Heisman Hysteria

  Hard to believe it’s 77 years old, 13 and a half inches tall, 25 pounds and it’s all the rage. Clearly I’m not referring to North West..given the age, or Betty White given the height. I’m actually referring to the Heisman Trophy. Once the pride and joy of college football, it has now become an albatross around the sport’s neck.

Hands Off

  The first week of college football is in the books and players are being treated like studio guests at a taping of Oprah. “YOU GET A HEISMAN TROPHY! AND YOU GET A HEISMAN TROPHY!”

  The 2013 watch list is at a whopping 17 players…IN SEPTEMBER…

At his best!

Sports wise, the ninth month of the year is reserved for Michael Vick injury updates, NBA player arrests, the official end of the Houston Astros season, and a rambling Chris Berman.

  NOT Heisman Trophy lists!

  The opening night of the college football season saw Jadeveon Clowney of South Carolina LOSE the Heisman Trophy.  He had 3 tackles, and some really heavy breathing. Proving, according to many a defensive player can’t, won’t and shouldn’t win the award.

  Now that he’s out of the way, quarterback’s Tajh Boyd, Teddy Bridgewater, Braxton Miller and Marcus Mariota seemed like frontrunners. Great games from the quartet over the weekend narrowed the field. Then, Monday night, Flordia State’s Jameis Winston went 25-27 for 4TDs and ran for another, in his first collegiate game. Making the 18-year-old finalist according to many.

  I’d be remiss to talk Heisman Trophy and not mention the 2012 winner……

 

Guy that won last year

He who must not be named….. The mere mention of his twitter handle, first or last name brings anything from happy, sad, hate, love, smiles, snarls……

  But, Johnny Manziel is on the “watch list” seemingly an obligatory mention. He won last year, he’s back this year…Many figuring the Heisman Trust won’t let him become the 2^nd player ever to win a pair of statues. He also “doesn’t respect the spirit of NCAA rules”, according to the NCAA…and that’s a big no no. Add in he makes “money gestures” “won’t talk to media” and “bumps his coach” and that narrows the field a little more…

  Whether this season is a repeat of last year, or the Trust welcomes a new member into the fraternity the hype MUST stop. The World Series isn’t in May, taxes don’t get paid in November, Thanksgiving isn’t in February, Kardashian’s NEVER work….and the Heisman Trophy is presented in December! And that’s how it needs to stay!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are exclusively those of this author and do not represent the thoughts or opinions nor are they condoned by anyone employed by or associated with KAGS or any of its affiliates. 

Big Stink about Some Ink

It looks like the infamous “Mr. Football” is at it again.  Yup…..he’s being vilified by Aggies, media and everyone with a twitter account for being a 20-year-old male college student. …heartbreaking.

  

 For those that don’t have a TMZ app…or don’t think Harvey Levin is actually a lawyer…I’ll catch you up.

He's always watching....

 Johnny Manziel (First Freshman to win the Heisman Trophy) (Texas A&M QB) (hopefully the last two jogged your memory)…is on spring break…like his fellow Aggie classmates for the week…

 But, when he posts a picture at a club or a shirtless shot on a beach in Mexico…. it’s newsworthy all the way in College Station.

Tattoo on HIS left side...Hookem!

 Take Tuesday…when Aggieland learned their beloved Mercedes Benz driving, online trick shot, QB sensation Manziel has a tattoo…a few actually…but one of a Texas Longhorn on his side…but not really…maybe… (he has said he wanted to go to Texas when he was growing up) (Not a crime anywhere but College Station…)

Johnny posted this pic….where you can clearly see the tattoo…And once the twittersphere got word of it…things got interesting….as they usually do.

Aggies saying he’s a traitor and much worse…..

After taking the picture down…Manziel made sure he addressed the questions… ..

#HATERSGONNAHATE

First it was photoshopped…now it’s a “fake”, meaning a henna tattoo…

While older pictures suggest otherwise…

Older picture...same tattoo...

 Teammates are now being asked if he has the tattoo since they change together.  Past girlfriends are being called (Not a Manti Te’o problem)…

Poor Manti....

   Meanwhile his mom says she didn’t know he had tattoo’s and his dad saying it is a fake…All because Johnny posted a picture on his Instagram…Sure you can blame the media, ”crazy Aggies”, or “people with no lives.” But, the issue at the center of it all is ACCOUNTABILITY.

  And not just for Johnny.  As a Heisman Trophy Winner and the star QB at A&M …whether he realizes it or not…he is newsworthy.  Plenty of PROFESSIONAL athletes take much worse insults on their twitter accounts and IGNORE them.  I’m sure a glance at the @ mentions for @kingjames  isn’t pretty…But LeBron stays above it. Because if he doesn’t, he knows he will be held accountable for what he tweets… #gofigure

  Any person…male, female, college student or parent (get off social media…for your kid’s sake) must realize…just because it takes a split second to post a picture, write a status, or send a tweet…erasing it from the Internet or people’s memory…like  Johnny Manziel’s first season in the SEC…absolutely unheard of.    

  

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are exclusively those of this author and do not represent the thoughts or opinions nor are they condoned by anyone employed by or associated with KAGS or any of its affiliates.

Cheat, Lie, Interview

  Just to avoid any confusion…I did not have Manti Te’o’s girlfriend type this blog for me….

  Assuming she’s real…or fake…or a hoax…or whatever the linebacker turned Oscar Award winning actor would have you..or Jeremy Schaap believe today ..

Do you know where your girlfriend is?

 10 years ago…names like Lance Armstrong, Roger Clemens, Joe Paterno,  Mark McGwire, and Brett Favre(maybe)…could be lumped into a conversation of American sports heroes…

Now the only association the quintet has with heroes would be a guest appearance on the NBC show. (Doubtful)

I got it...

 Whether it’s suing others to cover up your performance enhancing drug use, not covering up and sending those text messages to reporters…or lying about pedophilia…modern day sports heroes are dropping like passes to Terrell Owens. 

  

  But, it’s not just the professional ranks…the newest scandal involving Notre Dame linebacker, Manti Te’o is downright weird.

  

  He had a girlfriend he was madly in love with…love at first sight he said…..who was in a horrible car wreck…who died of leukemia hours after his grandmother died…but then she was a completely made up…but then she wasn’t….but then she was real but only online and he’d never seen her…but then he was catfished…then he thought blind date meant you never see your date…but then his friend duped him and it’s not nice to play pranks on poor Manti…

  

 If that paragraph rhymed you’d think it was straight out of a Doctor Seuss book…

Drugs are bad...

All while Oprah thought her interview with shamed cyclist Lance Armstrong would lead to world domination…or at least a presidential run in 2016…ooops…Interviewing Lance…impressive…interviewing Manti’s girlfriend…impossible…(we think..but who knows anymore)

  

  For whatever reason athletes feel the need to lie. More shocking,  is that it still surprises the American public.

  

“Why would Manti lie?? What would he gain? He was the victim.” “No way Joe knew what was going on at Penn State, he’s an old man.” “Brett would never send naughty texts, he just wears Wranglers and rides around on his John Deere.” “Lance means too much to cancer survivors to dope and lie about it.”

  Guess what, cynicism aside…athletes aren’t the only people that lie. Many of us do it in our everyday lives. “No honey…you look great in that dress.”"It's okay sweetie...it happens to a lot of guys."

  Difference is, for athletes the stakes are much higher. Taking steroids won’t lead to a night sleeping in your bed versus the couch.  They make the job easier…increase the chance of winning and making more money. But, the fall is much harder as well. So, it means a prepared alibi is nearby.

  That doesn’t make any of their lies right (excluding Te’o who may not be lying…or may be lying…but it’s possible he’s not…although he could be)…it just means the days of trusting an athlete who says they’ve never taken performance enhancing drugs…or a coach who says he’ll never leave college for the NFL…or a player who makes up stories to become a sympathetic figure and vault himself into collegiate folklore are as numbered as  600 foot home runs, and  7 straight Tour De France Titles.

  

Speaks for itself

  Turns out those days were about as unreal as Manti’s girlfriend…allegedly…

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are exclusively those of this author and do not represent the thoughts or opinions nor are they condoned by anyone employed by or associated with KAGS or any of its affiliates.