This baffles me. Johnny Manziel goes out, has pictures taken of him and takes pictures of himself, media makes an issue out of it, prints pictures to sell copy and generate clicks, then questions his judgment and his maturity. Other athletes are arrested for repeated illegal drug use, domestic violence, illegal gun possession, and sexual assault and it’s brushed aside…”but he’s got great speed and can cover the deep corner routes well.” When we have the same self-righteous finger waving superiority for domestic violence as we do a college age guy going out with his friends, then we can alert the media. The selective and misplaced outrage to sell copy is toxic.
And then there is Charles Barkley. Barkley is a 51 year old who has admitted to losing $10 million gambling, has been arrested multiple times for DUI, was arrested for soliciting oral sex from a prostitute, and recently lecturing Johnny Manziel on not being mature enough to handle his fame and celebrity. Charles Barkley lecturing anyone on maturity is ludicrous.
We saw a similar pattern with LeBron James in the lead up to his recent free agency decision. Media outlets breathlessly covered every rumor, speculation, and theory about which team LeBron would play for next season. Then those same media outlets reprimand James for turning this into a circus, ignoring the fact that James barely spoke a word during this time and met with people in private. Whose circus?
