Look, I make no secret that Johnny Manziel, "Johnny Football", has enough Q-Rating to make himself the most relevant single football player the NCAA has had in 20 years.
I'm not saying the best, I'm saying most relevant.
I'm saying relevant that I actually would think that ESPN would want Texas A&M to win their September 14 showdown with Alabama and eventually win the final BCS National Championship...
... until this weekend.
The problems began to become more apparent (again!) for Manziel this weekend, when he was expelled from the Manning Passing Academy for missing a meeting as a counselor to the camp.
He has the blessing of the Mannings to return next year, though.
On Monday, he finally addressed a court issue, a misdemeanor (which should've resulted in a suspension last season, and that which WOULD have resulted in him not winning the Heisman Trophy, almost certainly!) for failing to properly identify himself to police as a result of a fight to which the cops were called.
Certainly not much more than a quarter- of half-worth at first glance (but see below!), especially for someone as ESPN/BCS-protected as Manziel, but that still should've been considered come December, especially for someone who appears to be on a one-way path to multiple Heismans and almost a forcing of the first NFL Draft Lottery after the 2014 season.
Manziel was actually supposed to be suspended, according to USA Today, for the entire 2012 season!
Johnny Manziel needs to return a fraudulently-won Heisman Trophy, because his coach had to pen a letter to prevent him from being tossed from the team and probably transferring somewhere else.
He's the centerpiece of coach Kevin Sumlin's Aggie program. One must wonder, therefore, whether TAMU got a letter stating that if Manziel goes, so does Sumlin...
Where am I going with this?
Something's up with this kid. I know people are going to come to me and say I think that about just about everybody (and they'd be right, for the most part!), but something is REALLY up with this kid.
He's clearly the biggest media darling college football has had in decades, between the Heisman in his first year of eligibility, his girlfriend, and his nickname. He almost-certainly would have enough of a Q-Rating for ESPN to openly welcome Texas A&M into the BCS "Family" and rather see them play for the final BCS National Championship than, say, anybody else outside the SEC, Oregon, and Ohio State.
So he tells ESPN and the SEC media that he's held to a higher standard than most players his age.
YOU ARE, YOU FRAUD!!!
Have you forgotten that you are:
- A Heisman Trophy winner
- Almost certainly the favorite to, this year, become the second player to win multiple Heismans, and the first to go back-to-back
- The BMOC of Texas A&M University
- Probably the single major reason people are going to care about an effective BCS National Semifinal on September 14 when your team hosts Alabama.
- ESPN's new darling, and we all must bow to the Almighty Quarterback at the Four-Letter Network
- Almost certainly the #1 Draft Pick of the NFL (off-field concerns aside!) when you become eligible as such
- Probably going to be even a bigger target than the "Suck for Luck" campaign from two years ago -- a campaign that, with the media and NFL push, added about 4 wins to the expected total of Indianapolis last year
And that you don't get it, and that you said today you're "still going to live life to[your] fullest" indicates to me you got people covering up for you at Texas A&M.
You are NOT a 20-year old sophomore in college -- you won't see four years in college. You might find some way to get a degree, not unlike a number of NFL players do eventually. But you are no student, at this juncture, and we need to stop this fraud of such.
You're going to the NFL, son. You are probably the centerpiece of the NCAA FCS this season, should you make it that far before screwing up where people can't cover for you.
And you need to start understanding that unless being "Johnny Football" (not just as of yourself, but as of anyone with a similar nickname) implies basically running roughshod over your community and being allowed to rape, pillage, and plunder (as many football Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahds are allowed to on all levels -- hat-tip to JBL), you need to start having the responsibility of your role.
We all know how quickly things can spiral.
Andrew Sharp says it better than I can in Grantland:
"Johnny Manziel needs to grow up or get lost."
"If Johnny won't do it for himself, he should do it for college football. The Heisman Trophy is more important than some undersize quarterback from Texas. The Heisman Trophy is one of the few awards in sports where character still counts. It's not good enough to be great on the field when you're the Heisman winner, you have to set an example for everyone. Kind of like playing quarterback. But Johnny Football's been struggling lately, and sooner or later he's not going to be able to scramble out of trouble."
(Though some people might question with Reggie Bush and the like, they did take the trophy. The problem is, they also need to take the 2012 one from Manziel and vacate it.)
"I'm not saying Johnny Manziel is going to be Aaron Hernandez one day, but he's been on a slippery slope the past few months, and it hasn't stopped so far.
Texas A&M won't punish him, because how could they? Johnny put the Aggies on the map for the first time in decades. Coach Kevin Sumlin isn't worried about character, he's worried about recruiting. That's a fact. The NCAA won't punish Manziel, either, because today's media freaks out any time the NCAA has the gall to enforce the rulebook. And this is how tradition gets trampled."
Texas A&M won't punish him, because he's already basically been given the ultimate VIP card there. They had the chance to toss him, and they should've, before the 2012 season. Suspending him for the year would've had him transfer elsewhere, he loses that year of eligibility, and the like. It probably costs TAMU Sumlin, as a coach.
The NCAA is losing relevance by the day (and the Commissioner of the SEC said as such earlier in the SEC Media Days).
The fact of the matter is: Someone needs to investigate all this.
Something is badly wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment