JOHNNY MANZIEL DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK

Johnny Manziel graces the cover of Time magazine on September 6, which should give
more ammunition to the world-wide roster of those who hate the Texas A & M quarterback.
I'm sure there are many bitter, jealous, and hateful people who hope being on the cover of Time equates to the Sports Illustrated jinx or curse, where bad things sometimes happen to those are plastered on it.

Most of the sports nation seems to be lathered up in a frenzy over the 20-year old Heisman
Trophy-winning quarterback. The analysts have called him a punk, classless, immature,
spoiled, selfish, and just about everything in the unflattering section of the dictionary.
Lou Holtz wants  to strangle him, the immortal Matt Millen wants to kick him where
the sun doesn't shine, and Jesse Palmer thinks Johnny Football should grow up.

On Thursday, Barry Switzer, who ran an outlaw program at Oklahoma and lives in a glass
house bigger than the size of Tom Brady's mansion, said Manziel is arrogant and wants to
grab his face mask and pull it down. All these grown men want to do something or give
stern advice to a 20-year old kid. I guess it's the in-thing to do, but man, the bashing
Manziel bandwagon seems to be well over its capacity.  Amazing. A good part of the hating
country wants to tell Manziel the right way to act as if they are a picture of perfection. It's
become absolutely ludicrous. It really has.

I went back and watched Manziel's Heisman Trophy-winning season, the one where he
smashed the SEC record with more than 5,100 yards of total offense, which was more than
Cam Newtown and Tim Tebow could generate in their Heisman Trophy-winning season.
Manziel is a magician on the field and a once-in-a-generation talent. He's downright amazing.

So, of course, after building him up, the media and just about everybody else wants to tear
him down and put little Johnny Football in his place. After telling everybody that playing
quarterback is all about winning and production, the media and fans want to dissect his
character and find every little fault of it. Everybody seems to want to make sure that Johnny
doesn't party too much, have too much fun, get too much great publicity, and live the life
that he's earned.

Oh, sure, Manziel comes from a family of great wealth, but that's not his fault. He won the
lottery there, as he did with his athletic talent. But that's life. Why do so many people begrudge
the guy? He beat out other talented players to win the starting quarterback's job at A & M.
He not only won, but he produced like few people have ever done in the history of the game,
much less as a redshirt freshman.

Texas A & M raked in $37 million in 2012, thanks in large part to Manziel, who helped
generate ticket and merchandise revenue, not to mention leading the Aggies into a mega-
million dollar bowl game. That number could close to double with another great season.
Manziel is their cash cow and no matter what negative things you hear from the boosters,
they love the fact that A & M is coming up big in two bottom-line categories: winning
and revenue.

Everybody can criticize Manziel any way they want to. Freedom of speech gives us that
right. But what Lou Holtz, Matt Millen, Jesse Palmer and a cast of holier-than-thou critics.
say, does not matter. Manziel is a game-changer that has produced. What they say means
very little.

Big-time college sports is all about winning and money, something Manziel has helped
produce for Texas A & M. Time magazine might fuel the Manziel haters, which in turn
will probably help fuel Johnny Football to another great season, barring injury, of course.

Johnny Manziel doesn't care what you think, so why waste your time and energy on being
such a hater?