Just Sayin': Reaction to Manziel's suspension
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was suspended for the first half of the Aggies' season opener against Rice after the NCAA investigated reports that he autographed thousands of items for collectors.
The Sports Xchange takes a look at what media members are Just Sayin' about the punishment handed to the reigning Heisman Trophy winner:
Pat Forde, Yahoo Sports
Think of it this way: Johnny Manziel was destined to miss half the Rice game no matter what.
If there had been no NCAA slap with a wet noodle Wednesday, Johnny Football likely would have sat out the second half of the game, as Texas A&M piled up points on the overmatched Owls. Instead he will miss the first half, in yet another ruling that leaves everyone shaking their heads and smirking at the silliness of college sports crime and punishment.
Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News
A half-game suspension makes a whole lot of sense to me. And I say that without the customary sense of sarcasm. ... Now logic tells any of us that if he sat there signing one item after another, he didn't do it for his enjoyment. But without cashed checks, there's no sense in punishing this victimless crime.
The college football world has real problems. The entire business is out of whack. What Manziel may or may not have done in a Miami hotel room last January is so inconsequential in the big picture that we shouldn't spend another five minutes wringing our hands over it.
Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com
(The punishment) was another reminder it's not necessarily what is alleged about some of these slimy violations, it's what the NCAA can prove. Judging by Wednesday's weak-sauce suspension, it wasn't much. It did prove that Johnny Skates has one hell of a legal team.
The Manziel family's El Paso lawyer who proudly declares on his website he is "privileged to defend citizens accused of murder" convinced some very powerful people in Indianapolis that his client didn't get away with exactly that -- collegiately speaking. The only thing that kept Johnny Footloose from taking the first snap of the season was an "inadvertent violation"? Johnny Penmanship should have known that the thousands of autographs he signed would be used for profit? Well, yeah, but when did that become a violation much less an inadvertent one?
Christine Brennan, USA Today Sports
Manziel must behave much better in his sophomore year than he did this past offseason or autograph signings might well be the least of his problems. He needs to immediately stop being a distraction to his coaches and teammates. It's a sign of serious trouble when the school of a Heisman-winning quarterback decides it has to muzzle its officials and coaches, forbidding them to discuss him, as A&M did earlier this week.
A school is supposed to be proud of its Heisman winner, not burdened by him.
Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com
They're scared. That's what's going on here. Texas A&M and the NCAA are scared to tell Johnny Manziel that they don't believe him -- they're scared of what would happen next -- so both decided the safest course of action would be to look the other way, pretend someone as self-centered as Johnny Manziel signed all that stuff for memorabilia dealers for no gain at all, and get on with the lucrative business of the 2013 college football season.
Deion Sanders, NFL Network analyst, via Twitter
Can we investigate the investigators? @DezBryant got suspended a season 4 lying about a dinner that wasnt a violation & Manziel gets a half.
Congrats Johnny you're a smart man. You signed alot of stuff but you didnt sign the prenup so u got Half!!!!! Truth
Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle
Manziel has become a symbol for the inanity and hypocrisy of NCAA rules. Sure, if institutions profit off his likeness, it is logical that he also could profit.
But logic doesn't play any part in college football or the NCAA. Terrelle Pryor, now the Raiders' quarterback, was suspended five games for reportedly selling memorabilia. Pryor, banned from all contact with Ohio State, withdrew from school and entered the 2011 supplemental draft. Would it have helped if Pryor's nickname was "Terrelle Football" and he was a Heisman-winning white player at a Texas school? Just asking.
