It's Chad's day

[esjbh2]

[quote]It's Chad's day
BY MARK CURNUTTE | MCURNUTTE@ENQUIRER.COM

MIAMI - Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson made the rounds this morning on Radio Row at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

He is in the process of making 17 media stops, in conjunction with his role as pitchman for Degree deodorant.

Johnson's hometown is Miami. And he says he hasn't gone to any parties but has been on TV more than any of the players participating in the Super Bowl.

"Ah, man, I want to play in this game," he said.

[b]“Imagine me on media day. I’d come out naked. I’d come out in a towel, or something.”[/b]

During one interview, with an all-sports station from Chicago, one of 90 stations set-up this week on Radio Row, Johnson was asked what the Bengals had to do to get into the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

"We don't have to change anything," said Johnson, who will fly next week to Hawaii to play in his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl game. "We are right where we need to be offensively. I don't play on the other side of the ball. Marvin (Lewis) will take care of that. That's what he does. He is the defensive guru."

Dressed in a black Degree cap and matching black T-shirt, Johnson moved with ease through each station - ESPN 1000 in Chicago, Sirius NFL Radio, WNST Baltimore, WQAM Miami.

He was asked about the string of off-field issues, namely the nine teammates who have been arrested in the past 13 months.

"It's disappointing that the off-field issues continue to happen," Johnson said. "It's not much (teammates) can do to prevent it. You have this thing called the (NFL) Rookie Symposium. It takes you from A-Z on how to do the right thing. But some guys get into a comfort zone and think they can get away with stuff. But you are under such a microscope that you have to be even more careful.

"Last year was our year; the year before it was the Vikings. Next year it will be somebody else."[/quote]
[url="http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/SPT02/301310037"]It's Chad's day from Enquirer[/url]

[Guest WhoDeyForever]

[b][quote]"Imagine me on media day. I'd come out naked. I'd come out in a towel, or something."[/quote]


[/b]

[|Bengal Migration|]

[quote name='WhoDeyForever' post='435234' date='Jan 31 2007, 07:42 PM'][b]
[/b]
[/quote]
i am either just now realizing that you are a girl, or....

i don't wanna know.

[Guest WhoDeyForever]

[quote name='WhoDeyUK' post='435240' date='Jan 31 2007, 02:54 PM']i am either just now realizing that you are a girl, or....

i don't wanna know.[/quote]

[Jamie_B]

[quote name='WhoDeyUK' post='435240' date='Jan 31 2007, 02:54 PM']i am either just now realizing that you are a girl, or....

i don't wanna know.[/quote]


[url="http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?showtopic=27742"]http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?showtopic=27742[/url]

[Guest WhoDeyForever]

[quote name='Jamie_B' post='435263' date='Jan 31 2007, 03:33 PM'][url="http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?showtopic=27742"]http://forum.go-bengals.com/index.php?showtopic=27742[/url]


[/quote]

[Jamie_B]

[quote name='WhoDeyForever' post='435268' date='Jan 31 2007, 03:35 PM'][/quote]

[TheChosenOne]

Hobknob has an article up too

[url="http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5865"]http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=5865[/url]

[quote]'Got to be Chad'

By GEOFF HOBSON
January 31, 2007

Posted: 12:55 p.m.

MIAMI, Fla. - In the middle of just being Chad here at his hometown Super Bowl, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson says he’s looking to shed last year’s taciturn image as well as a little leeway from head coach Marvin Lewis.

“I got to just be Chad, not like I should have been,” Johnson said of last year. “Every week should have just been comical. At the same time with comedy equals production on Sundays. I’ll be back. I’ll have some good stuff for next year.”

Johnson had a whirlwind tour down Radio Row here Wednesday morning. In an hour span he hit ESPN News, a radio station from Baltimore, a TV station from Chicago (where former Cincinnati anchor Paula Farris did the honors), aol.com radio, and SIRIUS radio before hitting NFL Network. He also stopped by for a few words with Jim Rome.

He isn’t looking to tweak Lewis, the man he knows is probably cringing at the thought. After all, the New Chad became the first Bengal to lead the NFL in receiving yards in 2006. But he knows the bulk of his production came in a five-game stretch of nearly 1,000 of his 1,369 yards.

“It is a line; I have to sit down with Marvin and let him know,” Johnson said. “Come in this year, I want to do this, this, and that. You already know what you’re going to get from me. But I need you to give me a little leeway. We’ll see what happens.”

The Bengals aren’t playing in Miami because they lost their last three last games when Johnson had just 10 catches and an estimated four drops. He admitted Wednesday he pressed.

“I put too much pressure on myself. I really wanted to carry the load. I felt like Kobe (Bryant) in the last minute,” Johnson said. “Instead of just letting the game just come to myself.

“I just have to relax and treat it like the regular season. Just go out there and play. I was trying to go to the house with everything. It cost me sometimes.”

At every turn, Johnson shunted aside the character question. He’s going to let quarterback Carson Palmer’s words stand on their own.

“Happy time. No bad times,” Johnson said. “Let Carson be a … team leader. He really has to take that stand. Somebody has to take that stand and do that,” Johnson said. “People would really like me to come out and do that type of thing, but I really focus my energy and my talking to football on the field, not off the field.

“I’m no angel myself and I try to walk the straight line and I’ve been able to do it my entire life since I’ve been playing. You never know. I could get in trouble. Nothing I would do on purpose. I’m in no position to even open my mouth.”

But Johnson may have got off the line of the week, or at least the line of the day in his reunion with Skysports.com correspondent Alexander Ferguson, a United Kingdom-based reporter who covers the NFL. They share a love of British soccer and Johnson revealed he has the phone number for star Thierry Henry and they talk before every game.

“I’d be the fastest guy on the field,” he told Ferguson. [b]“I could be the streaker. Would they arrest me?”[/b]

Johnson also revealed on the Row that [b]his first conversation with new receivers coach Mike Sheppard came when Johnson returned his call at 4 a.m. one morning.

“I said, ‘C’mon, wake up, let’s talk football,’ ” Johnson said. “It was fun.”[/b] [/quote]

[Guest WhoDeyForever]

[quote]Johnson also revealed on the Row that [b]his first conversation with new receivers coach Mike Sheppard came when Johnson returned his call at 4 a.m. one morning.

“I said, ‘C’mon, wake up, let’s talk football,’ ” Johnson said. “It was fun.”[/b] [/quote]
LOL. Gotta love Chad for that. Already making a great relationship with Sheppard

[MAGICTOUCH]

Chad being Chad...can I call him that? I think I can, because the last time I checked his name was not Eight....

But some of his comments might be coming at the wrong time...

[quote]“It is a line; I have to sit down with Marvin and let him know,” Johnson said. “Come in this year, I want to do this, this, and that. You already know what you’re going to get from me. But I need you to give me a little leeway. We’ll see what happens.”[/quote]


Just when Marvin has said that he is going to get back to 2003 strictness...and Chad wants MORE leeway? That's not going to work very well...

[The Entertainer]

[quote][size=3][b]Chad is talk(er) of the town[/b][/size]
Johnson in his element as national media swarms Miami

BY MARK CURNUTTE | MCURNUTTE@ENQUIRER.COM


MIAMI - Chad Johnson never met a microphone he didn't like.

So the Bengals wide receiver is in his element Wednesday as he makes 17 - count 'em, 17 - stops on Radio Row at Super Bowl XLI.

The Super Bowl party is in Chad's hometown, and he's ready.

"I've been on TV more than the players," Johnson says of the Colts and Bears while walking between appointments at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The Super Bowl is all business - at least Wednesday - for Chad Inc.

Dressed in blue jeans, a black baseball cap and matching T-shirt, both emblazoned with the Degree checkmark logo, Johnson displays big-play charisma while pitching deodorant on airwaves from coast to coast.

"I haven't even been out yet," he says before the first stop, 10 a.m., at The Sporting New Radio table.

Former Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, fresh off his "Dancing With the Stars" victory, walks past Johnson. He stands. They embrace quickly and speak quietly to each other.

The second stop is the Score 670 from Chicago. (Degree's parent company, Unilever, is based there.)

Chicago radio personalities still remember Johnson's two-touchdown game in the Bengals' victory in September 2005 at Soldier Field. One of Johnson's dances was a rendition of Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance."

The Score's Mike North tells Johnson that Flatley is from the South Side of Chicago and liked Johnson's take.

"Just an Irish jig," Chad says.

"He's a billionaire, but he has feelings," North says. "Did you know what you were doing? Did you plan it out?"

"I found out after the game what it was," Chad says. "I thought it was just an Irish jig. It fit in perfect."

Between interviews, Johnson greets Vikings offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie, a former University of Miami player.

Almost every radio host wants to know: Chad, why didn't the Bengals make the playoffs? How did such a talented team finish 8-8? What do you have to change?

"We don't have to change anything," says Johnson, who will fly next week to Hawaii to play in his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl. "We are right where we need to be offensively. I don't play on the other side of the ball. Marvin (Lewis) will take care of that. That's what he does. He is the defensive guru."

He walks and talks between radio tables.

Could you imagine yourself at Media Day if the Bengals made the Super Bowl?

"Ah, man, I want to play in this game," he says. "Oh, my God, I'd probably come out naked or something. They'd have to give me something. I'd come out in a towel."

Johnson's interplay with ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury on the SCORE 1000 from Chicago is entertaining.

"How's the body?" Salisbury asks.

"It's good, but in six years (in the NFL), this year was the first time I ever got hit," Johnson says. "I got hit up in the air (by Cleveland's Brian Russell). And Ed Reed popped me pretty good in the Baltimore game."

"He pops a lot of people."

Inevitably, the question about the string of off-field problems - nine Bengals players arrested in the past 13 months - comes up. Johnson is more candid than he would be later in an interview with a small group of Cincinnati-based reporters.

"It's disappointing that the off-field issues continue to happen," Johnson says on the radio. "It's not much (teammates) can do to prevent it. You have this thing called the (NFL) Rookie Symposium. It takes you from A to Z on how to do the right thing. But some guys get into a comfort zone and think they can get away with stuff. But you are under such a microscope that you have to be even more careful.

"Last year was our year; the year before it was the Vikings'. Next year it will be somebody else."

Between stops, Johnson expands his answer a bit more. "I mean," he says, "I don't know, I talk to them. I let them know, 'Y'all got to relax, chill.' The stuff is unfortunate, man. I can't even say it. I talk to them. I think everything is going to be all right."

Later, in the afternoon interview, Johnson says he would rather leave the heavy leadership and scolding to teammates, such as quarterback Carson Palmer.

"I'll let Carson do the criticizing and speaking; he is the team leader," Johnson says. "Somebody has to take that stand and do that. I think it's a position where people would like for me to come out and do that kind of thing. But I really focus my energy, my talking, everything, on football on the field. I'm no angel myself. I try to walk the straight line. I've been able to do it my entire life. You never know. I could get into trouble. Nothing I would do on purpose, but I'm in the position where I can do the most with my mouth."

During another stop, with Baltimore-based station WNST, Johnson's relationship with Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Johnson's "list" of cornerbacks come up. Johnson's homemade list of opposing cornerbacks (and who won the individual battle) led to the Degree sponsorship, including billboards and appearances.

"Me and Ray, we're on a whole different level," Johnson says. "It's a spiritual level. It's not just about football. He's been a big help."

The list, Chad, talk about the list.

"The list is not derogatory," he says. "It's fun. It's my personality. I'm calling out the whole entire defense. I'm competing."

Later, Johnson says he wanted to talk with Lewis about taking the reins off his personality during the season.

"I've got to be me. I'm not going to be laid-back," Johnson tells newspaper and Web site reporters. "I really wasn't me (in 2006). I didn't do the things I like to do going into games, and I don't think I should change. I don't think I could change. I've got to be Chad. Being Chad is what helps the team most.

"Every week I should have been comical, but the comedy equals production on Sunday. I'll have some good stuff next season. I have to sit down and let Marvin know coming into the season I want to do this, this and this. I need for him to give me a little leeway."

Another stop is with some familiar faces on Miami station 560 WQAM. Johnson thumbs through an autographed Hooters Girls calendar sitting on the table.

A host notes Johnson's gold-encrusted watch and asks if he feels safe walking around South Beach wearing it.

"Yeah, I'm cool," Johnson says.

And his view of the Colts-Bears Super Bowl on Sunday?

"It's going to be interesting," he says.

If you're the Bears' secondary, how do you play the Colts' pass game?

"Cover 2 the whole game," he says. "Take away the outside and have someone cheat on the running back coming out of the backfield. Jump Peyton's (Manning) check-down right away.

"Indy would have the edge because of Peyton. (Bears quarterback) Rex (Grossman) is going to have to play consistent football."[/quote]



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