Friday 21 August 2009

I ♥ Esteban



Cincinnati's emergency kicker and international soccer fan booted the decisive extra point late in the first half and the Bengals beat the sloppy New England Patriots 7-6 on Thursday night.

'' 'Esteban' Ochocinco is back, the most interesting footballer in the world,'' Ochocinco said. ''Everyone has to remember, I've always said that soccer is my No. 1 sport. I think Ronaldinho would be proud of me right now.''

Ochocinco practices kicking but had never done it in a preseason or regular-season game in his eight years with the Bengals, the first seven as Chad Johnson . But when Shayne Graham 's groin felt sore in pregame warmups, coach Marvin Lewis decided to rest the team's franchise player and see what Ochocinco could do.

He did very well.

After the game, Ochocinco pulled out his PDA and displayed a photo of him with soccer star David Beckham.

''Soccer's my first love, Kicking's easy ... like riding a bike,'' he said. ''I can kick them from 50, 60 yards, left or right hash mark. ... I kicked all through high school.''

© Sports Illustrated

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thats incredible. Maybe he would be of more use kicking FG's than barking at his QB mid game to throw him the ball. It would mean a celebration dance EVERY time a touchdown is scored for the bengals.

Unknown said...

I love this sentence, "Ochocinco practices kicking but had never done it in a preseason or regular-season game in his eight years with the Bengals, the first seven as Chad Johnson." I still can't believe he legally changed his name.