As a Texas A&M fan, you might immediately peg me as someone incapable of being rational or unbiased when it comes to the phenomenon that is Johnny Football. I’d be lying to you if I told you I wasn’t at least a little worried of the offseason Manziel has so ungraciously documented for us with his, and everyone else’s, social media presence.
That said, I am getting sick of all glass house dwellers throwing stones at a guy who has yet to get caught doing anything seriously illegal. Spare me this underage drinking nonsense. 20-year old college males drink, and if you believe otherwise you need a serious reality check.
Having attended Texas A&M I can attest, with first hand knowledge, that Manziel isn’t the first underage football player to consume alcohol regularly, and he isn’t the first quarterback to do it either. If any of this is shocking to you then you either didn’t go to college or live under a rock, or both.
Speaking of partying, let me vent for a moment to my fellow Aggies or anyone who has a problem with Manziel partying at t.u. Please, get over this. I, all my friends and pretty much most of the people I ever met or hung around with in Aggieland partied in Austin with Longhorns. Austin is cool. We all know it and we frequent the city because of this. If this has changed recently and Aggies don’t venture west anymore, then let me implore you to take the drive down 21 for a weekend. It will be life changing.
Vent over.
The unfortunate aspect of the whole situation is everyone has been focusing on the partying and the negative publicity, causing assumptions to be made that contradict who Johnny Football was during the 2012 season.
He was college football’s most outstanding player, a terrific leader and an even better teammate. Did you forget how much he thanked his teammates and coaches at every turn in the days following the Heisman presentation? He parties this summer (like all college kids do) and all of a sudden he’s a bad teammate?
If this was 10 years ago, you and I would be none the wiser to the partying, really, unless we witnessed it first-hand. I’d be willing to bet Manziel isn’t the first Heisman winner to live it up post Heisman campaign. He’s just the first to do it in the Social Media age.
Between all the Tweets, Vines and Instagram pictures, Manziel admittedly doesn’t exactly hide what he is doing, which is the majority of the problem. People see how he is living and start to ask questions, get jealous or suspicious and now you have Joe Schmo waiting around the corner, armed with a computer masquerading as a cell phone.
Everyone is waiting for the moment it all blows up in his face.
I got news for you: that’s not going to happen.
As much as you all want to bring him down and expose him as the arrogant, selfish, spoiled brat you think he is, the NCAA needs Johnny Football too much to suspend him. Even if they do eventually find evidence necessary to deem him ineligible for signing autographs in exchange for money, the NCAA will purposely let the situation play out so Manziel doesn’t miss the 2013 season, allowing the NCAA, the SEC and Texas A&M to cash in.
So sit back, take a load off and enjoy the show. Johnny ****** Fooball is here to stay.
Jeff Shull is an NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
Related Posts
New Evidence Against Johnny Manziel forces Texas A&M to Issue Suspension
