At this time last year, no one knew who Johnny Manziel was
and frankly no one cared. Matter of fact, no one in SEC football even gave the
newly addition Texas A&M Aggie football squad a second glance. Not until
Texas A&M beat powerhouse Alabama, did the term Johnny Football blew up
overnight, driving Manziel to win the Heisman Trophy as the best college
football player in the 2012 season. Now,
in the off-season, Johnny Football has been all over the news in a negative
light for living his life as a typical college (unofficial) frat boy would.
It’s amazing what social media is capable of doing in the
world today; it’s a gift and a curse.
Ask Johnny Football. Just like
every other college-aged student Johnny has his own Instagram, Facebook page,
Twitter handle, and Vine and he uses it just like we all do; snapping pictures
of amazing food and drinks, taking videos of wild parties on Spring Break,
tweeting out to famous rappers/celebrities. The only difference between us and
Johnny Football is that he’s famous now so those rappers/celebrities are
responding, those parties are ten times bigger and wilder and that food and
drink is probably already being paid for (I understand that’s NCAA illegal, it
happens, get over it).
(picture provided by Johnny Manziel's Instagram)
He was at the same
location as a fight that busted out and when the cops came, he ran just like
everyone else did. But because he’s
Johnny Football, he gets in trouble for it.
He tweeted out a very broad statement about the college town, “BS like tonight
is the reason why I can't wait to leave College Station... Whenever it may be”. Hasn't every college student felt that way
about their college town at one point?
He was a camp counselor at Peyton Manning’s Football Camp, and it is
believed that he was late to a morning session because he was hung-over from
the night before. Well, no defense
there, other than he’s a college kid and that sometimes happens to college
kids. He posts crazy pictures that any “Frat
Star” college kid would only dream of.
But, because he’s Johnny Football, the media is reflecting him as if he
is Lindsey Lohan in a downward spiral.
Let’s cut him a break here folks! He’s not a professional
football player; no one is paying him millions of dollars to behave as a professional. He decided to stay in college this year to
play college football and to live the life of a college athlete. I guarantee you that Peyton Manning thoroughly
enjoyed his college career at Tennessee, that Tom Brady was partying it up at
Michigan and that Eli Manning would get all dressed up for southern formals and
got down at Ole Miss. Unfortunately, they didn't have social media outlets to
post their adventures on. When asked
about missing the morning sessions at Manning Camp, Peyton Manning responded, “I
can remember a 20-year-old Eli missing a
meeting and catching some flak. We always have counselors who leave early.
Johnny was great with the campers for the time he was here. He had to leave
early. I wish him the best and I want him to come back as a counselor next year.”
The maturity and growth in professionalism is learned in the
college experience, and that’s no exception for Johnny Football. Like ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said, “With a name
like Johnny Football, I’d be worried if he didn't have a beer in his hand in the off season.”
The young college-aged population is attracted to Johnny Football because
they can see themselves in him. He’s not
your typical, machine-like Heisman winner. Johnny Football is taking full
advantage of his college years, and fans like to see that. Let’s just hope he
can back it up on the field next year and on the professional level.
