It is not going to end well for Johnny Manziel

Is it so hard to have empathy for Paul Manziel? What satisfaction do you get, really, from saying "Sorry bro, this is all yer fault!"

Maybe he was not a very responsible parent. Maybe Johnny was a shithead anyway. Maybe they both made mistakes.

The dad is talking about hoping he doesn't have to bury his son, and he sounds desperate and broken. Responding to that with "Shut up, you made this bed, now lie in it" requires a real lack of compassion, in my humble opinion.

 

Hondo is the guy who makes a sport out of watching "Intervention" and berates the parents on the show.

 

This is so fucking stupid. He's publicly admitting he's failed as a parent. I can't think of anything worse.

What would you like him to do?

 

For the first time ever I am agreeing with and defending Hondo. Manziel's current shitshow is a result of two decades of nobody--least of all his father--ever telling him no, because everybody enabled the kid who could fling a football and outrun a pass rush and make the family some money with his signature.

I didn't see a whole lot of accountability in Paul Manziel's quotes. I saw a lot of self-pity, which is understandable to some degree. I'll sure wallow in self-pity if my daughter ever goes down the wrong path. But to say "The system failed him?" Bullshit. His family failed him. You spoil rotten a kid (he wants a Mercedes badly so you buy it for him? really?), take someone who possesses obvious addictive tendencies to bars, allow him to drink in public while under the age of 21 and allow him to go to casinos before he turns 21 and it's the system's fault?

Johnny Manziel is on the verge of killing himself for many reasons, the biggest of which is everybody in his family stood idly by, did nothing to teach him right from wrong and flat-out encouraged him to veer towards a self-destructive lifestyle. Which is no surprise, given what has been reported about the family going back generations. I hope they figure out a way to break the cycle before Paul buries his son.

 

So what should dad do now?

 

PUNT!

 

I don't know. Acknowledge the role he and his family have played in Johnny's downfall? Not shrug and say the kid has more money than me (not sure how that is possible, given Johnny's employment status and spending habits) so I can't possibly catch him to try and stage another intervention or try and get him back into rehab? They're in this mess b/c nobody did anything for years. That didn't work.

It is possible to feel empathy for Paul Manziel and also acknowledge his culpability here. This isn't the tale of someone whose behavior changed after a sudden injury. This isn't Josh Hamilton, going from teetotaler to tattooed addict after getting hurt and experiencing life without the structure of baseball.

 

Sounds like another case of, I won't be satisfied until [fill in person] provides sufficiently contrite performance for media. Would it help if he went on the air with Oprah and sobbed?

 

Not at all. The Manziels begging for my forgiveness on Oprah's couch is actually the last thing that would impress me. I'd be most impressed if they dealt with this in anonymity. Instead Paul Manziel uses many words to declare he's done talking about this, but no words to actually take ownership of his role in his son's descent.

 

Which is why (and this boggles my mind), when he's being interviewed, WHY THE HELL doesn't the interviewer hit him with some very pointed questions on exactly that.

And Oprah's big ass started in the NEWS business on WJZ 13 in Baltimore.

Ask some fucking hard questions. No puff.

 

Johnny Manziel claims he's going sober July 1 – right after Cabo

A foolproof plan indeed. June 30 is going to be a hella good time too.

Oh and the bags of coke that his housemate Snapchatted are not his, so there.