Sport's "Modern Condition"

As the early dawn rises on another college football season (though with it's current length, I'd consider it more of a "semester"), it's time to catch up on the NCAA's favorite storyline: Johnny Football. Johnny Manziel shocked, dazzled, and amazed the nation last year as he quarterbacked a resurgent Texas A&M football team on his way to a Heisman Trophy (college football's highest honor). And he did all of this as a freshman.

Witnessing such a nebula of talent like Johnny Manziel makes it easy to understand why the media would have such a focus on his budding career. What you wouldn't expect is that the majority of that attention is for all of the wrong reasons. Numerous incidents this past summer involving social media, club appearances, gambling trips, and an infamous signing incident have created an alarmingly polarizing figure in the eyes of the American public. The attention surrounding Johnny Manziel rivals that of an overnight Hollywood celebrity super-craze. Many cheer on who they see to be the best thing since sliced bread, while all the others sit around and wait for the next chance to chime in on a messageboard about why so-and-so's behavior was "so reprehensible". But why does this phenomena exist? Is it the money flooding into college sports? Is it too much pressure for a 20 year old? Or is it just that we have a kid who wants to express himself the only way he knows how; by beaming footballs into the endzone on Saturdays? We are far from knowing how this story will play out, but in the meantime it is worthwhile to read this ESPN feature article on Manziel to catch a glimpse of what the "modern condition" seems to have done to Texas' own: "Johnny Football".


"The work of Kafka sums up the modern condition better than anything else: a fruitless search for meaning while you are persecuted for nameless offenses." - Milarepa