SportsCenter helps Chad

[Ox]

SportsCenter helps Chad

Bengals receiver featured in latest ESPN spot

BY JOHN KIESEWETTER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Chad Johnson’s touchdown celebrations have become so famous that ESPN wants to help him.

A “This is SportsCenter” promotional spot to debut Monday features ESPN anchors Stuart Scott, Steve Levy and John Anderson pitching end zone celebrations to Johnson in an ESPN conference room.

Not one of them suggested a chicken dance.

The video is scheduled to be posted Friday at the “This is SportsCenter” web site: http:sports.espn.go.com/espntv/espnShow?showID=SRDA

ESPN invited Johnson to film the promo in April because “Chad is one of the most dynamic atheletes in sports, both on and off the field,” says Dan Quinn, ESPN publicist.

[Stripes]

So this will be a commercial? If so, it'll be funny as hell.

[BlainThePain]

Can't wait to see it on T.V.

[agreen_112]

where can I get one of those towels?

[teenbengal14]

Its a du-rag

I think I got the same one at Dicks

yeah I got that same one there

[DesperateDerelict]

It's here! Chad's SportCenter Ad

Question: Isn't a puff of smoke an automatic 15 yard penalty?

[Tasher]

Okay...

...I don't get it.

After the ...ah, NO! Now THAT was funny.

[PMThor]

I liked the sizzling bacon.

Hell who doesn't like sizzling bacon?

mmmm bacon.

[Tasher]

I like the toast...

line up all the rest of the guys around Chad....

... Chad pops up out of the middle, like the toasted CB!

[DesperateDerelict]

Must be Chad's day: Here's an SI interview posted today w/ Silver. The Link

Bengals star's favorite celebrations, trash-talking foes

Chad Johnson eats the same meal at the same restaurant every afternoon he spends in Cincinnati, and were it not for the platinum-blond Mohawk -- and his current status as the NFL's most dangerous receiver -- it would be tempting to say his arrival at his favorite haunt on a recent Friday was rather uneventful.

The last time I'd broken bread with Johnson, at an Island's in L.A., he'd asked the waitress for a job application, later explaining, "You never know when you might get cut." I assumed he was doing it for effect, until one of his female friends joined us and informed me that it was common practice for a guy who, due to academic struggles and questionable commitment to his craft during his post-high-school years, came perilously close to squandering his NFL dreams.

This time Johnson seemed a bit more secure about his status, though his rough edges remain -- for example, the locker-room tantrum he threw at halftime of the Bengals' playoff defeat to the Steelers last January, one of the many topics we discussed.

Silver: I know you love to talk trash -- you and Joey Porter put on a quite a show every time you play. Is there one opponent you're really looking forward to facing this season?

Johnson: Yeah, Joey and I have this thing where we meet at the 50 before every game and let each other have it nonstop. Away from the field I love the guy, but when we get in that situation, watch out. And Troy [Polamalu] is always nudging me and hitting me during games, but he freaks me out because he never talks. I'm like, "Damn, Troy, what the f---?" Then I hear him interviewed and crack up: He's a beast on the field and he sounds like Michael Jackson.

Other than the Steelers, who are the obvious answer, all I can think about is Atlanta [on Oct. 29], when I get to play DeAngelo Hall. He and I talk every week, but they aren't regular conversations. We're talking trash and going at it the entire time -- both of us talking at once, neither one of us listening. Then, when we're about to hang up, we tell each other, "Stay blessed. Stay healthy." That's the only decent part of the whole conversation.

Silver: What have you two been telling each other now that the matchup is getting closer?

Johnson: He says, "It's gonna be like the Thrilla in Manila." I say, "It's gonna be like Roy Jones/Tarver I, II and III, together." That game's gonna be so good, they should put it on pay-per-view. I mean, how are you gonna go out and proclaim you're the best '21' in Atlanta [including Deion Sanders] and you ain't done nothing yet?

(Johnson laughs as he says this; clearly he wants this to get back to Hall

Silver: So what's with the Mohawk?

Johnson: It's something different, something that no one else could do and get away with it. Especially as a blond -- that's something Chad would do. I had my barber do it before the first preseason game, and then I had to go to the salon and have it dyed.

Silver: Do you think I'd look good with a blond Mohawk?

Johnson: No.

(He seems to be staring at my unwieldy eyebrows. I try not to act hurt as I reach for a croissant with honey butter.)

Johnson: It brings out my complexion. Blonds have more fun -- that's my motto. It's like Girls Gone Wild -- I should have been on those videos, because they were all blondes having fun.

Silver: What are your feelings about the "Chad Head" [the latex blond-Mohawk skull cap being sold at Paul Brown Stadium and other Cincinnati retailers]?

Johnson: It's tight. They made it look like my head to a T, right down to the vein that comes up from the side of my face. I know this -- on Halloween, there are going to be a hell of a lot of Chad Johnsons in Cincinnati.

Silver: Who else is on the short list of blond African-American celebrities?

Johnson: Lil' Kim, and Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man. That's it, I'm pretty sure.

Silver: How long will you keep the Mohawk?

Johnson: The whole year. Until I get to Miami.

Silver: Right, the next Super Bowl is in your hometown. You're hoping to be this season's Jerome Bettis?

Johnson: That'd be really cool, to be home. I know exactly what I'd do: I'd have the whole team at my grandma's house for a meal, and then we'd go out to Club Rolex on South Beach. The next morning I'd take them all to breakfast at Jackson's Soul Food Restaurant. It'd be tight.

Silver: Tell me about the Bengals' locker room these days. What's up with all the arrests?

Johnson: It was our year. Every year, there's a team that has off-the-field problems throughout the offseason, and this year was the Bengals' year. Next year it'll be somebody else. It's not a great title to own, but we'll get through it.

Silver: Other than your own, of course, what's been your favorite touchdown celebration?

Johnson: T.O.'s pom-pom wave is my favorite. And Steve Smith rowing the boat. The thing about Steve is, he was rowing sloooooow, just chillin' ... then he looked back and started speeding, like someone was catching him. I was rollin' when he did that. But really, I love it when anybody gets creative or shows personality in the end zone. There's never been a celebration I didn't like.

Silver: Which one of yours was your favorite?

Johnson: When I proposed to the cheerleader. That's just completely different; no one would have thought of that.

Silver: OK, enough with the easy questions. What really happened in the locker room at halftime of your playoff game with the Steelers, after Carson Palmer went down?

Johnson: I just went off. I went, 'F--- it' and just flew off the handle. Even though we were winning, I was frustrated, man. I wasn't able to contribute at all -- there were two or three guys on me at all times -- and my quarterback was out. It didn't help that I had an IV in my arm -- I lifted my fist off the table and it came out and blood was spurting everywhere. After that, I don't even remember what happened. I just know I felt like going down the line and beating everybody's ass.

Silver: Did you go after your head coach?

Johnson: F--- no. If I'd gone after Marvin [Lewis], I wouldn't be playing for the Bengals right now. They'd have shipped my ass up out of there. Look, I know that no one's bigger than the game, and trust me, the game's still gonna go on whether 85's out there or not. I don't care who I am or what I've done on the field.