Johnny Football

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

As you can guess from my name, the Texas A&M Aggies are my second love (no worries, they are far behind my love of MU). I have been pretty blown away (in a bad way) by the coverage of Johnny Manziel by the media and the reactions from fans outside of Aggieland. Obviously I'm biased, but I was curious what y'all thought. Are his actions really that deplorable?

[wadesworld]

As you can guess from my name, the Texas A&M Aggies are my second love (no worries, they are far behind my love of MU). I have been pretty blown away (in a bad way) by the coverage of Johnny Manziel by the media and the reactions from fans outside of Aggieland. Obviously I'm biased, but I was curious what y'all thought. Are his actions really that deplorable?

He's as big of a tool as they come.

[ATL MU Warrior]

As you can guess from my name, the Texas A&M Aggies are my second love (no worries, they are far behind my love of MU). I have been pretty blown away (in a bad way) by the coverage of Johnny Manziel by the media and the reactions from fans outside of Aggieland. Obviously I'm biased, but I was curious what y'all thought. Are his actions really that deplorable?

yes

[reinko]

Deplorable?  Little harsh.  

Douche bag prima donna, grandson of a grifter, undersized do nothing in the NFL, destined to be a high school head coach, and eventually fade into the nothingness that is central Texas?  Yes.

[wadesworld]

Deplorable?  Little harsh.  

Douche bag prima donna, grandson of a grifter, undersized do nothing in the NFL, destined to be a high school head coach, and eventually fade into the nothingness that is central Texas?  Yes.

I'd say more likely to end up in jail. Then again with the family money, maybe not.

And did you know that there are worse jobs than a high school football coach in Texas? The salary for head coaches at the highest division on average is right around $75,000. When bonuses and travel are added in, some high schools are spending just below $100,000 on their high school football head coaches/year. Sickening.

[forgetful]

I'd say more likely to end up in jail. Then again with the family money, maybe not.

And did you know that there are worse jobs than a high school football coach in Texas? The salary for head coaches at the highest division on average is right around $75,000. When bonuses and travel are added in, some high schools are spending just below $100,000 on their high school football head coaches/year. Sickening.

The family is no stranger to jail.  And to answer the original post.  Yes, possibly he's even worse than the media portrays him.

[GGGG]

As you can guess from my name, the Texas A&M Aggies are my second love (no worries, they are far behind my love of MU). I have been pretty blown away (in a bad way) by the coverage of Johnny Manziel by the media and the reactions from fans outside of Aggieland. Obviously I'm biased, but I was curious what y'all thought. Are his actions really that deplorable?

No.  They haven't been.  I mean, he shouldn't be getting flags, but outside of that I have no problem with what he has been doing.  (Both sides were talking during that game before Manziel even started playing.)  And the media piling on, including the blowhards at ESPN, has been pretty stupid.

If they keep that up, I am going to openly root for him and A&M to win the national championship.

[MerrittsMustache]

I'd say more likely to end up in jail. Then again with the family money, maybe not.

And did you know that there are worse jobs than a high school football coach in Texas? The salary for head coaches at the highest division on average is right around $75,000. When bonuses and travel are added in, some high schools are spending just below $100,000 on their high school football head coaches/year. Sickening.

That amount of money really isn't unheard of. My brother is a HS football coach in the Chicago suburbs (who also teaches math) and makes close to $90k.

As for Manziel, he's a spoiled rich kid whose parents admittedly had little control over him while he was growing up. He's a very talented college QB but he's a punk who doesn't comprehend how far away he is from being a legit NFL QB. That said, he's Sumlin's best chance to win a title so he has to deal with him and try to keep him happy. If A&M loses a couple games and Manziel keeps up his antics, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sumlin/A&M sit him down for a game or two.

TAMU Eagle - What are people's thoughts on Manziel in Aggieland?

[Golden Avalanche]

As you can guess from my name, the Texas A&M Aggies are my second love (no worries, they are far behind my love of MU). I have been pretty blown away (in a bad way) by the coverage of Johnny Manziel by the media and the reactions from fans outside of Aggieland. Obviously I'm biased, but I was curious what y'all thought. Are his actions really that deplorable?

Johnny's fine. He's simply the latest incarnation of the ESPN hype machine which loves to build it up, hype it up, investigate it up, then blow it up. Plenty of fine athletes who have been through this before. As Mark May proves so often the only interest ESPN has is ratings and they'll do anything, including actively mythologizing, to get them up. When those ratings fall, all they have left is actively de-mythologizing and that leads all these mindless drones to be so certain that Johnny is a prima donna douchebag punk tool who's simply not as cool a human as they are.

By the way, that penalty was fecking ridiculous. If Bridgewater from Louisville does that, he's bringing swagger to his Heisman hopes. If Winston from FSU does that, he's bringing excitement to the game as a Freshman. If Miller from OSU does that, he's showing the confidence needed to win a National Title.

[reinko]

Johnny's fine. He's simply the latest incarnation of the ESPN hype machine which loves to build it up, hype it up, investigate it up, then blow it up. Plenty of fine athletes who have been through this before. As Mark May proves so often the only interest ESPN has is ratings and they'll do anything, including actively mythologizing, to get them up. When those ratings fall, all they have left is actively de-mythologizing and that leads all these mindless drones to be so certain that Johnny is a prima donna douchebag punk tool who's simply not as cool a human as they are.

By the way, that penalty was fecking ridiculous. If Bridgewater from Louisville does that, he's bringing swagger to his Heisman hopes. If Winston from FSU does that, he's bringing excitement to the game as a Freshman. If Miller from OSU does that, he's showing the confidence needed to win a National Title.

Actually disagree, pardon while I steer this topic way off, but I think a chunk of the media would talk about the "thug" culture if these two guys did it. 

[wadesworld]

That amount of money really isn't unheard of. My brother is a HS football coach in the Chicago suburbs (who also teaches math) and makes close to $90k.

As for Manziel, he's a spoiled rich kid whose parents admittedly had little control over him while he was growing up. He's a very talented college QB but he's a punk who doesn't comprehend how far away he is from being a legit NFL QB. That said, he's Sumlin's best chance to win a title so he has to deal with him and try to keep him happy. If A&M loses a couple games and Manziel keeps up his antics, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sumlin/A&M sit him down for a game or two.

TAMU Eagle - What are people's thoughts on Manziel in Aggieland?

If I read it correctly, my understanding is that the high school football coaches are being paid $75,000 base salary without doing anything else at the school.  That could be wrong though.  My guess is your brother makes $90,000 between teaching and coaching, with more of it coming from teaching (although probably still a pretty ridiculous amount for coaching, being as it is like a 3 month job).  Would that be correct?

[MerrittsMustache]

If I read it correctly, my understanding is that the high school football coaches are being paid $75,000 base salary without doing anything else at the school.  That could be wrong though.  My guess is your brother makes $90,000 between teaching and coaching, with more of it coming from teaching (although probably still a pretty ridiculous amount for coaching, being as it is like a 3 month job).  Would that be correct?

I don't know of his exact breakdown but yes, most of his salary is from teaching. He's also an assistant track coach so he gets some income from there too, but I would guess that's only around $5K. Still, not a bad way to make a living.

$75K base only to coach HS football would be very high, but making six-figures to be a teacher and coach is not all that out of the ordinary.

[MerrittsMustache]

Johnny's fine. He's simply the latest incarnation of the ESPN hype machine which loves to build it up, hype it up, investigate it up, then blow it up. Plenty of fine athletes who have been through this before. As Mark May proves so often the only interest ESPN has is ratings and they'll do anything, including actively mythologizing, to get them up. When those ratings fall, all they have left is actively de-mythologizing and that leads all these mindless drones to be so certain that Johnny is a prima donna douchebag punk tool who's simply not as cool a human as they are.

Did ESPN post pictures of Manziel drinking while underage on his Twitter page? Or pictures of him holding wads of cash? Or force him to get into tweet-fights with strangers? Or act like an idiot on the football field?

Does ESPN overplay certain topics? Absolutely. But they aren't to blame for Manziel being portrayed as a punk. Johnny does that to himself.

[GGGG]

Johnny's fine. He's simply the latest incarnation of the ESPN hype machine which loves to build it up, hype it up, investigate it up, then blow it up. Plenty of fine athletes who have been through this before. As Mark May proves so often the only interest ESPN has is ratings and they'll do anything, including actively mythologizing, to get them up. When those ratings fall, all they have left is actively de-mythologizing and that leads all these mindless drones to be so certain that Johnny is a prima donna douchebag punk tool who's simply not as cool a human as they are.

Well stated.

Did ESPN post pictures of Manziel drinking while underage on his Twitter page? Or pictures of him holding wads of cash? Or force him to get into tweet-fights with strangers? Or act like an idiot on the football field?

OH MY GOD!!!  Drinking while underage???  Holding money???  Tweet-fights???

THE OUTRAGE!!!!!

[jesmu84]

He's simply living the exact same life that a large majority of frat guys on large, party campuses are living. The difference is, he's doing it in the spotlight. I think one's opinion of Johnny is based on what you think athletes should be doing based on their talent. Do you think athletes should use their standing and be a good, upstanding example in society? Or do you think athletes are normal, sometimes shitty human beings who happen to have a talent?

ESPN is trying to distance themselves from any possible public scrutiny after building him up so much now that there is some "bad" stuff out there on Manziel.

[wadesworld]

I don't know of his exact breakdown but yes, most of his salary is from teaching. He's also an assistant track coach so he gets some income from there too, but I would guess that's only around $5K. Still, not a bad way to make a living.

$75K base only to coach HS football would be very high, but making six-figures to be a teacher and coach is not all that out of the ordinary.

Agreed.

[MerrittsMustache]

OH MY GOD!!!  Drinking while underage???  Holding money???  Tweet-fights???

THE OUTRAGE!!!!!

When you're a college athlete, particularly one in the national spotlight, and you continuously do stupid things and then publicly brag about them, you lose the right to complain about being treated unfairly when you get called out for continuously do stupid things and then publicly brag about them.

I'm sure if Terror Skink Jr. was in Johnny's position and acting a fool, you'd have no problem with it, huh?

[tower912]

He is doing the modern version of the 'back-in-the-day' stuff that many people here talk about.   It hasn't dawned on him yet that as a modern athlete, he lives in a fishbowl, is constantly under the microscope, and has no assumption of privacy.    The reaction to all of this says more about the downfall of society than does a 20 year old male doing stupid stuff. 

[Sunbelt15]

When you're a college athlete, particularly one in the national spotlight, and you continuously do stupid things and then publicly brag about them, you lose the right to complain about being treated unfairly when you get called out for continuously do stupid things and then publicly brag about them.

I'm sure if Terror Skink Jr. was in Johnny's position and acting a fool, you'd have no problem with it, huh?

Manziel is about one incident from falling four or five rounds in the NFL Draft. Reputation counts for a lot in draft status, and he's f**king his up in the eyes of many, including ESPN (the "HYPE" media). That's millions in guaranteed money he's risking.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I wonder if this thread was about a MU player and the same comments were made.........

[Sunbelt15]

I wonder if this thread was about a MU player and the same comments were made.........

Don't do it Chicos. You know someone's ready and waiting to ATTACK!!

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

He's an immature, cocky, D-bag.

With this said, I kind of like the full-heal bit he's doing. I mean, it's entertaining, that's for sure.

As far as media hype and overexposure, it's a 2-way street. Johnny should probably keep a lower profile, but ESPN also needs to realize what is actually news, and what is just nonsense.

Here is what I would love to see:

Johnny Football vs Tim Tebow in an NFL game. ESPN would have to launch a new channel for all of their coverage.

[Golden Avalanche]

Did ESPN post pictures of Manziel drinking while underage on his Twitter page? Or pictures of him holding wads of cash? Or force him to get into tweet-fights with strangers? Or act like an idiot on the football field?

Does ESPN overplay certain topics? Absolutely. But they aren't to blame for Manziel being portrayed as a punk. Johnny does that to himself.

I drank in college. I won wads of cash at a Potawatomi blackjack table and took a photo. If Twitter was around I'd probably have posted that photo and been caught up in one of these "twitter-fights". I never played college football but Tim Tebow did and he used to gator chomp his ass off after burning multiple SEC secondaries.

Surely this doesn't make me and/or Timmy a punk, does it? crap, at your rate, nearly every single student in America over the last five years is a punk as it'd be pretty easy to tick off three of those four events listed.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

TAMU Eagle - What are people's thoughts on Manziel in Aggieland?

Besides the whole autographs thing, most people think he walks on water. People are genuinely confused why he gets all the negative press that he does. The way Aggies look at it, he drank underage, posted stupid stuff on twitter, and talks trash on the field....like any other college student would do. So they see him as a hero...but they accept his flaws because they know he is a college student and college students do dumb things.

But us Aggies were fairly outraged when we heard about the autographs. Not because we have a moral stance that says selling autographs is wrong, but because he jeopardized the rest of the team by taking that risk. If he had been suspended for the entire season, it would be a pretty safe bet that Aggieland would have turned on him. That being said, a lot of Aggies now have an opinion on whether players should get paid.

The coverage that most pissed people of down here was from Mark May...I mean seriously? He says Manziel is shaming the game when he himself was arrested TWICE for DWIs? Seriously?

I personally haven't met him, but those who have had nothing but good things to say about him. I recognize some of the cocky douchebag things he has done, but it doesn't seem any worse than what I see from the rest of my students. Of course, I am biased.

[Lennys Tap]

I wonder if this thread was about a MU player and the same comments were made.........

Easy - nothing to "wonder" about. Put Johnny in an MU jersey and YOU would be the one making the "comments" - all the while "wondering" what his blue and gold kool aid drinking defenders would say if he wasn't from MU. Then you would call everyone who disagreed with you a hypocrite. Chicos 101.