But I don't see other fan bases bashing and demonizing their players like Browns fans do. It's pathetic.
I think other fans are just as bad. It's just that we don't see them and we're closer to our own. Fans suck. Period. Go to a game and listen to the comments those idiots yell out. Total idiots, most of them.
I was watching a local sports talk show the other night. It's called "More Sports and Les Levine". It's a Cleveland call-in show. They were talking about Johnny and one guy called in with a good point but he didn't know how to make his point once the host disagreed with him.
He said the media was as much to blame for Johnny's benching as anyone. The host disagreed saying "You don't see Derek Carr or Mariota or Bridgewater out in the clubs partying it up on videos." That's where the caller lost his nerve.
But the point he should have made is that you don't see those other guys partying because nobody cares about them. They could easily go out and party for the big ass on a bye weekend and nobody gives a crap. It's a normal thing to do. So you won't see pictures of them on the internet. Even if you did those pics sure wouldn't end up on National TV. Nobody cares.
But Johnny Manziel is, as Vers said, a polarizing figure. It's also like Dansby said, "He's a prisoner of his own success." Everybody wants to know what Johnny's up to. Johnny and Carr and Mariota and Bridgewater could all go out and party down 'till sunrise and the only one you'd hear about is Johnny.
"A prisoner of his own success."
What a statement! It is because of his success that he can't just be a normal guy. He can't just go do the normal things his team mates do because he's always in front of the camera. He can't go anywhere without people recognizing him. Who of us would know the other above mentioned QBs if we ran into them at Walmart? I know what they all look like to the degree that if you lined up a group of football players I'd be able to pick out each of those QBs. But take them out of the familiar environment of football and I doubt I would.
But everybody recognizes Johnny. His career reached that point when he was still in college.
Hell, he was given the name "Johnny Football". Unlike the 'money sign', that name wasn't of his own making. People called him that because of the way he used his mad skills to carry his team on his back to a degree that got everybody's attention. He did it to the degree that it gave him celebrity status.
I'm not saying that means he'll be a successful NFL quarterback. What I am saying is that his HS and college play has made him a celebrity and everyone wants to know everything about a celebrity. So yes, the media has him in everyone's face at every opportunity, even if he's just doing normal things other normal NFL players do.
It can start out as simple as a video posted on some nobody's Twitter account then it progresses to that same video being posted on all sorts of websites, not just sports sites, and then it makes it onto National TV and then NFL Network and then ESPN. And just when you think it can't progress any further those big-time sports shows feel the need to weigh-in with their opinion of the video and make moral judgments on the young man and what they think his team should do about it. And it goes on for days. Weeks.
Immediately following Johnny's benching I made a few strong-minded posts with my opinions on the subject. Now that some time has passed I've come to understand it a little differently.
I now understand Pettine's concern that he doesn't want the "face of the franchise" to be a drunk guy partying at the club on video every time he gets a day off. That's not a face to put on your club. So I understand Pettine's conversation with Johnny before the the bye weekend telling him to lay low. I completely understand that now.
I also understand Johnny agreeing with that, making a promise, telling the media he promised it and that he thought he was "keeping his nose clean" by simply going to the club having some fun. After all, he didn't do anything illegal. He didn't get arrested, he didn't get a driving ticket, he didn't get into a fight, he didn't have a run-in with a woman, he didn't get fall-down-drunk, (cause if he did we'd have seen the video). All he did is what many of his team mates did. He went to a club and had some fun. Sure, most of them weren't up in the DJ booth dancing around but they aren't the type who gets invited to do that. Johnny is that polarizing figure who gets those opportunities. Besides, that's not really a big deal in itself.
All-n-all he just did normal, blow-some-steam-off kind of things. I'm certain he came back to Cleveland on Saturday feeling good that he kept his word and didn't do anything to embarrass the organization.
I'm also certain that when Cleveland media started asking questions about the "video" he was taken aback wondering 'what's up with this?', 'what video?', 'I hadn't done anything wrong', 'what's wrong?'
Then he finds out. While I don't agree with his choice to lie to Pettine about it I understand his feeling bull-rushed and denying the whole thing. Like the things he did that weekend, that was pretty much normal. I'd have liked to him be rigorously honest since he'd been through treatment, but that is probably one area everyone slips on going forward. Not an excuse, just forgivable. Maybe that's just me.
Pettine, once he demoted him, whether he should have or not, couldn't go back on his decision. I believe his plan was to play McCown for the next two games and then put Johnny back in. But the season ending injury to Josh put the coach in a bind.
"Do I play Johnny vs the bengals sending the message that I'm serious about the punishment unless I need you", or "Do I show my seriousness on the subject by playing the real third-string guy perhaps to the detriment of the team?"
That's a tough spot to be in. Some will say that he created the situation himself just as some will say Johnny created his situation himself.
For the best part of two years the main focus of the Cleveland Browns has been a young quarterback who has played sparingly thus far. And, for the best part of those same two years the main focus of the National media, when discussing the Cleveland Browns, has been that same young quarterback who has played so sparingly.
One thing is certain, since high school Johnny Manziel has been a celebrity and a polarizing figure for both his play on the field and in his personal life. That will never go away.
Should he succeed or should he fail he has established his place in football history. Good or bad is yet to be seen.
