“Friends don’t let friends wear the FroHawk. If you are a soon to be pro athlete and are considering hiring an agent. Just do the “FroHawk Search”. If they have any clients with Fro Hawks, pick a different agent.”

Those are the words of Mark Cuban from his blog, blogmaverick.com.  Despite his legal troubles with the SEC (his blog does a great job of explaining the actual facts), Cuban is still able to laugh and discuss the recent trend in the NBA with players rocking the frohawk.   Mark advises athletes about the fro-hawk. Commenting that although Mr. T’s trademark “frohawk” seems to be back in style and may be a good marketing devise to draw attention to players, it still looks hideous.

It is not only a trend in the NBA, but football players, soccer stars, and many others have given the hairstyle more fame than it deserves. Even if you agree that the frohawk is not what you want to see your child come home from the barbers with, you can’t take Mark’s words above seriously or athletes would be looking over agents such as Drew Rosenhaus and Scott Boras.  An agent may be able to control some areas regarding their clients, but hairstyles are usually not specified in the contract.

Reebok hand crafts 100,000 jerseys each year for big name stars like the artist formerly known as Chad Johnson.  His late name change and insistence on wearing this on the back of his jersey has cost Reebok and Ocho Cinco money.  For Ocho Cinco, I’m sure the publicity alone was worth all the money he invested into the name change.

The real question is who would want to buy an old Chad Johnson jersey, when he will be wearing Ocho Cinco and #85 on his back next season?  With his disappointing play so far this season, the better question is who would spend money on a new Ocho Cinco jersey?

Johnson recently commented that he wants to be traded and is unhappy with QB Carson Palmer.  It all started a couple years ago when Ocho Cinco attempted to restructure his contract.  Since then, he has constantly complained to the Bengals organization and has even mentioned being traded several times.  He has tried the Rosenhaus tactic of holding out and not showing to training camp, as Vinson recently discussed.  He threatened to remain on the sideline this season, and then came down with a sprained ankle right as camp started.  Johnson stopped complaining for a day, showed up to camp, and the Bengals said they would “talk” to him about his contract at the end of this year.  Great move by the Bengals to shut Chad up for this season, or at least shut him up regarding contractual issues for the time being.

After all the bickering and talking by Chad Johnson, are the Bengals finally ready to deal him to another team?  T.O. had a similar problem and image as Johnson does now, but in Dallas, he has shut-up and we have seen a different side of Owens.  Rosenhaus and Owens have taken a different route and attempted to be less vocal (at least less vocal for T.O.).  Owens appears to be a changed man in Dallas.

Terrell Owens used to have this “badboy” image in the media.  Since signing with Dallas, T.O. has toned down his comments and pre-season antics and demands.  He has not stopped his on-the-field antics and still mimics Chad Johnson’s behavior after scoring touchdowns; however, T.O. has not been as vocal off the field.  T.O. even pulled a Jerry Maguire and started crying last year, when he was questioned about “his quarterback”, Tony Romo.  Has Owens gone soft since entering the heat of Dallas or is he getting smarter and shutting up?  Is this a new strategy by Rosenhaus for his clients?

Looking at other players who have piped up, we see that this caused a different reaction in the clubhouse than Johnson’s outspoken style.  Players such as Jeremy Shockey and Jason Taylor have both been traded this pre-season after asking to be traded and talking to the media about being unhappy.  Oddly enough, Shockey is another Rosenhaus Sports Representation client.

Rosenhaus made the hold out scenario famous, and he still is advising his players that holding out is not necessarily a bad tactic.  Although Drew appears to have changed his ways with the media and is not as vocal with the press, he still is getting the job done.  He is now dealing with managers and team officials before going to the media and has showed his clients the green lately.  But why is this not working with Chad Johnson?  Does he talk to the media too much?

Maybe it is time Drew talks to Chad and gives him the speech that Jerry Maguire gave Mr. Tidwell.  If Rosenhaus won’t tell Johnson to shut it for a while and just play, maybe the mutual agreement between the two parties (reviewing Ocho Cinco’s contract after the season) will get the hint across.  Johnson came back from his ankle surgery to practice for the first time on Monday.  Perhaps we will now see a less Chaddy side of Johnson.

Choosing an agent, players say, can be difficult because, as former CU guard Brian Daniels of the Minnesota Vikings warned, “They’re all going to tell you what you want to hear.” – Denver Post

[Paul] Lawrence, who lives in Everett, is an agent for Maximum Sports Management in Indiana, and eight players slotted to be picked in the first two rounds Saturday are MSM clients. “I’m almost excited as they are,” said Lawrence, whose agency represents five players expected to go in the first round alone. “These are like my little brothers now. I know what the critics were saying about them and all that they’ve gone through.” - The Daily Herald

“There’s a conflict of interest at the top of the draft,” says Scott Wright, a long-time draft follower who runs the website www.drafthistory.com. Wright’s ire is focused on CAA Sports, which represents three players projected to go in the top eight or nine picks. According to the NFL Players Association, 23 separate agencies represented the first-round class in 2000. By 2007, that number was reduced by just one. This year, though, the number shrunk to just 18 agencies representing the 32 players projected to go in the first round by Scouts, Inc. - Forbes

Drew Rosenhaus begs the Bengals to Free Chad Johnson through a YouTube video. Is this smart to do right before you start talking to teams about your current draft eligible players? Is it ever a smart thing to do? I gotta hand it to Drew, though. He has quite a nice South Florida tan going on.

By the way, with the NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, and NFL Draft all occurring at the same time, it’s easy to forget about other things in life, like your momma! If you still have not purchased a gift for Mothers’ Day, you better get on it. Here is a link to Amazon’s catalog of gifts.