The ongoing NFL lockout is definitely taking a toll on players already, although some of them are taking things in stride and looking for other ways to fill their schedule. Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco for instance is trying out for Major League Soccer. Ochocinco played soccer as a kid and he’s always been attracted to the sport. He took up football in high-school, but his dream of playing for a MLS team has stuck with him. The Sporting Kansas City of the MLS will apparently give him that opportunity now.
Peter Vermes, manager of the Sporting KC said that he was looking forward to have an exceptional athlete of Ochocinco’s stature train with his team.
The Bengals WR will participate in a 4-day tryout session with the Sporting Kansas City, with an extension of the tryout period also in the cards. Ochocinco is friends with some of the world’s best-known soccer players: Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry are just some of his soccer-buddies. The WR who says he uses a soccer ball to warm up before football practice or games, made the news for a different reason yesterday too. He was ordered by a Hamilton County Municipal Judge to pay $11k to a Cincinnati Exclusive Wear, where he allegedly picked up clothes and never paid for them.
Legal action in the matter was filed in December, after the store had tried to recover the money on amiable terms several times. Despite the apparently simple and straightforward nature of the case, Ochocinco is not in a hurry to settle the issue. Shortly after the news about his alleged debt surfaced, he tweeted that he was going to pay the store right after he returned from “Mars”. Since all of NASA’s plans concerning a manned mission to Mars are in an extremely incipient stage, it is safe to assume the Cincinnati Bengal meant “never” by that