Fame can be difficult for many people to handle, especially in today’s world of instant social media that has turned regular people into quasi-journalists who can easily report what celebrities are doing at almost any time of the day. No one, especially well-known people, is safe from this intense scrutiny.
This has never been more apparent than with Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who has seen his share of public criticism increase during the past few months.
Manziel rocketed to fame earlier this year after winning the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Bowl Championship Series’ top football player. Manziel, 20, won the award as a red-shirt freshman for Texas A&M, which is rare, and he has since enjoyed his fame. He sat courtside at a National Basketball Association playoff game, threw out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game, and drew a gawking and cheering crowd to his round of golf with his father at Pebble Beach.
For Manziel, the perks are the upside to fame, but there are pitfalls that he is beginning to experience, and the world is watching what should be a story of success quickly turn into a nightmare. He is about to embark on his sophomore campaign for the Aggies, which is what we should be talking about, but instead Manziel has created off-field drama for which he is receiving more intense inquiries.
The Manning family dismissed him from their Manning Passing Academy after he missed a few clinics at which he was supposed to teach. A video of a drunk Manziel being thrown out of a University of Texas fraternity party went viral, and the Facebook, Twitter and 24-hour news cycle world heavily criticized him for his expulsion from his team’s rival university.
A few weeks ago, his father was on ESPN and spoke of Manziel’s battle with alcohol and how his family is waiting for the phone call alerting them that Johnny Football has hit rock bottom. Prior to all of this, Manziel’s comments trashing the town in which Texas A&M stands tore quickly through the social media world and made him look ungrateful to his school, and the community that supports him and the Aggies. If these indiscretions and embarrassments weren’t enough, now comes the biggest problem for Manziel: An NCAA investigation.
The collegiate organization is investigating allegations that Manziel received a five-figure sum of money to sign autographs on sports memorabilia, with some later surfacing on the Internet auction-site eBay. The NCAA prohibits college players from receiving money for anything associated with their playing. They can get a job at a local fast-food joint or another business, but that is the only way they are allowed to earn money during their playing days.
The NCAA usually comes down hard on players who break its rules, and Manziel, if the rumors true, has just put himself into a potentially big hole out of which he cannot easily dig.
We understand that he is only 20 years old, and young people make mistakes, but Manziel, Texas A&M and his family need to be aware that, right or wrong, he is one of the biggest football stars on the planet right now and his behavior must be modified. He is not afforded the same passes that most 20-year-olds receive for immature antics. The people close to Manziel need to all be on the same page and put up a wall around him, or else his problems can become much worse.
The spotlight does shine brightly, even more so in today’s world, but Manziel is not the first high-profile college athlete to fall under fame’s overwhelming lens. Players like Tim Tebow, for example, have handled the fame well because they surround themselves with people who know how to keep the world out. Such players understand they are on a different level than other people and can’t act as freely as they want.
Manziel needs to understand this. If not, instead of watching him go down as one of the best football players to play the game, we’ll be watching him join that long list of sports’ biggest failures.
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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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