Cleveland sports was nothing to write home about up until recently. LeBron carried the Cavaliers to finals, but team injuries took their toll on the Cavs' roster and the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals. But before this, Johnny Manziel brought his talents to the LAND.
Johnny Football was soon Cleveland's new slogan, with hopes that Manziel would bring good vibes to the Browns' 2014 season. The Browns went 7 and 4 with a race to the playoffs. Manziel played once and ended the playoff chances for the Browns. Cleveland's hype of Johnny Football soon ended after one little mistake.
Johnny Manziel is a human. Humans are designed to make mistakes.
According to an article on espn.com, Manziel entered rehab earlier this year for personal reasons. Manziel entered rehab on his own terms and even turned down an invite to host a Super Bowl party in Vegas. This, of course, did not sit well with some Browns fans. People took to Facebook and Twitter to express their opinions on it. Some were supportive and some were not.
Over the summer, news of Manziel's time in rehab got buried by Lebron taking the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. All was well in Cleveland.
However, as of a couple weeks ago, Northeast Ohio was "lit" on some recent Johnny Manziel news.
A video surfaced of Manziel partying with friends at bar. This is totally legal and he did nothing wrong. We've all ended up on someone's snap story at a bar, having a good time.
What I would like to say is that we should stop "party-shaming" Manziel. Yes, I made this term up on my own. However, people have been taking their opinions on said video to social media, making claims that Manziel is the worst thing to happen to the Browns and other similar comments. In one article published in a Cleveland suburb's newspaper, it said the Browns could not trust Manziel.
So, we are going to ridicule some poor, straight out-of-college athlete for messing up the first game he ever played? Then, we're going to attack him for his personal decisions and actions? Yes. So, Manziel went to rehab for personal reasons. It was never stated by Manziel or any NFL official that he went for alcohol abuse. However, we're going to assume that.
Let's take a walk in Manziel's shoes for this. You get put into your FIRST professional football game, ever. You mess it up. Then, you go to rehab to find yourself and re-establish your values. Then, a video of you having a good time with your friends surfaces, after people just assume the reason you went to rehab was related to alcohol issues. How would you feel if the media and fans continuously attacked you because of a mistake and two choices that people make every day? People, as in people who are not Johnny Manziel, would go crazy.
So, when you make a dumb decision then decide to bash Manziel, please remind yourself that he is just as human as you are. There are a number of things that you can complain about on social media instead of some guy doing typical guy things.