Jonathan Ogden: Frugal, not cheap

The Baltimore Sun’s Mike Klingaman wrote a long, entertaining feature on former UCLA offensive line star Jonathan Ogden, now a perennial All-Pro with the Baltimore Ravens, which included this story:

"The ‘sale’ tag caught his eye. A rib-eye steak at that low price? Jonathan Ogden scooped up the package and angled for the supermarket checkout line.

"The clerks saw him coming: with his tousled hair and frumpy clothes, Ogden looked less like a multimillionaire football player than he did like a bum.

"Flustered, perhaps, by his unkempt appearance, the cashier overcharged Ogden for the steak. As the Ravens lineman argues the price, another customer sized him up and dug into her purse.

"‘Here,’ the woman said, handing Ogden a 10-spot. ‘I’ll buy that for you.’"

Now entering his 12th season, Ogden is 32 and signed a seven-year, $48 million contract in 2004. But he’s still thrifty. Klingaman’s story was full of anecdotes:

>> "Ogden will wear the same T-shirt to practice three days in a row.

"‘Why not?,’ he said. ‘I take it off when I get there, so I really only wear it for five hours a day.

"‘It’s not like I stink.’"

>> Klingaman noted that Ogden might have the "dullest" lifestyle in the NFL. Ogden said his typical day used to be coming home and watching television on his sofa. Now that he’s married, he kisses his wife, plays with their two-year-old son and then watches television.

>> Ogden lives in Nevada during the off-season, at least in part because there is no state income tax in Nevada.

But he told Klingaman: "I’m frugal, not cheap."

That habit started early and continued at UCLA: "He also grew an Afro to save money on haircuts and rummaged through local bodegas in search of cheap grub.

"‘Even after he signed with the Ravens, he was still buying bread at 50 cents a loaf,’ said Valeyta Althouse, a track teammate in college. ‘We were amazed that he could even find bread that cheap.’"

Ogden enjoys golf and poker (when he wins) and has installed one luxury in his home outside of Las Vegas: an elevator. Given the state of health of so many ex-NFLers, not to mention those who are 6-9 and near 350 pounds, it’s another demonstration of smarts by one of the NFL’s smartest players.

Comments

[BruinLuverfromanotherMother]

Great story! I'm glad to hear about Bruins doing it right. At least he is cheap, "frugal", when it comes to buying goods, not when he is providing for his children. Not unlike some south-pawed hurler from the other side of town. Does the Heisman pose keep his baby mama away from his moola?

[BruinBry]

Love the story. Testament to the character of some of the UCLA players.