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The media is having a field day with a certain Chris Johnson quote, but I personally think it’s being taken out of context a tad.
It’s this quotes from last week on NFL.com regarding Johnny Manziel, ““Be your own man. Do what you got to do.
It’s the offseason. That’s when you get time to do whatever you want to do and live your life. I’m pretty sure once the season gets here, he’ll be all right. He’s going to focus in on football. But this is the time now to where he’ll be able to hang out and do some of the things you want to do. Because once the season gets here, you really have no life. It’s just football and football.”
The led to this headline from Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio – “Chris Johnson tells Johnny Manziel to keep on partying.”
And Deadspin, New Jersey style, aka NJ.com – “Jets RB Chris Johnson advises Johnny Manziel to keep right on partying.”
And CBSSports.com – “Chris Johnson: Johnny Manziel should party.”
Let me ask y’all a question, did Johnson bring up the word “party” at all?
If he did, I missed it.
Why’d I miss it? Because he never said it.
Keep in mind, Johnson was asked last week about Manziel, who he doesn’t know, so he was basically taking the high road, even though the media made it seem like he was taking the low road.
He wasn’t taking the low road at all. It’s not like he was saying, “Johnny, have a tequila shot on me.”
He was saying he should enjoy his time off before camp, because once camp starts, and that morphs into the season, you never have a day off.
In this slow media cycle in the weeks leading up to camp, this is what constitutes big news to some, and Johnson’s words were clearly embellished.
You see, it’s all about the hits, and the more salacious you are with your headlines, and links, the more hits you are going to get. In this day and age, it’s all about the hits, the clicks.
So Johnson’s words got blown up.
NFL.com got a lot hits on this story. It was their interview with Johnson that started this thing.
I find it interesting that NFL.com had a field day with this story, but didn’t touch the Warren Sapp story, when he stiffed a waitress in Hallandale Beach for calling the former start DT and his friends “boys.”
The waitress had the nerve to say to a table of men, “What are you boys drinking?”
If I had a dollar for every time a waitress said that to a table of guys, I’d be rich. Sapp is a dingbat to think the waitress meant any harm.
But NFL.com didn’t touch this story. Why? Probably because Sapp works for NFL Network.
Few things I hate more than what I call, “selective tough guys.”
This website is constantly trashing the Jets, making fun of them, but when it comes to their own, they hear and see no evil.
But getting back to Johnson.
I’m telling you, he wasn’t promoting Manziel partying like a rock star, like so many websites claimed.
He was just saying have some fun before camp, and then get ready to get down to work.
July 9, 2014
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