What up Nation. Hope you didn’t miss me too much I was out on business. Speaking of business the NFL is playing hard ball with Chad Johnson aka Chad Ocho Cinco. The Cincinnati Bengals receiver legally changed his last name to the Spanish spelling of his jersey number last week. But if you happened to watch the game on Sunday you know that he was still sporting “Johnson” on the back of his jersey. So what gives?

According to published reports the NFL has decided against allowing him to wear the name during games…for now. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said “He has a financial obligation to Reebok, which produces the jerseys available to fans. That has to be resolved before the on-field jersey can be changed. The same obligation exists for any player that changes his number or name.”

The leagues hardass commissioner, Roger Goodell told says that while he recognizes the legal name change “there’s what I call a more administrative issue that has to be dealt with. There’s a large inventory of jerseys that are out there with 85 Johnson. Any player that changes a number or changes his name has to address that so that our licensing is not stuck with a large inventory. That’s just something we’re dealing with. As far as we’re concerned, if he changes his name legally, that’s fine with us.”

I’m not going to make a big deal out of this cause at the end of the day the whole issue is very silly. However, this is exactly what frustrates me about corporate America…the white boys is suits. They can’t admit defeat. They never play fair. This issue is a microcosim to so many other larger issues. The league has been trying for years to water down teh hip hop flavor that has been infused in the game by the influx of black players. They’ve given penalties and fines for excessive end zone celebrations, group celebrations, taunting and have been extra critical of players off the field behavior.

Now while I agree with some of the crackdown measures they are clearly targetting certain players. I turn on the TV on Sunday to be entertained. The whole Ocho Cinco thing even dating back to last year was entertaining albeit mildly. The league fined him for wearing the temporary name plate on his jersey so he outsmarted them and changed his name. But instead of letting the Chad live and becoming the punch line the league is playing the trump card…money. We all know there’s an alotment of “Johnson” 85 jersey’s out there that might go unused but since when does the league feel bad about Reebok’s unused inventory? The apparel company is making money hand over fist and will continue to do so despite whatever his nameplate says on the jersey they sell. Collecters are flocking to the stores to get the last remaining Johnson jerseys and the hood is waiting for the new additions. If this was about Reebok then why hasn’t his name been changed on the play-by-play sheet and why was he still referred to by “Johnson” by the stadium announcers? The league is trying to get the last laugh after the bar is closed. Let the man live and go back to spying on Pacman Jones.