Johnny Manziel’s Las Vegas partying draws criticism
By Cory Buck
Johnny Manziel recently took a little vacation to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas and, of course, the folks at ESPN were on the ball and ready with commentary.
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Former NFL quarterback Mark Brunell took exception to the trip, saying that it should raise some concerns about whether or not Manziel can be the face of a NFL franchise.
“I wanna know that the future of my franchise isn’t going to Vegas every time he has 2-3 days off,” Brunell said.
Brunell, of course, makes an unassailable point.
At least it’s unassailable based on what we know of football and the way things are done in the NFL.
The talking heads at any studio know that fans don’t want to hear about days off or really anything an athlete does that isn’t completely 100 percent dedicated to the craft of winning Super Bowls.
With so much cliched conjecture swirling around every movement of high profile players like Manziel, it was refreshing to hear a reasonable retort to Brunell’s assertion.
Former player and head coach Herm Edwards answered Brunell in typical Herm fashion.
“It’s Memorial Day,” Edwards noted. “People have parties on Memorial Day!”
Bam! Vintage Herm right there.
For a second, I dared dream that we’d revert back to a discussion on the game and the requisite motivation for playing said game. Alas, Herm kept it light from there while still making a solid point.
Let’s not forget that Manziel just recently cleared one of the biggest hurdles of his life. If there’s anything draft season teaches us, it’s that these kids have to be silent as church mice for months straight while doing nothing but working out both mentally and physically just so one team will draft them as highly as possible.
It’s hard to blame someone for blowing off some steam in the weeks after when the rigors of a practice full of practices and OTAs awaits.
At the end of the day, we have to be mindful that athletes are humans too. And like any human, they need a vacation or a day off every now and then without insane scrutiny.
These people aren’t meant to be chained to your favorite sports team. When Manziel starts missing activities for which he is contractually obligated to attend, then maybe we can talk about controversies.
For now though, let’s heed Herm and give Manziel a break.
Lord knows we’ll have plenty to pick apart this season when he’s in Cleveland.