T. J. Houshmandzadeh

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T. J. Houshmandzadeh bigraphy, stories - Player of American football

T. J. Houshmandzadeh : biography

September 26, 1977 –

Touraj Houshmandzadeh, Jr. ( born September 26, 1977) is an Iranian/American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oregon State. Houshmandzadeh is of mixed heritage: his mother is African-American and his father Persian. Houshmandzadeh has also played for the Seattle Seahawks in 2009, the Baltimore Ravens in 2010, and the Oakland Raiders in 2011.

Name

The name Houshmandzadeh () is a Persian compound name meaning the "son (زاده) of wisdom or intelligence".

Houshmandzadeh’s name pops up in a popular fantasy football television commercial where a fantasy player cannot pronounce his surname properly, stumbling with words like "Houshamazilla", "Houshmazode", "Houshvadilla" and even to "Houshyamomma". Ex-Teammate Chad Ochocinco introduced him as "T. J. Who’s-your-momma" on television during an ESPN Monday Night pre-season game on August 28, 2006. Coincidentally, Houshmandzadeh would have a career season that year. ESPN later referenced Houshmandzadeh’s 2006 season in 2011 in a similar fantasy football commercial with the "Karaoke Draft of ’06", with a fantasy football fan singing Houshmandzadeh’s name to the tune of Barracuda by Heart.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOJjoEX5cKk

In Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL series of games, Houshmandzadeh’s surname is shortened to "Houshmandz". The game limits last names to 12 characters, and his name is 16 characters. Several other players have shortened names, such as Ben Roethlisberger, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, LaRod Stephens-Howling and Kory Lichtensteiger. These players’ jersey names have been fixed in since Madden 2010, but the 12-character limit still remains.

Usually on NFL highlights on ESPN, Chris Berman says T.J. "You say Houshmandzedah" and Tom Jackson says "I say Houshmandzadeh"

His surname is often shortened to "Housh" or "Hoosh"http://www.thenewstribune.com/512/story/854089.html by fans, which is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as booing.

Andy Furman incident

Andy Furman, a sports commentator on Cincinnati’s 700 WLW (700 AM) was fired on November 1, 2006 for calling Houshmandzadeh a racist on the air. On October 5, 2006, Houshmandzadeh failed to appear for a paid appearance on the show the previous evening. The next evening, Furman, a New York City native, alleged that he heard from another source that Houshmandzadeh called him a "punk-ass white boy" for criticizing the no-show. Houshmandzadeh has denied making the comment.

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

T.J. Houshmandzadeh was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round (204th overall) in the 2001 NFL Draft.

Houshmandzadeh had a modest rookie season, recording 21 receptions for 228 yards, while also being used to return punts and kickoffs. His most notable achievement was in a game against the Cleveland Browns, in which he set a franchise record with 126 punt return yards. After the 2001 season, questions about Houshmandzadeh’s speed led to him slimming down to his current playing weight of about 200 pounds, which increased his on-field performance remarkably. Houshmandzadeh has gained a number of rushing yards on reverse plays. In 2004, he rushed six times and gained 51 yards (8.5 yards per attempt); in 2005, he rushed eight times for 62 yards (7.8 yards per attempt) and scored his first touchdown.

Houshmandzadeh was called one of the NFL’s most underrated players by many pundits. In fact, ESPN.com analyst K.C. Joyner noted that with only three dropped passes in the 2005 season, Houshmandzadeh ranked first in the league with a 2.6 dropped pass percentage.

"They’re both unique," says former Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer of his primary receivers. "They do completely different things well and complement each other perfectly. T. J.’s a physical guy; a physical blocker, physical when he gets the ball. He’s like (the Pittsburgh Steelers’) Hines Ward." Houshmandzadeh missed almost all of the 2003 season with a severe hamstring injury. In 2004 he was listed as the team’s third receiver behind Peter Warrick and Chad Johnson. However, Warrick became injured and Houshmandzadeh was promoted to the starting lineup with Johnson.