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April 17, 2015If he has grown up as much as he says he has over the past few months, perhaps it’s time we start calling him Jonathan Football.
Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel released a statement through the team Friday, his first since being released from rehab. He hit all the beats one might expect from such a statement, thanking the Browns (and Browns fans) for their support, apologizing to the team (and fans) for his behavior, and vowing to focus on football once he rejoins the team.
The full statement, via the Browns official website:
I would like to thank my family, friends, the Browns organization, my teammates, and Browns fans everywhere, for your patience, understanding, and support during my stay at Caron.1 The doctors and staff have been amazing and what I’ve learned in the last couple of months has been tremendous.
I owe private apologies to a lot of people that I disappointed but a very public one to the Browns organization and the fans that I let down. I take full responsibility for my actions and it’s my intention to work very hard to regain everyone’s trust and respect. I understand that will take time and will only happen through what I do and not what I say.
I also understand there’s a lot of curiosity about this but anyone who has a friend or family-member that’s been through things like this knows it’s an ongoing process. I’m going to continue to ask folks to try to respect my privacy as I determine to what degree I am comfortable talking about a subject which I consider very personal. Most of you have been considerate about that and I thank you for it.
I look forward to seeing my teammates next week and focusing on football and my desire to be the best possible player, teammate, and man that I can be.”
Manziel’s statement says all the right things, and kudos to him for holding himself publicly accountable for his actions while treating rehab with an appropriate amount of gravity. He comes off as a young man who understands that he’s screwed up. The past year has likely been a humbling one for him, so here’s hoping that he can continue down the straight and narrow path.
Time will tell if Johnny is a changed man; many who have dealt with substance abuse issues will tell you that the hardest part is not getting clean, but staying clean. He’s doing a good job of talking the talk. Now it’s up to him to walk the walk, one step (and one day) at a time.
- Caron is the rehabilitation center at which he stayed. [↩]
30 Comments
I dunno, this statement means nothing to me. If we’ve learned anything from Jonathan Football, it’s that he’s very skilled at saying the right things in public. Say it and now go live it, Jonathan.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
“Ongoing process” is the encouraging piece of the statement.
As an addict everyday is a part of your recovery, not just the days spent in treatment. I wish the young man the best in his recovery.
…..but still don’t think he can play a lick of NFL Football.
Talk is cheap!
Oh ok, this time he means it then? As opposed to the last three public, humbling apologies? Shut up and show up Johnny. Now is not the time for words, it is time to prove what is in your pudding.
“I dunno, this statement means nothing to me.”
This statement seemed very harsh when I first read it. Saying these things is part of the recovery process, so it is good he is following that.
Then I thought about it a bit and realized you’re mostly right. It doesn’t help the Browns win more games next year.
Agreed but if he didn’t say something publicly everyone would b*tch about that. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
Right. The statement might mean more to me if I knew Johnny personally, but I do not. I only know the Browns and that fact that they are paying him quite a lot of money to play football for them.
He’s already made millions of dollars by showing he knows how to say the right thing at the right time, and then when it is time for the rubber to meet the road, all of his talk is worth as much as a warm cup of pee. We shall see.
I always love the irony of the holier than thou “talk is cheap” narrative from someone commenting on a blog.
Spending 3 months in a rehabilitation facility is an action that indicates he at least is attempting to overcome his issues.
Before he went to rehab, the street value of his pee might have been of significant value….
I love the holier than thou comments of someone commenting on someone else commenting on a blog. High fives for irony!
It’s terrible to admit, but I had serious doubts about the legitimacy of his rehab.
In this day, where every celeb hit with scandal or public outrage, seems to scurry into a rehab with disingenuousness–it really (and unfortunately) calls the whole thing in question. It just seems to be the thing that beleaguered people do nowadays for a shield–after all, it’s pretty terrible to throw rocks at someone pleading mercy.
I hope the rehab is legitimate, and I hope his words are now honest and true…and beyond all this, hopefully if he did have a real problem, he’s on the right path now.
Oh it is definitely a positive step but his words of remorse just don’t carry weight anymore, just go kick ass.
LOL Comment of the Day 🙂
That’s part of being an addict.
I hate to break it to you; but “kicking ass” may now mean that dude quits football, finds a career in a lesser public view or one that carries less scrutiny/expectations and lives his life in recovery.
It may also mean that he attempts to comeback to the NFL, but coming out of a treatment facility if you are truly serious isn’t just “plug and play”.
I had extremely serious doubts about his rehab as well. Most of those concerns were abated by the length of time that he spent in rehab. I doubt a guy like Johnny Football is going to take to spending 90 days away from his “life” unless he’s serious about changing.
Note: that doesn’t mean he’ll be successful changing, just that I believe he does want to at this point. The question now is if he wants to for the right reasons and if he has the strength to follow through. I’m praying for him and not just as a Brown’s fan.
If it means kicking ass selling cars, that’s fine too.
Cool. Forgiven. Now be well and wreck this league.
Agreed, 90 days is what “sold” it for me as well.
Not many legit in-take doctors recommend anything less than 90 days to patient pleading “mercy”.
It is pretty awful to throw rocks at someone pleading mercy, even if you don’t believe them. I’m saddened by some of the reaction to this (not yours, btw).
He will start back by sneaking drinks in his room. Then he’ll start being late for practice.
I hide a bottle of Schnapps in the baby’s crib.
https://deadhomersociety.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/duffless9.png
Yep. Indeed. And people lose sight that–at worst, this guy is guilty of being an entitled 21 year old frat boy partying delta bravo–not exactly a rare breed—and certainly not deserving of this kind of rancor. Ah well (exits soapbox)…segueing from preaching and sobriety talk, time to start the weekend off with a cold one.
“But he set the franchise back years!”
It really is amazing how sports can cloud the mind. We’re all guilty of it in one way or another.
That’s the first place I would look if we were married, but I think that’s illegal in your state.
Blah blah…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WGYmkzE1LU
Considering the current state, that’d be, oh, about 1975.