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ochocinco ustreamChad Ocho Cinco's UStream show is somewhat like Stephon Marbury's, except with a slight dose of sanity and charisma. Emphasis on the slight -- Chad, an All-Pro wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, had his last name legally changed to OchoCinco two years ago and now calls himself "the Black Mexican." On HBO's Hard Knocks, a reality show chronicling his team in training camp, coaches have expressed concern that he's staying up too late doing his web-show and isn't getting enough rest for practice.

The whole thing seems a little silly until you take a second to consider how social networking has taken the all-platform athlete-celebrity to the next level. For years Johnson's been a flamboyant entertainer who scored touchdowns by the dozen, did ridiculous dances and once raced a horse for charity; a member of the scarce class of athletes with the power to capture the fascination -- and occasionally outrage -- of the the 24-hour sports punditocracy.

But now that Twitter has collided with the 24-hour news cycle and reality television, OchoCinco is using technology to craft his own narrative and get the exposure he craves. Notice that some of sport's most entertaining characters are using the same techniques to enhance their own celebrity. Terrell Owens has a reality show on VH1, Shaq has "Shaq Vs." premiering tonight on ABC, and Chad Johnson is on HBO's Hard Knocks and has his UStream. All three parlayed large Twitter followings into larger media opportunities.

Last night's Ocho Cinco show (not yet archived for embedding/linking) topped out at about 861 viewers as Chad smoked a cigar while playing opera music. He spent most of the time explaining two new catchphrases he's trying to break into the vernacular -- "kiss the baby," and "child, please." (The former means "there's no chance," the latter, "F- you.") It was actually pretty entertaining. At about 11:45 PM Chad's coach, Marvin Lewis, stopped by to check his room and asked, "Who's been smoking in here?" He then told Chad to go to sleep in 5 minutes, briefly stuck his head in front of the computer and left. After this incident Chad crowned himself," the King of UStream."

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He also talked candidly about trying to manipulate the news cycle and flashed some textbook oversharer-narcissism. "Profootballtalk, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, anyone else. I'm givin' you somethin' to talk about in the morning." He called himself the most interesting player in the world twice. "If you don't understand me, open up the Rosetta Stone." To his critics, he offered this. "If you've paid attention to me, when I'm successful, I'm at my best when my f*@#$ng mouth is runnin'."

So what to make of the whole thing? Chad Johnson is doing what he's always done -- entertain people. At times it seems desperate, at others hilarious, but most of the time just kind of odd that this is what things have come to for the modern athlete-entertainer. Ya know that expression, don't hate the player, hate the game? I think I hate the game. Then again, I am writing about it.