the wrist. The mettle of Tampa will be tested over these final 2 months