Let’s be honest: Who doesn’t like to peek at the occasional train wreck? We live in a rubber-necking society in cyberspace, where anyone is a tweet or misstep away from infamy. Cue recent implosions involving Jordan Spieth and Johnny Manziel.
Spieth got the yips on the 12th hole and shot his way out of a Masters title. Manziel has been off the straight-and-narrow fairway for quite some time, with every TMZ, YouTube and Twitter update.
Here’s the huge difference:
Spieth will survive this thing. Manziel may not.
These are two very different implosions. Spieth had a moment — haven’t we all? — when the golf gods break us. If I had a dollar for every time I yipped a putt, chip shot or drive, I’d be a rich man. Spieth didn’t do so badly himself, pocketing $880,000 despite those Masters miscues.
It was a classic smorgasbord of golf proving it is a game for masochists. His first shot went into the water. His second shot went into the water. His third shot went into a sand bunker. “Leaking oil,” as the golf people say, only to crash and burn.
Spieth will be defined by the quadruple-bogey on the 12th hole, and the Twitter trolls that reveled in his misery, but not forevermore.
Spieth remains one of the best golfers in the game. He remains a Masters champion (2015) at only 22-years-old. This, too, shall pass.
“I just didn’t take that extra deep breath,” he said. “This one will hurt. It will take a while.”
As Spieth learns to exhale, Manziel keeps imploding every which way possible. Drew Rosenhaus — Manziel’s second agent in the offseason — has quit representing Johnny Football. He will come back, within a five-day window, provided Manziel enters a drug and alcohol treatment facility.
“I wasn’t walking into an easy situation, but it has descended,” Rosenhaus told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “It has consistently gotten worse.”
Rosenhaus is perceived as a high-power agent who loves attention. This time he is spot on.
Manziel deserves all the attention in this narrative that may end with a tragic twist. It’s time to move on from the yuk-yuks, the memes and the GIFs, and come to terms with the fact that, at 23, Manziel is a lost child.
Manziel needs your good wishes, your blessings, your prayers. He looks, acts, talks and slurs like an alcoholic.
He is an addict who needs help. He also happens to be an addict in self-denial, which is always the worst kind. He is always up for the next party, which is the reason he is unemployed today.
Dropped by LeBron James’ marketing agency, dropped by his agents, and most significantly, dropped by the Cleveland Browns. They took Manziel with the 22nd pick of the 2014 NFL draft, only to see him devolve into a dark comedy act airing regularly on TMZ.com.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with partying,” he told TMZ when stopped in front of The Nice Guy nightclub in West Hollywood recently. “There’s a difference between partying and being out of control.”
And Manziel, unfortunately, doesn’t have a clue about that line of demarcation. We all know how NFL GM’s feast on film. They watch incessantly, trying to pick up on nuances and the skill sets of prospects.
Manziel is giving them plenty of film. Not Johnny Football. Johnny Drunk. Johnny Party. Johnny on the Rocks. Johnny Alcohol. Johnny in Denial.
“Anywhere I get picked up, bro, is a blessing,” he says in the TMZ video.
He didn’t specify whether he was talking about an NFL team, or some party street in America.
Jordan Spieth suffered a flesh wound. The bleeding may never stop for Johnny Manziel.