Johnny Manziel Opens Up on Good Morning America About His Troubles Off of the Field
https://abcnews.go.com/video/embed?id=53014602
There are always going to be those people that for whatever reason, you just can’t stand. And since day one I have despised Johnny Manziel. And honestly, I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe I hated how arrogant he seemed on the field or maybe it was because he just dripped scumbag. There was no rhyme or reason to it when he was at Texas A&M, I just couldn’t stand him.
And then once he won the Heisman, he became one of those guys that yeah, you could still hope to see him lose every week, kind of like Cam Newton to some people, but you had to respect the kid’s level of play.
I mean, Jesus Christ he was unbelievable. He was so elusive that if back then, you told me that one day he would be a slot receiver or a third down back in the NFL, I would believe you. The kid was insanely fun to watch. It was becoming must see TV every week when he would take the field. And this is coming from a guy who looks forward to Tweeting about how much I hate college football every fall. But then I’ll secretly turn it on when no ones around because I’m a big fraud when it comes to “never watching” college football. Please.
Once he slipped out of college and got drafted to the Cleveland Browns, you began to see the wheels turning. And by that, I mean the wheel’s of the party bus. (Good one, Quags)
Johnny Football began to slide into that deep, dark hole between being arrested for domestic violence, partying 24 hours of the day like he was an extra in Project X, and eventually checking himself into rehab. It was a straight up free fall. It became something that was almost expected at one point. What will Johnny be arrested for this week? Cocaine? Public intoxication? Public nudity?
And ever since the Cleveland Browns gave up on him, you were just waiting for him to make his way back into the NFL. And that was the thing, he wasn’t awful when he was leading the Browns. I mean hell, he wasn’t great but can you really reach your peak performance level when you’re playing football in Cleveland? That cesspool?
The thing though was that he was serviceable. He had his bumps here and there and it seemed to be a split vote between fans on whether or not they believed he could be a starting caliber NFL quarterback, but he was showing spurts of some sort of skill that could work.
With all of that being said, this interview he held on GMA this morning was something that actually opened up my eyes for a second. It was the first time that I’ve seen any remorse coming from Manziel and it made my mind slightly shift over to his side of the isle.
Something that first really caused me to peruse the Johnny Football side of the isle was when he began to open up about his bipolar disorder which he claims he was diagnosed with last year. Whether or not you want to give him any credit for opening up about this on national TV, even his critics have to say that this is tough for anyone to do – especially for somebody who has fallen under such intense scrutiny for the majority of his football playing career.
Unlike when he kicks this interview off by speaking about his mother and what he had done to her emotionally, I thought this was something that he could absolutely not bend the truth about.
And I’m not saying the part about his mother isn’t true. I think that it probably is, but how can we know?
Manziel is working out, and is clearly making a vigorous attempt at making a comeback to professional football.
TJ Holmes made it clear that Manziel does have a CFL (Canadian Football League) offer withstanding on the table at the moment. But from the sounds of it throughout the interview, Manziel isn’t looking just at getting back in the game; he’s looking at trying to make his way back into the NFL which is starving for quality quarterbacks.
Look at it this way. Manziel is 25 years old. A fresh 25 as in, his birthday isn’t until December. The kid is still just that, a kid. We know that the talent is in there somewhere. For all of these years it has just been drowned in booze and a variety of drugs.
He claims he’s sober and he’s on medication for his bipolar disorder. I may just be a sucker for a good story but man, I think I’m ready for a Johnny Football comeback to the NFL.
Written By: Nick Quaglia (@NickQuag)