Johnny Manziel is still the coolest football player of all time. I don’t care how many celebratory cigars Joe Burrow smokes. This is not up for debate, either.
Unlike Colin Cowherd, I actually have a reason to bring up the retired NFL quarterback. Netflix just released a Johnny Manziel documentary about his rise and fall to one of college football’s most electric players of all time.
Johnny Manziel looks back on his journey in football fondly at times. He also shares the many regrets he has over his career. The one consistency is Johnny Football refuses to lie about what happened. He is not focused on framing himself like a god, but instead wants to share his side of a very public story.
Some people will look at this and tell you Manziel’s honest portrayal of his struggles with mental health is the best part of this story. It was really moving, but they are wrong. The best part of this documentary is Johnny Manziel rehashing the most glorious bender of anyone’s life.
Seeing the rise of Johnny Football through the eyes of a twelve-year-old watching Sports Center was awesome. What was even greater, was him describing the lifestyle shift that he went through at the time. When he was the best college football player alive, he only cared about showing his highlights to a girl at a bar. He is just as aware of the irresponsibility of his former lifestyle as he is of the rare level of fun that he was able to accomplish. The guy was nineteen years old and regularly hanging out with Drake, for crying out loud.
The victory lap that Manziel takes regarding his two-year bender goes to the next level with his sidekick. His best friend Nate followed him the entire time, making his business deals and sharing in Johnny’s care free lifestyle. Part of me actually thought these guys based their entire scheme off of Blue Mountain State. Neither of them sugarcoats what they were up to in college. As a result, they have some pretty fun stories to look back on.
My main take away from this documentary, is that Johnny Manziel is like any of us. The only difference between the general public and Johnny Manziel is an excessive amount of athleticism. He played football in high school, simply because he lived in Texas. He attended Texas A&M because they gave him a place to party for free. And most importantly, he accidentally made it to the NFL, because of his love for money.
Johnny Manziel might’ve hopped into the top five people I’d like to have a beer with after this doc. As much as I talked about Manziel’s story in this, there is so much more in the doc. He will make you hate the NCAA, and fall in love with him in just over an hour. Please watch it.
