Finger-pointing follows Johnny Football documentary

(NATIONAL) When Netflix announced the return of the sports series “Untold” in August 2023, the streaming platform promised stories wilder than ever. The tale of collegiate star quarterback and Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel, laden with drug abuse, partying, and a mostly overlooked scandal, certainly delivered. 

Meanwhile, the unfortunate mental health struggles of “Johnny Football’ delivered a poignant tone to an otherwise sensational story.

During Manziel’s freshman year, his performances as a starting quarterback for Texas A&M was the talk of the town. An unforgettable moment in his career was defeating Nick Saban’s Alabama Roll Tide on their home field. 

According to Draftkings, Texas A&M raised $740 million while Manziel was in his heyday.

Back in 2011, winning big games resulted in big donations and endorsements for the universities and athletic programs. During this time, NCAA student athletes could not be compensated for their name, image, and likeness. But many, particularly those who carried their athletic programs, would seek out more than just scholarship anyway, even if it went against the collegiate NCAA rules. 

And Manziel was one of them. It appears the fabricated tale of a white kid from Texas suddenly coming into oil money just didn’t sound too many alarms at the time.

In reality, Manziel was receiving thousands of dollars, trips, gifts, celebrity access and even money from signing autographs from his collegiate fame. And disregarding one important fact: what’s posted on the internet, stays on the internet. 

Despite “no evidence” of his rule breaking actions, the NCAA and A&M agreed to a half-game suspension for Manziel in 2013. 

In a 2021 interview with a Barstool Sports podcast, Manziel admitted to receiving compensation for signing autographs, and that he did not regret it.

A tweet from sports commentator James T. Yoder following the Untold episode airing on August 8 posed the question “How terrible was media in 2012 - no one fact-checked ANYTHING about Manziel or Manti Te’o?” It appears “the media” was paying attention to something, as outrageous Manziel moments continued to trend online long after the scandal was exposed.

While responsible media does play a role in the whistleblowing process, it often takes a connected individual (IE the whistleblower) or individuals to alert the media to rule breaking and other wrongdoing. 

During discussion of their Journal of Applied Philosophy article Failing Institutions, Whistle-Blowing, and the Role of the News Media Professors, Emanuela Ceva and Dorota Mokrosinska say “most of the news media are private corporate actors moved by their own interests and market dynamics” and “the preservation of a well-ordered society makes, therefore, its members mutually accountable for their conduct in their institutional capacity.” 

And yet the universe (and the internet) has its way of shedding light on injustices. 

While this new narrative could simply focus on scandalous deals, lies, and coverups, Manziel is using it to spark the conversation about reinstating Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy. 

Bush was stripped of his own Heisman back in 2010, following an investigation that revealed he, too, received benefits for his name, image, and likeliness during his collegiate football career at USC. 

Last month, Manziel tweeted “There is nothing I want to see more than for Reggie to get his Heisman back. I think what the NCAA did in that situation is b*******. He is one of the best college players in the history and deserves to be on the stage with us every year. The only difference between my story and Reggie’s is that my illegal activities did not start until after my Heisman season.”

There is also the fact the NCAA said they found no evidence of Manziel’s wrongdoing, but plenty of Bush’s. 

And, of course, that Manziel is white and Bush is Black, which have prompted some to voice concerns that race played a determining factor in the outcomes. 

NIL deals for student athletes is perhaps at least a little less scandalous today. Student athletes can now receive compensation from their own name, image, and likeness, making the statement “work hard, play harder” the gospel for both men and women student athletes racking in multiple lucrative deals.

Manziel, now 30 years old, later went on to play two seasons with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL, followed by time with the Canadian Football League and the Alliance of American Football. He was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame last year.