In a serious bid to bolster their Hard Knocks reality show ratings -- and an outside chance to firm up the wide receiver position a little -- the Miami Dolphins reportedly signed hometown class clown Chad Ochocinco last night. Ochocinco celebrated the best way he knew how: updating his Twitter avatar and then tweeting in English and Spanish to his 3 million followers.
Vamos a celebrar, Dolphins nation! Watching the Fins lose 12 games this year just got much more entertaining.
Ochocinco had only 15 catches for the Patriots last year for a measly 276 yards, and he just turned 34 years old.
But he did buy an amazingly gigantic luxury semitruck and then rolled around South Beach in it.
After one workout for the Dolphins, the team signed him to a reported one-year contract. Ochocinco, formerly known as Chad Johnson, grew up in Liberty City and starred at Miami Beach Senior High.
He immediately nodded at his roots on Twitter last night after news of the signing broke, hitting Miami with a bilingual double-whammy possibly meant to make us forget that his last name really should be Ochenta y Cinco.
There's no question that Ochocinco's presence will up the interest in Hard Knocks, the HBO series that will follow the Dolphins all year. Anyone who could invent a heartbreaking saga involving a pregnant pet pigeon solely for his own Twitter amusement will surely be able to make this team interesting television.
But will he help a rebuilding Dolphins squad win more football games? That's debatable. Ochocinco is on the tail end of his productive years, and the Fins are likely to have a rookie helming the QB.
The experts aren't putting a lot of stock in an Ochocinco resurgence. Take SI.com, which notes that after trading Brandon Marshall, the Fins are desperately thin at WR. But they don't see the 34-year-old returning to his Pro Bowl form:
From a pure position-of-need perspective, this move makes sense.
But why Ochocinco, of all guys? The Dolphins, after all, just traded away the enigmatic Brandon Marshall, in part because he didn't fit in well in the locker room. Miami has also shown no outward interest in guys like Plaxico Burress or Santonio Holmes -- players who, like Ochocinco, can make a few plays here and there but also raise a team's trouble quotient.
Maybe Miami believes Ochocinco brings more to the table than those guys, or that he'll be extra motivated playing in Miami, where he grew up. Maybe the Dolphins think last season's embarrassing run in New England will give Ochocinco the spark he needs to pick up the pieces and put together one last 1,000-yard season.
It's difficult to see the switch flipping back on suddenly, given how Ochocinco worked his way out of favor in both Cincinnati and New England.
Either way, might as well get used to this sight:
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
