It was none other than Stephen Fry who summed up the intensity and insanity that revolved around the most talked-about player in the NFL’s close season – Johnny Manziel.
In his 2008 BBC show, Stephen Fry in America, the man who brought to life the genius of General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett found himself on another battlefield (or battle sideline, technically) on his visit to Alabama. Specifically, he was at the Iron Bowl; the college football clash between the Auburn University Tigers and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
This is the most passionate rivalry in American sport, a match-up that has only intensified as either Auburn or Alabama have been involved in college football’s national championship game in each of the past five years. Want to know how seriously people take the rivalry? Just Google Harvey Updyke.
“This fixture has the scale, intensity and hoopla of a grand national final, but is, in reality, nothing more than a local derby between amateur students,” Fry said. “Only in America.
“I really don’t know if anything sums up America better. It’s simultaneously preposterous, incredibly laughable, impressive, charming, ridiculous, expensive, wonderful, American.”
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That’s big-time college football for you and no one player has captured the imagination and polarised opinion more over the past couple of years than Manziel, the former Texas A&M University Aggies quarterback known as Johnny Football.
Manziel played for two seasons at A&M, becoming the first freshman to win college football’s most prestigious individual award, the Heisman Trophy, in 2012, before heading for the pros after only his sophomore campaign.
He has enraged people with his “Money” celebration, raising hands aloft and rubbing his thumbs across his fingertips, which he repeated when he was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd overall choice in May’s NFL Draft. And because of college football, he is a household name, even though he has yet to play a down in the league.
Just to reiterate how big college football is, the largest stadium in the United States is the 109,901-seater Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Known as The Big House, it is the third-largest stadium in the world, the largest stadium in the western hemisphere and home to the University of Michigan Wolverines football team. Indeed, the 14 largest stadiums in the US are college football venues.
A tackle-breaking escapologist who could run like the wind, fire a cannonball out of his hand and take a licking as well, Manziel was the corresponding college football superstar and because of his stellar play and outsized personality, he is used to being centre of attention. There were a dozen pages devoted to him in Gridiron magazine, but whether that will be enough for him to be a great NFL quarterback is another matter.
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As far as wins and losses go, the NFL pre-season is not much of a gauge for how the regular season will shape. However, it is a useful barometer to see how rookies and young players shape up in their first taste of action against the big boys, the professionals, the ones who are older, fitter, faster and get paid a lot of money to do their jobs.
Needless to say, Manziel hasn’t fared well so far. His free-wheeling style will get him out of jail occasionally and he throws a nice ball while on the run, but his accuracy, poise, footwork and decision-making all leave a lot to be desired.
He has time on his side, yes, but so have Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo, Logan Thomas and Zach Mettenberger – all fellow rookies who all looked more impressive than Manziel in pre-season.
Indeed, last Thursday night, Texas A&M played their first game of the post-Johnny Football era, and Manziel’s replacement, Kenny Hill, broke his predecessor’s single-game school record with 511 passing yards in their stunning 52-28 victory away to South Carolina.
Out of all the teams Manziel could have played for this season there is one out there who are clearly the best fit for him – Texas A&M, but if he had stayed in school he might even have been only second best even there.