Age is a funny thing in sports. If you're young, you're immature. If you're old, you're ready for retirement. It's like the public is screaming at you to retire and let the young bucks take your job. Why so much judgement on the part of fans? Is it to just pick and prod at the young kids (but really they are kids) who act like they have the world in the palms of their hands? Probably. Because we as sports fans seem to have nothing better to do. But let me tell you something. Being a young star seems to be hard on many athletes. But one athlete that continues to show up in the news, and not in a good way, is Johnny Manziel.
Manziel was a starting quarterback at Texas A&M as a freshmen and won the Heisman Trophy as a freshman. He was the youngest to win that award and some were not too thrilled that he even won in the first place. He had the world at his fingertips. He's young, attractive and is athletic on all levels. But there were a few instances during his collegiate career that caused him to face criticism. Between the misuse of Twitter, criticizing Texas A&M football and partying hard, he became too well known for his own good.
Manziel was drafted in 2014 to the Cleveland Browns. Not a very good team, has had losing seasons for too many years and hasn't found a good standby quarterback for a long time now. Even though he wasn't a high pick, he still gained major fandom from the NFL community. He was young and agile as a quarterback. He could throw a football anywhere to anyone he wanted. He was named starting quarterback for the Browns that season. He had a pretty normal rookie year; he wasn't good but he wasn't terrible. But it was after his rookie year that things for him took a turn for the worst, personally and professionally. The start of the 2015 season deemed not good for Manziel.
Manziel became dependent on alcohol for much of the off season and the start of the 2015 season. Along with alcohol, Manziel recently became intertwined in domestic violence involving his girlfriend, presumably his ex-girlfriend now, and he showed up to a Browns practice drunk a couple of months ago.
Alcohol is a deadly thing. It can create in a person someone or something that isn't real. I whole heartedly believe that is where Manziel lies in life right now.
He was projected to be a top quarterback in the NFL, and now he's a third string quarterback for the Browns, who, according to reports, will be letting him go in March. As odd as it is for me to say, it's valid that he turned to alcohol. Now, I'm not saying that what Manziel did, whether under the influence of alcohol or not, was right, but I am saying that the let-down of two seasons may have gotten to him.
I follow Manziel heavily, and the news and comments by random viewers make Manziel out to be a horrible person, People continue to say he's taking advantage of his stardom or that he's a real joke, not only as an athlete but as a person. But if these viewers wouldn't judge so much on age and gender they could possibly see his alcohol abuse and the pressure of stardom at a young age.
I am by no means making excuses for Manziel. He's young, yes, and his actions don't bode well for his maturity level but again, for people to judge Manziel based on his age and gender is unfair for him and his career. Stardom is great until there's been too much in a small amount of time.
