Why does Johnny Manziel face so much criticism?

He's an amazing player with an atrocious attitude, and some say he's the epitome of the modern American sports superstar.

All things considered, I believe that people do not hate Johnny Manziel for being arrogant or drunk or successful. People hate Johnny Football because he loves being Johnny Football. He loves scoring touchdowns and taunting opponents. He loves being the most popular and most intoxicated guy at the bar. He loves taking pictures with rappers and beautiful women and doing that weird TOPSZN hand sign that looks like he’s sprinkling Parmesan on an autographed Johnny Football cash pizza. 

No one hates Manziel for doing those things; they hate Manziel because he loves to do those things so damn much. It makes little sense to me. No one hates their neighbor because he loves to mow his yard. No one hates a girlfriend because she loves to look good in pictures on Facebook. Happy people, in my estimation, love to be themselves and they are entitled to that. Manziel loves to be Manziel, and people irrationally hate him for it.    

Americans hate two distinguishable qualities in arrogant athletes, especially football players, as far as on-field performance goes: lack of production and lack of toughness. Those who suffer from lack of production generally receive some sharp initial criticism and then fade off into memory. America has little attention available for average. Those who suffer from a lack of toughness—and I am looking at you, Jay Cutler—usually receive the wrath of American sports rage and are often labeled as selfish, lazy, detestable weenies who are unwilling to put themselves, their future and their health on the line to help their team win a game. If there is one thing America loves more than hating other successful Americans, it is winning at any cost. This is why my grandpa always cheated to beat me at Connect Four. He was a good American.     

Therefore, it would be readily understandable if people hated Johnny Manziel because his on-field performance did not match his grander persona. His spotlight would decrease because of the lack of success, and Manziel would fade into American sports oblivion as someone who was annoying but not deserving of good, old-fashioned American sports hate because he was not successful enough to deserve it. Yet, unfortunately for everyone, the numbers match the attitude. In 2012 and 2013, per sports-reference.com, Manziel led the SEC in completion percentage, completions, and total touchdowns. In 2013, Manziel also led the conference in passing yards and passing touchdowns. Undeniably, Johnny Football was the best college football player in college football’s best conference over the last two years and perhaps, if not for what I believe to be Manziel-storyline fatigue, was deserving of not just one but two Heisman trophies.     

As mentioned above, Manziel disdain could also be understood if he was more of a weenie. However, Manziel never missed a game in his two-year career at Texas A&M, despite being repeatedly smacked around by top-level defensive talent that outweighed him by about 50 pounds. Manziel would frequently scramble around and get absolutely demolished by a 250-pound man after gaining a couple of yards and pop right back up for the next play. He’s tough. Two hours ago, I got some shampoo in my eye and screamed “WHY??!!!” like Nancy Kerrigan for the next 5 minutes loud enough for all of my neighbors to hear. To be fair, injuries have as much to do with luck as they do with physical and mental toughness, but Manziel never gave any indication that he was anything other than resilient on the field.     

What strikes me the most about the general abhorrence much of America has for Manziel is that they do not hate him for being a successful college quarterback or even really for being a college kid who does dumb things sometimes. The nation is usually more empathetic than that, especially to college-aged students who, by what I have gathered to be a broad national consensus, are enjoying the best time of their lives. Seemingly everyone who dislikes Manziel does so because he appears in places that we do not like to see our athletes show up.     

Conservative, old American farts want athletes to be role models for the kids. Jackie Robinson. Peyton Manning. Michael Jordan if you ignore the gambling scandal that kicked him out of the NBA for two years. For this reason, Manziel is extremely unlikable to much of the nation—a person equal parts celebrity and athlete, a young man just as likely to end up on TMZ as he is to end up on SportsCenter. Americans, even young Americans, like their athletes to be a certain cut of human and to have certain qualities that separate them as premier morally in the same way that their abilities set them apart physically. At this rate, Johnny Manziel will never be that kind of athlete-role model. Stop trying to make him into that, and stop hating him when it fails. You cannot make a lion into a house-cat no matter how much effort you put into the process. Not every athlete is destined for the same public image.    

I can understand, to an extent, why most of America loves to mercilessly rip Johnny Manziel. He has proven himself to be arrogant, immature, and reckless over the course of his college and early professional career. I can understand why people dislike him. He is a different kind of athlete than what much of the nation is comfortable with, and many find him to be an annoying jerk because of it. Yet, he is no more obnoxious than any of the handful of 21-year-old alpha males you might find strolling Campus Corner or Uptown on any given weekend of the year. Manziel does normal college things and is shredded for them by both the media and public opinion. Give him a break.  People tend to forget that Manziel, while a tremendous football player, is still a kid trying to learn how to be an adult just like the rest of us. Let him grow and enjoy being himself. Everyone is entitled to love themselves.