TOM KNOTT: Name change certainly is not by the numbers

Chad Johnson should have changed his surname to Look At Me.

There would have been truth in advertising then, and it would have been easier to pronounce.

At least he kept the Chad.

“It’s something I don’t think anyone has ever done before,” Johnson told the Bengals’ Web site.

No NFL player ever has changed his name to Pain In The Rear either, although plenty fit the bill.

Johnson is from the new school of hype over substance, of all publicity being good publicity, so long as the name is spelled correctly.

That could be a problem with the newly dubbed Chad Javon Ocho Cinco.

That is Mr. Ocho Cinco to all junk-mail purveyors.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis once referred to Johnson as Ocho Psycho, which was an interesting play on the surname the wide receiver legally embraced last week.

The Ocho and Cinco complement his attention-getting personality, with Ocho being eight and Cinco five in Spanish, which happen to be the two digits on Johnson’s jersey.

There could be a run on Ocho Cinco jerseys now, plus a money-back clamor from those stuck with the Johnson jersey. It is bad enough that middle-aged fans with pot bellies sometimes wear the jersey of a player who has been traded or released. Now Ocho Cinco possibly has awakened NFL players to a fad that could energize the jersey marketplace.

What if Jason Campbell decides to legally change his name to Jason Uno Siete?

It certainly would be different to hear Sonny Jurgensen note how Uno Siete made a perfectly good read of the defensive coverage.

Even Dennis Rodman, the publicity hound who was apt to change hair colors several times a day in an attempt to be noticed, failed to employ this marketing ploy.

The player formerly known as Johnson is following the recent American trend to come up with catchy names, anything but John or Mary.

Story Continues →