You can't stop Johnny Manziel from being Johnny Manziel, you can only hope to contain him. A week after reports that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam expressed concerns about Manziel's partying, Johnny Football headed out to Beverly Hills and spent the night hanging with Justin Bieber, Floyd Mayweather, and others in Bieber's house. Cops were called because the group was making too much noise.
This is now the top story on TMZ. Proving, if nothing else, that Manziel's now the top pageviews draw in all of the NFL. The two most famous athletes right now in the country? Johnny Manziel and LeBron James.
While many have written about the Browns owner expressing concern over Manziel's partying, few have pointed out that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has recently been embroiled in a criminal investigation of his company. An investigation serious enough that many felt he might be indicted. So, yeah, in the grand scheme of things I'm not sure Jimmy Haslam is the moral authority here.
What's funny about these pictures emerging is that Manziel didn't even go out publicly this time. Justin Bieber published the photos from inside his home. Bieber!
I wonder where Johnny Manziel is watching US-Belgium this afternoon. If it's in Los Angeles, it will probably be the top story on TMZ tomorrow.
There is an instructive lesson here, however, when it comes to sports celebrity. And that lesson is Floyd Mayweather -- it doesn't matter what you do off the field, court, or ring so long as you keep winning. Mayweather's spent months in jail, constantly publishes wild pictures on social media, let Justin Bieber lead him into the ring recently, and no one even blinks. Winning cures everything. If you doubt me, remember last off season in college, when the world seemed to be falling apart around Johnny Manziel. Then he performed brilliantly against Alabama and the off-field criticism died overnight. If Manziel plays well in Cleveland this fall, none of this will matter. If he plays poorly, on the other hand, many will point to his off season as the reason why. That won't be fair, but it is the reality.
