OY! OchoCinco!

We are all familiar with social media like Twitter. One of the things that I like about it is the interaction with professional athletes. For example, I follow Chris Perez and Scott Fujita. There are a ton of players on twitter but these are just two guys that are active – they tweet every day, they answer fans tweets, they bring us – the fan – into their world a little bit.

They also open themselves up to criticism. Fans that are angry about a certain play or game feel like they can criticize the players on twitter – like it’s ok to say mean and nasty things to someone who missed a tackle or blew a save. Well;, I say its not ok. As fans, we have to remember that athletes are people as well as pros’ and we need to behave a little better.

But the athletes are finding a new down side to twitter coming from their peers – everything they say is getting reviewed by other athletes, commentators, sports professionals. An example of this happened to OchoCinco. Now, we all know that Ocho is quite a character. Along with being one of the best WR of the past few years, and perhaps the best to ever wear a Bengals uniform, he is also an outspoken personality who uses the media to enhance his public persona. Well, you gotta take the good with the bad when you do that.

Ocho tweeted last week about how amazed he was to watch Tom Brady in action as he threw for over 500 yards against the Miami Dolphins. And Teddy Bruschi came down hard on him – just ripping him all over ESPN for “sitting back and watching instead of being part of the team.”

I don’t understand where Bruschi was coming from. It entirely possible there are other issues at play here and not just that tweet. Kind of like when I yell at my husband about dirty socks on the floor when I’m really mad that he forgot our anniversary. If Bruschi is upset about some other issue with Ocho or the Patriots, that's fine. But he needs to own up to them and tell us what is really bothering him. Hiding behind a tweet is ridiculous, especially when so many other things that Ocho has said and done over the years were far more worthy of his disdain.

But as a Browns fan and someone who’s watched a lot of AFC North football, I can see how watching Brady was very different for Ochocinco than watching Carson Palmer. Don’t get me wrong, Palmer is a very good quarterback, but he’s no Tom Brady. While Ocho and Tom may have had their differences when they were on opposite sides of the field, I'm fairly certain they will find a way to "click" now that they are on the same team.

Lighten up on the Ocho a bit, Bruschi. I think it's was great that an NFL player can still enjoy the beauty of football and be amazed at what someone like Tom Brady could do. I know it amazes me every Sunday.

Respectfully Submitted,

K8