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The NFL fined flamboyant Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco $25,000 for having an electronic device and posting to his Twitter account before and during the Bengals preseason game last Friday.  League rules say players can’t have electronic devices or post to social media starting 90 minutes before kickoff through post-game media sessions.  Ochocinco tweeted 77 minutes before kickoff, and then about two hours into the game about a hit he took.

A few years ago the NBA made news by fining players for listening to iPods during pregame warmups.  But there the rationale was that it seemed like players were tuning out fans and not connecting with them.  The NFL rule tries to prevent or at least control the way players connect with fans on game day, and seems to be just another example of why the NFL has been called the No Fun League.

The in-game tweet that cost Ochocinco $25k — “Man Im sick of getting hit like that , its the damn preseason [expletive]! 1day I’m gone jump up and start throwing hay makers , #Tylenolplease.” That might have been more grammatical and better punctuated had he told that to an official member of the press, but it wouldn’t have been any more interesting.

Ochocinco also sent out his unspellchecked reaction to the fine through Twitter:

I’ve been fined by the league a substantial amount of money for tweeting, 1st time twitter hasn’t made me money but cost me money.

Dear NFL I apologize for tweeting during the game but that was 2 monthsof my Bugatti payments you just took from me,I won’t do it again