The Johnny Manziel Show

In 2014, with the 22nd overall pick in the NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns decided to select one of the most highly touted quarterbacks in college football history. Johnny Manziel dazzled Saturday afternoon, after Saturday afternoon against opposing SEC defenses during his reign at Texas A&M. But there was a reason the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner was not selected a top 5 overall pick as projected, Manziel had partying habits. After pictures surfacing over the internet of “Johnny Football” dressed as Scooby-Doo at a halloween party, NFL coaches started to question whether or not this kid was ready to be a professional athlete.

On May 24th and 25th of 2014, just a little two weeks after he was drafted by the Browns, Manziel was picked up by the media partying in Vegas with New England Patriots tight end, Rob Gronkowski. Browns Head Coach at the time, Mike Pettine, made nothing out of this event and claimed “That just comes with the territory of who he is.”, well Pettine would soon find out that answer could only be given so many times. June 6th, 2014, a photo of Manziel laying on a floating swan in a swimming pool surfaces, in which he appears to be consuming alcohol in celebration of being drafted in the 28th round of the MLB draft by the San Diego Padres. A week later Johnny is seen in a short video sitting in the back of a car with a brick of cash held up to his ear, letting us know “I cant hear you. theres to much money in my ******* hand”.

A month and a couple of days after he has been drafted by the Browns, the Johnny Manziel show is in full effect.  But in his first preseason game on August 8th, Johnny looks comfortable on the big stage going 7-11 for 63 yards while rushing for 27 yards on six carries. 9 days later, he is seen flipping the bird towards the Redskins sideline in a 24-23 defeat and is fined $12,000 for the gesture.

After Brian Hoyer receives the starting position, and takes a majority of the snaps in the 2014- 2015 season, we fast forward to the 2015 Browns training camp. After Hoyer is traded away to Houston it seems like Manziel will officially claim his role as the Cleveland Browns starting QB, but not so fast. The Browns sign Josh Mccown, and announce him to be the 2015 starting quarterback. Over the course of this season, Manziel’s career will take a turn for the worst.

In October he is involved in a domestic violence incident wit his girlfriend after they had apparently both been out drinking, nobody ends up hurt, and the NFL decides that Johnny will not be disciplined. The Browns announce in November that Manziel will start for the team the rest of the way after a mediocre start to the season from Mccown. His stats would go on to read: 57.8 percent completion percentage, 1,500 passing yards, 7 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. The Browns would finish with the second worst record in the NFL at 3 wins and 13 losses.

Before the final game of the season Manziel had been listed as inactive due to “concussion like symptoms”. The night before the game Johnny is seen partying in Las Vegas. Later reports stated that he showed up “disheveled and inebriated” to practice that week. Although Manziel was not scheduled to play in Sunday’s game, he was required to report to the team’s facility for mandated concussion protocol. He did not show up to the facility. More recently, Manziel’s girlfriend told police that Johnny told her “shut up or I’ll kill us both” after forcing her into a car, hitting her, and dragging her by the hair. How much longer can the NFL allow this to go on?

The purpose of this article is to  not try and bash Manziel for the mistakes he has made, we are all human, but how much more of this will the NFL allow? Since Johnny Manziel has been drafted not an inkling of positive publicity has come out of him, for both the NFL and the Cleveland Browns. Mike Pettine, has been fired, and talks about the release of Manziel have already started to surface with new Head Coach Hue Jackson. As football fans, we have all seen the true potential and athletic ability of Johnny Manziel, does it anger anybody else that he’s wasting it?

 

Clipboard Trouble

After retirement, a majority of athletes prefer to stay involved in their sport one way or another. May it be broadcasting, coaching, or even taking managerial positions, these guys tend to have a tough time completely letting go of the game they love. In the case of Derek Fisher and the New York Knicks, Fisher should of known when to call it quits. After what was an embarrassing first season for the Knicks with Fisher at the helm, the Knicks decided to let Fisher go on Tuesday, February 8th, after their 5th straight loss suffered that Sunday. Along with the off court issues Derek Fisher is currently engaged in with Matt Barnes of the Los Angeles Clippers, Phil Jackson had decided a change needed to be made.

Filling in for Fisher as the Knicks interim Head Coach will be assistant coach Kurt Rambis. According to SBNation.com, Rambis worked alongside Phil Jackson as an assistant when Jackson was the head coach of the Lakers. Jackson claims he has yet to have selected a new head coach yet, but is considering Brain Shaw of the Denver Nuggets, and Golden State Warriors assistant Luke Walton. Which arises the main question in all of this. Do former players need to experience the game from an assistant position before taking the head coaching job?

Being that Derek Fisher was only one year out of the league when the Knicks selected him as their head coach it is hard to blame him for their lack of success. Currently in the NBA 13 out of the 30 teams have coaches that were former players. But how hit or miss are these guys? It feels like other than Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers, not many of these teams in the NBA are having much success. Personally, I believe its time for some of these guys to know when to hang it up. Coaches are coaches, they are hired for one specific reason, and to do one thing. Similarly, players are payed the big bucks to do what they do best and thats PLAY the game. These guys are naturally talents athletes from the day they are born, even Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers was recently fired for their mediocre performance these seasons. One overall statement to athletes close to retirement; keep away from the clipboard!

All-Star Weekend

This  weekend the city of Toronto hosted the NBA’s 65th annual NBA All-Star weekend. Similar to the format of the NHL’s All-Star events, the NBA All-Star weekend consists of multiple skills competitions with the young and upcoming players in the league, as well as the seasoned veterans. These were not the same old All-Star events though, this weekend was different. From Friday nights celebrity game, all the way to the conclusion of the  weekend with Sunday nights All-Star game, viewers were more than entertained by the performances of these world class athletes.

With the host city being Toronto, the 6 God made his presence felt.  Although the intension of this weekend was for players such as Steph Curry, and Russell Westbrook to display their skills, the events, for the most part revolved around the most prevalent artist in music today, Drake. Beginning with the celebrity All-Star game that took place on Friday night. Team Canada, coached by Drake, cruised their way to a 74-64 victory over Kevin Hart’s team USA. Following the celebrity game is an event that gives us a look into the future, the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge. Behind the 30 points of Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach Lavine, Team USA defeated Team World by a score of 157-154. Lavine was not the only rookie who showed promise, Team World’s Emmanuel Mudiay of the Denver Nuggets, and New York Knicks upcoming superstar Kristaps Porzingis, dropped 30 points each.

Saturday night is typically the most anticipated night of NBA All-Star weekend, and this year we saw why. In the first event of the night, the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Timberwolves rookie, and last years #1 draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns upset veteran Isaiah Thomas by sinking his final three point shot in the final round of the skills contest. In a showing of “big-man pride” Towns was immediately swarmed by players such as Draymond Green, Demarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis. There were no surprises when it came to the second event, the Footlocker Three-point contest. The final shootout came down to a dual between the NBA’s most feared shooting duo, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, better known as “The Splash Brothers”. But it wasn’t Steph Curry, last year’s defending champ to take home the honors this year. Klay Thompson knocked off his Warrior’s teammate shooting a miraculous score of 27 in the final round of the competition.

What can I say about this years Verizon Slam Dunk Contest other than “wow”. Being an event that has been scrutinized the past couple of years, the contestants of this years competition had us feeling like we were watching re-runs of Dominique Wilkins facing off against Michael Jordan. In the final showdown of this contest we saw reining champion Zach Lavine pinned against Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon, and these two young guns put on an absolute show. Lavine taking off from the charity stripe and hammering home ferocious in between the legs, and behind the back dunks was enough to land him a perfect score on multiple occasions, and allowed him to reclaim his crown atop the dunking world. But the real story of the contest was the performance put on by Aaron Gordon, who many believed should of won the contest. Gordon’s dunk over Orlando mascot “Stuff the Magic Dragon” was, from my recent memory, one of the most athletic moments I have ever witnessed in professional sports. Although Gordon was unsuccessful in capturing the dunking crown, NBA fans all over the world look forward to what Gordon is going to bring to next years contest.

To end what had been already been a truly enjoyable All-Star weekend, we were able to witness one of the greatest players of to ever play the game, take to the All-Star stage for the final time. Kobe Bryant, who I personally grew up watching, participated in his final All-Star game on Sunday night, and received the proper ovation, and send off he deserved. Although Kobe and the Lakers have not done much winning this year, Bryant and the Western all-stars were able to walk away from this game with a 196-173 victory over the East. Russell Westbrook took home some hardware after claiming MVP of the All-Star game for the second year in a row dropping an impressive 31 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals. Pacers superstar Paul George dropped 41 points himself and was one point short of tying Wilt Chamberlain’s single game all-star scoring record. To finish the game we were reminded of where the NBA is at currently, a Steph Curry half court buzzer beater reminded us where this season is going, and who is taking us there. Enjoy retirement Kobe, this is Steph’s league now.