San Jose Bills Fan

I don't remember the aftermath of that story so what you say could very well be true. I do remember being very skeptical that a professional athlete would have a hard time getting to Rochester but on the other hand stuff does happen.

Numerous of Stevie's transgressions have been mentioned in this thread. I'm surprised that the one that I hold against him the most wasn't even mentioned. That would be when he made a deal with a Rochester-area car dealership to appear in their showroom for an autograph signing and didn't show up. He also made a lame excuse about his car breaking down. I guess I have a thing about people who make promises that they can't keep. There were reportedly many Bills fans at the dealership expecting to be able to see Stevie and he let all those people down, not to mention the owners of the dealership. That episode was the most upset I've ever been with Stevie. That said, I'm a big Stevie fan and on balance, I think he's an asset to the team and its fans. Another act by Stevie that surprisingly hasn't been mentioned in this thread which is very significant to me is when he went to the stadium to attend the uniform unveiling during the lockout. This was one of the cooler things a Bills player has done in recent years. Stevie loves being a Buffalo Bill and playing for our city. I love his spirit and energy.

When I saw Tannehill on the list it reminded me of the Kaepernick/Dolphin's Cap caper. I wonder if the Dolphins are more popular than many people think they are? If so, that would be surprising to me because I've always thought their unis were pretty ugly.

Well the discussion is getting nowhere I see. Again no one is saying that Johnny's committed a cardinal sin but apparently the fact that he's a college kid absolves him of everything including: Underage drinking before going to work. Not coming back to his room that night and then blaming his roommate for oversleeping. Lying to Archie Manning about his whereabouts. Blowing off his obligations to the camp. And after getting kicked out of the camp, going out drinking that very night. Apparently the majority of people here think that there's no problem because he's just a kid.

I'm glad you posted to the article as I hadn't read it yet. Obviously there's no need for you to apologize but I don't think you need to feel as though the link was unwelcomed and I'm sorry if I came across that way. Yes I thought Sally too sympathetic to Johnny. Check out some of these quotes from the piece: This following quote supports the idea that the Johnny story is sensationalism and is "false indignation," an idea which has been a continuing statement in this topic: Most of the critics ripping the Heisman Trophy winner for his offseason behavior are users and touts trying to build their names by invoking his. Their so-called concern over Manziel’s comportment and how it might affect his future draft status is nothing more than ginned-up controversy for paid-subscriber consumption based on his star power. This following quote parrots a statement made by roughly a dozen posters in this thread which is the idea that Johnny gets a free pass because he's just 20 years old (I also think it's missing the point that his age is only one component of a larger picture): “At the end of the day, I’m not going for the Miss America pageant,” he said. You could interpret that as either supremely confident or too dumb to learn. The point is, we can’t know which one he is yet. He’s 20. And you know what else? It’s summer. Here's another quote in which Sally suggests that Johnny's critics are treating Johnny as if he's committed some sort of felony. In truth, only one poster in this topic suggested somewhat draconian measures in dealing with Johnny's misstep. Virtually everyone else here who is critical of Johnny is basically saying that he's gotta straighten out: In response, his critics have acted as if he’s a step away from being handcuffed for felonies. Radio jock Paul Finebaum believes he’s “trending for a train wreck.” He also accuses Manziel of violating some kind of solemn oath with the Mannings, who are “football’s royalty,” by oversleeping at their camp. This was one of the only quotes in the piece that I thought hit a mark which is that regardless of what his apologists say, Johnny "gypped a bunch of kids" and his obligations to the camp. The Mannings’ football camp was a volunteer summer camp, but it was a commitment he made because it was a big-name event. He got the brand of attention he deserved when he gypped a bunch of kids and didn’t fulfill his responsibilities there. Now we will see what he does with that lesson and whether he has learned anything after pleading guilty last Monday to a misdemeanor charge resulting from an off-campus scuffle in June 2012. What wasn't mentioned in Sally's piece is that if a person is kicked out of a camp for drinking and he goes out drinking that night to commemorate that event, that might be a red flag. The piece also doesn't mention that there were about a dozen other "college kids" who were able to wake up in time to fulfill their obligations to the Mannings and to the campers. The piece also didn't mention that Johnny likely never returned to his room on Friday night but I give Sally a pass on that as that disclosure came out after her piece ran. So I thought Sally was too sympathetic and apologistic for Johnny. IMO a more fair and balanced piece would have been a bit more critical.

I'm not sure how I feel about that statement.

Well said. Even though WEO has accused me of ranting, I've made two basic points: I've suggested that Johnny might have a drinking problem. I've suggested that those pretending that "this is nothing" are misrepresenting the incident. To re-state (bolded for emphasis… not because I want to rant but because no one has dared answer these points yet): Being a voice of reason, I also said this: This was pretty much the only intelligent response from those defending Johnny: As for the "ranting allegations" made against me, I didn't rant unless your sole criteria for a rant is the length of the writing. Regardless of length, I never used all caps, profanity or emotionally-charged language and only used bolded type when repeating questions which people were afraid to answer. I was beating the drum on two points which were repeatedly ignored or rebutted with "he's only 20 years old" argument which avoids the counters: 1) Is Johnny's situation the same as any other 20 year-old's? 2) Is Johnny's response to being kicked out of the Manning camp (going out drinking) a red flag? Again, to the Johnny apologists, why won't any of you (except for RuntheDamnBall) simply address these questions? And for the record (it's sad, isn't it?) the sum of my opinions about Johnny are that: 1)"The kid needs to straighten his act out." 2) "For his own sake the kid needs to straighten his act out." 3) "He possibly has a drinking problem" Someone who would describe my posts as rants doesn't know what a rant is, nor would they recognize the rant's close cousins, the harangue and the diatribe. Clearly Sally wasn't aware that Johnny reportedly never made it back to the room on Friday night so his (and by extension her) excuse that AJ McCarron didn't wake him up was… what exactly? Sally implies that AJ McCarron's failure to wake Johnny was possibly a passive-aggressive move, describing AJ's "dimpled, Shirley Temple demeanor" when in fact, Johnny was possibly not even in the room. Sally, like some of you, also seem to think that there are people who are unable to read accounts of events and draw their own conclusions. She like some people here seem to think that people's opinions are the product of the media's interpretation of events as if people don't really think for themselves. Of course the argument can also be made that those who think that Johnny's escapades are no big deal are being brainwashed by Sally and the media members who feel as she does. So people who attribute the response of people like myself as a result of being manipulated by the media can't have it both ways because this argument also means that people with the opposite opinion are also being manipulated by the media. Follow? Instead of that straw man, why don't we actually assume that all of us have the ability to read the facts and draw our own opinions from them, shall we? Can we agree that all of our opinions here are our own? As I said earlier (it's sad isn't it?), this episode in Johnny Football's life can be overblown just as it can be blown off and downplayed as if nothing happened. The appropriate response is somewhere between those two extremes. If no one has anything pertinent or intelligent to actually move this discussion forward, I'll take the liberty as the topic starter to close the thread.

Another Florida player who punched a bouncer a la Aaron Hernandez? No big deal. He's only 19 years old. College kids should get a free pass for stuff like this. I know I was a bit of a hell raiser when I was in college.

Yeah those are a bit surprising. Here are the top-five best selling rookie jerseys: 1) Manti Te'o 2) Tavon Austin 3) EJ Manuel 4) Cordarelle Patterson 5) Eddie Lacy http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/21/teo-the-top-rookie-in-jersey-sales/

And in fact the Bills didn't draft a single O-lineman and only signed two in undrafted free agency.

Less filling…

I remember Grevey's coming up in discussion here before. That's the place that's owned by the family of Kevin Grevey, the former NBA star?

No prob, BuffaloFood.

Damn you and your tartan plaid, wool trousers!

Yes, according to this: http://www.buffalobills.com/fans/billsbackers/backer-locator-map.html

This is exactly right. Jones had some athletic competencies but his biggest weakness was that he was a bad ball athlete, often misjudging balls in the air, mis-timing his jumps, and generally showing mediocre hands.

1) Colin Kaepernick 2) Russell Wilson 3) RGIII 4) Adrian Peterson 5) Peyton Manning 6) Ryan Tannehill 7) Tom Brady 8) Ray Lewis 9) Aaron Rodgers 10) Brian Urlacher http://www.cnbc.com/id/100886823/page/1

:lol:

^^^^^^^^^ To add I like the fact that offensively speaking, the Head Coach has really nice credentials and the OC also has really nice credentials. When was the last time the Bills had two bright promising offensive minds on the same staff? Marchibroda and Tollner? I guess you could arguably say Mularkey and Clements.

You guys are losing your touch. RALPH IS CHEAP!!!

You can still wear your tartan plaid, wool trousers? You live the good life and yet you have to go all hostile towards the new guy who posts about Brandon Moore? For shame. I think Johnny Hammersticks is starting to get Johnny Football syndrome. Put down the Hammersticks for a second and think about how things were before you got too big for your britches.

Why do you have to be such a ball buster? Don't emulate Captain Hindsight. He's an after-the-fact know-it-all and he always mispells Legursky. Oh. And welcome to the board.

Also, Best had two known concussions in college the last of which caused him to miss the last 5 games of his college career. To my knowledge CJ Spiller has had no known concussions.

And I'm saying that if the current administration didn't view Levitre as worth the contract that he got, that they also probably would never spend the 51st pick of the draft on a guard. JMO. Actually they already did. They signed Doug Legursky who started 13 games over the past two years with the Steelers.

I don't know. Changing his name to a girl's spelling didn't seem to help his career. I can't see him doubling down on that strategy.