Dear Johnny 'Football'

You owe me an apology. But more importantly, you owe Cleveland an apology.

Ever since I can remember, I spent my Sunday afternoons wearing my brown jersey with the number 16 on it rooting on Josh Cribbs. It was my favorite way to spend my Sundays: church, food, and then football.

As I grew older, my Sundays stayed the same: church, food, and then football. Except each year I was cheering for a different quarterback, but it was still for the same losing team.

22 quarterbacks in 16 years.

One of which was you.

When you were drafted, Cleveland celebrated. Every Clevelander thought that you were going to be the one that broke the Cleveland curse.

We needed a guy like you.

I’ll be honest; I never wanted you in Cleveland. How many times do we hear about Heisman candidates (or winners in your case) who rewrote record books in college that came to the NFL and just failed? (Remember Brady Quinn?).

In my eyes, Cleveland was just getting their hopes up for nothing.

You went to rehab and my respect for you as a person skyrocketed. I was so impressed that you took yourself to get the help you thought you needed. Johnny Football was no longer and I couldn’t have been more proud to call you a Cleveland Brown after that.

Then you got the chance to play football.

When you stepped foot on the field, I hopped on the Manziel bandwagon.

You were compared to players like Russell Wilson and Tony Romo. Some people even thought you could have been a 1,000-yard rusher in the NFL.

In one of your more recent wins against the San Francisco 49ers, I seem to remember one play where your scrambling shook off five defensive players. It's plays like that, that make you an athlete in my eyes.

You have a gift.

October came and you were pulled over for an incident with your girlfriend. Everyone freaked out. But, I didn’t. We all get in arguments, we all casually drink, we are all human.

Then came your bye week when a video surfaced of you in a club holding a bottle of champagne. Again, everyone freaked out. I didn’t.

I’m 21 and understand wanting to hangout with your friends. You didn’t drink and drive, there wasn’t a fight, and you honestly did not do a single thing wrong.

The argument was made that you weren’t acting like a team player, and you know better, but again, I defended you for being human.

It was your week off. Trust me, I get it.

But then came January…

You were already planned to sit out of the last regular season finale Sunday due to a concussion. But then you were seen the night before dining and gambling in Las Vegas? I understand these are just ‘rumors,’ however, if they are true…

My respect for you is no more.

You are a leader.

Your job is to lead the team. You are paid millions to do so.

Just because you’re not playing does not mean you are free of your professional responsibility. You should have spent the night with your team, looking at film on your iPad, preparing to learn and lead your team to take down their rivals.

You let me down.

You let Cleveland down.

I’ve never been in the spot light. I’ve never had the job that you have.

I don’t know what it’s like. No one does; they aren’t in your shoes.

But that is absolutely no excuse.

Buckle down and start focusing.

You have a job that hundreds of young kids want to have one day. You are a role model for peewee players everywhere.

If my 8-year—old cousin told me they looked up to you 6 months ago, I would have encouraged it.

However, today it is a different story.

You have a lot of work to do and a lot of redeeming to do.

You can start redeeming yourself by apologizing to every single sports fan, child, future player, coach and current teammates.

And when you apologize this time, you better mean it.

From,

A Disappointed Fan