Of Course The Media Coddled Johnny Manziel

Johnny Manziel was a media sensation. Now, at 23, he’s in shambles. Substance abuse troubles have derailed his NFL career. He’s been dropped by multiple agents. Inner circle enablers are worried. Manziel has been indicted for domestic assault.

His rapid decline begs a question for the media: was Manziel coddled? The answer: of course. It’s a story that began in college, well before the drama of NFL Draft night.

Manziel was the perfect story. An unheralded redshirt freshman quarterback became the SEC’s best player. A dynamic, gunslinging improviser, he was also college football’s most entertaining player. The Internet endowed him with a catchy nickname, Johnny Effing Football. He beat Bama. He won the Heisman.

Even better, and this is rare for athletes, Manziel was interesting. We got a brief taste with the Scooby Doo photo. Once Texas A&M let him off the leash, he was everywhere, a bonafide star.

Furthermore, Manziel was a raffish rebel, endearing him to the media even more. College football’s best player was a walking eff you to the system. He was the anti-Tebow.

Manziel got sent home for disrespecting the sanctity of the Manning camp, an establishment bastion. This incensed old white guy media, and sparked an inevitable reaction from the younger and snarkier.

He hit a similar node with the NCAA INVESTIGATION into whether he sold autographs and, amateurism forbid, profited from his football career. He returned to the field dropping the money sign to celebrate big plays.

Great stories are coddled, at least on a subconscious level. We want them to be true. We interpret new information within that framework. Journalism’s great failings occur when that tendency is not accounted for.

Great athletes are coddled, when they can play. Sports is a results industry. Lawrence Taylor and Michael Irvin could. Johnny Manziel could in college. He can’t in the NFL. Thus, his demons have become a defining story, not one shunted off to the sideline.

There were signs about where Manziel was heading. But, connecting those dots back ex post facto is specious. Irreverent and hard-partying would describe many 20-year-old college students. Most grow up and proceed to functional adulthood.

Whether the media coddling made a difference is another matter. Coddling from those close to him in his family and at Texas A&M would seem to be more significant.

Perhaps, the more intriguing question is why Manziel’s alleged domestic assault has not been the story, since it broke in February with frightening details. There were no immediate charges. It was only the latest evidence of a downward spiral. There was no video. But, Manziel has received less coverage and more grey area than either Ray Rice or Greg Hardy did, which seems significant.

Maybe domestic violence takes the previous story to a scary, real, and uncomfortable place the sports media doesn’t want to go. Maybe Manziel is just white. White drug users, for instance, tend to be treated with more understanding and nuance.

There may not be a clear answer. But, we the media should be questioning ourselves.