OK, let's all put down the moral compass and save the self-righteous rhetoric for another day.
Character has nothing to do with sports. Absolutely nothing.
If that were the case, the Philadelphia Phillies wouldn't have signed convicted drug cheat, Marlon
Byrd, to a 2-year, $16 million contract on Tuesday. If character counted so much, why the
hell is convicted racist Riley Cooper still in the NFL? And if being squeaky clean was so important,
what is convicted felon Michael Vick, still doing collecting millions from the same team,
the Philadelphia Eagles, Cooper plays for.
In sports, character doesn't really matter. If you can play, you can stay.
So, please don't bring up the alleged bad character of Johnny Manziel when I tell you he is the
the best player in the country--by far. It's not even close. He should win the Heisman Trophy
in a landslide. You're good, Jameis Winston, but your team is stockpiled with future NFL
first-round draft picks. If you have a bad game, the other studs on Florida State can help you
win. If Manziel has a bad game, it's game over
There has never been a quarterback like Manziel in NCAA history. Never. Archie Manning
was exciting, but his teams were terrible. Fran Tarkenton had some magic playing between
the hedges in Georgia, but he didn't have an arm or the charisma of Manziel. Doug Flutie?
Yep, he was good, but few people knew about him until he launched that 'Hail Mary' pass
against Miami that wrapped up the Heisman. He never had the pressure of trying to win
another one when just about everybody in the world wants to see you fail.
I get the feeling Johnny Football has never failed in his life. People have tried to take him
down, but he's resilient. He has the feet of Fred Astaire and an arm like Drew Brees. He's
an escape artist who can turn a 10-yard loss by the way of a sack, into a 65-yard touchdown
pass.
Oh, that's right, you don't like the fact that he got penalized for taunting an opposing player
in his first game of the season? Oh, I'm sorry, you're still disappointed that little Johnny
didn't use good judgement in one of his tweets! I guess he can join you and the other 50
million people who tweeted something dumb in 140 characters or less.
OK, so you nailed him for taking money for signing autographs. Way to go, Ironside.
Sorry, all that stuff does not matter. Manziel is a once-in-a-lifetime college player. I've
heard from all the armchair quarterbacks that Manziel will never make it in the NFL.
Whatever, that doesn't matter, either. He's playing college football like few have ever done.
Nick Saban and his staff spent the entire summer trying to figure out a way to stop Manziel
when Alabama played Texas A & M in September. Saban, whose defensive genius and
preparation is only surpassed by Bill Belichick, couldn't do it.
He had months to figure out to stop one player and he had no answers. Manziel torched the
Crimson Tide defense for more than 500 yards of total offense and 42 points. You may
never see 42 points scored on a Saban coached team again in your lifetime. Manziel made
it look easy.
Go ahead, get on Johnny because he came from a family of great wealth. So, what if he
hit the lottery? All the money in the world can't buy the talent, heart, and savvy that Manziel
has. I'm not even going to say much about his eye-popping stats, which are even more
eye-popping than they were a year ago.
No one can measure Manziel by stats alone. In all honesty, when I watch him play, they
mean nothing. He's leader who has swagger and a giant-sized heart. Manziel gets pounded
but gets back up every time. If you can't see his toughness, then you are more blind than
the people who rip on his alleged bad character.
Manziel loves the bright lights and big stage. The hotter and bigger they are, the better
he performs, and we should admire him for that.
Manziel has two monster SEC games left. One against LSU, the other against Missouri.
Manziel has never choked. Don't expect to see him melt now. I have a feeling he's ramping
up to do something really, really awesome.
It's going to be fun to watch.
But it's going to be even better watching him walk up to the podium to hoist another
Heisman next month.
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