Ocho Cinco

It would be a stretch to call a book that starts with the subject’s description of his “huge-ass house” and “sweet-ass cars” a well-written piece of literature.  In fact, it’s a stretch to say that Chad Ochocinco’s biography “Ocho Cinco:  What Football and Life Have Thrown My Way” was written at all.  It reads like Chad Ochocinco turned on a tape recorder and chatted about whatever came to mind.

It’s a wild ride, getting inside the head of the guy known in the NFL for matching his hair to his orange uniform, proposing to a cheerleader on the sidelines, and legally changing his last name to force the NFL to let him wear his nickname on the back of his jersey.

Co-author Jason Cole supplements Ochocinco’s stream of consciousness musings with interviews with family members, teammates and coaches.  Most are highly complimentary, of course, but they present a picture of a man whose much more complex than his loose cannon image.  Chad Ochocinco comes across as intelligent, calculating, and just a little bit crazy.

It’s a wild ride, but it has its charms.  The book goes from chatting about  Ochocinco’s childhood in Liberty Heights in Miami-Dade County, to explaining away some of his worst behavior playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, and eventually describing where Chad Ochocinco would like to live in the future:  Planet Chad.

Chad Ochocinco takes the same tactic in his book as he does on the field.  You might not like what he has to say.  You might not appreciate his choices.  But, by golly, you will be entertained.