Johnny Manziel: Hero or Villain?

By Young Rae Kim on August 22, 2013

I strongly disagree with more than half of the traffic laws in L.A.. I think that they are, for lack of a better word, dumb. In fact, I would go even as far to say that some of these laws are wrong, unfair, and a scheme to rake in money for the city.

I may feel cheated, wronged, and even angry because of a ticket. However, my response would not be to violate every traffic law in order to teach the police a lesson. That would be irresponsible and leave me in a worse situation than before. Yet, this is exactly what Johnny Manziel is doing.

Kyle Field could be without star quarterback Johnny Manziel next season.

The Texas A&M star quarterback recently got into trouble with the NCAA after ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported the existence of a video containing footage of Manziel signing autographs on hundreds of sports memorabilia. Manziel allegedly signed 300 mini-helmets for brokers in exchange for $7500. This type of reckless behavior has been drawing a lot of negative attention on last year’s Heisman Trophy winner.

For the last two weeks, countless people have voiced their opinion about Johnny Manziel. Some think he is a victim of the media, some think he is the dumbest player ever,  and some just want him to play football.

All of these opinions can be justifiable and valid to a certain extent. However, the only problem I have is with people calling Johnny Manziel a hero.

People should not praise Manziel as someone who is sticking it to NCAA and speaking out for exploited students, because he is not. If these allegations are true, Manziel deliberately broke the NCAA rules, knowing well the repercussions that could follow. In my eyes, jeopardizing your school’s entire season and even your own football career for allegedly a pair of shiny new rims does not make you a hero.

On the other hand, I also understand that the NCAA system is flawed and even hypocritical. The rules need to be changed. However, there is a right way and a wrong way of bringing about that change. Johnny Manziel is doing it the wrong way.

If Manziel really cared about fighting against the NCAA “exploitation” of student athletes he would have never tweeted about leaving Texas A&M. He would have never been kicked out of the Manning Passing Academy. And he sure would have never signed those autographs.

Instead he would have used his popularity, fame, and influence to organize a student athlete union or genuinely take a stand in court, until players like Lucas Vincent could actually receive compensation to afford the video game he is featured in. That is a hero.

But that’s just not Johnny Manziel, and I’m okay with that. He’s young, rich, and famous so he is bound to make a mistake or two and I completely get that as well.

However, let’s not give credit where it’s definitely not due.

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