Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson is taking a stab at a different type of football commentary.
With the FIFA World Cup about to take place in North America, the former Bengals wideout is launching The Late Run with Ochocinco, a weekly podcast celebrating the culture of the sport. The show is a collaboration between soccer media company Footballco and the newly-launched OchoCinco Productions. The show, which debuts Thursday, is co-hosted by Raheem Taylor-Parkes and sponsored by DraftKings.
“I always had a dream of starting my own production company. I thought about what would be the best way to bridge the gap and get people interested in ‘the beautiful game,’” Ochocinco told Front Office Sports.
Ochocinco grew up in Liberty City in Miami where he said there “was no soccer” in the 1980s. His love for the game began when his grandfather was watching a game on a black-and-white TV and Argentine legend Diego Maradona was playing.
“I sat down with my grandfather and had no idea what was going on, but I kept hearing the name ‘Maradona’ over and over. It was 1984, I remember telling [my grandfather], ‘Papa I want to play this,’” Ochocinco said. “But where I was, there was no soccer. I didn’t have the access or resources to be able to play. My way out of my circumstance as a child was [American] football. I wasn’t gonna be a goddamn academic scholar. I didn’t make the damn dean’s list. But my love for the beautiful game is still there.”
He said he watches all the international soccer he can get, including Premier League, Bundesliga, and Serie A. “Napoli’s my favorite team; not because of Maradona but some of the other players that have come through there—Insigne, Mertens, Hamšík, Mário Rui, Cavani,” Ochocinco said.
Comedian Bert Kreischer is a guest on the first episode; future appearances will include USWNT forward Midge Purce, rapper Rick Ross, and star ex-soccer players Rio Ferdinand and Gerard Piqué.
