Podcast Final Paper
For my podcast, I focused on the
topic of Johnny Manziel. My entire life I’ve been a sports fan, but football
has always been my favorite sport to watch. I love the NFL, but College
Football has been my passion. The fever really kicked it when I attended the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln my freshman year. Honestly, it’s hard not to go
to a game in that atmosphere and be hooked. Since 2009, I don’t know if I’ve
gone a Saturday without watching multiple college football games. There’s
something about the sport, between the passion of the college players and the
win-or-go-home mentality of the rankings that has me hooked. I remember back in
2012 when I watched Johnny Manziel. There are a lot of great, exciting players
in College Football, but nothing compared to Johnny Football. That’s why I
chose to do my New Media/Technology in Sport Podcast on Johnny Manziel. He’s
become such a polarizing figure in sports that it’s tough to go an hour
watching ESPN without him referenced. He’s to the level of media attention that
ESPN covers a significant amount of his personal life, even if it seems
meaningless. Further, as it relates to this class, my podcast on Manziel
focuses on how media can really drive the attention that a player receives. For
example, ESPN, as aforemtnioned, has the power to drive the perception of a
player with how they portray him or her. Another example of media and
technology is the way social media has changed how athletes can be perceived.
As I alluded to in my podcast, Manziel was caught in videos and pictures
drinking, partying, getting kicked out of a Texas frat party, and in a bathroom
seemingly rolling a $20 – an indication of drug use.
Another
reason that I wanted to cover the controversial topic of Manziel is because I
truly think he is one of the few athletes where a non-hardcore sport fan will
tune in to watch him. What I mean by that is there are sports fans out there
who will only watch a game every once in a while, or they will only watch their
favorite teams. Johnny Manziel changes that. There are only a handful of
players who can do this, such as LeBron James and Tiger Woods, to name a few.
These players are so good and so exciting that fans will tune in just to watch
that specific player, even in a team sport such as basketball, baseball, and
football. While Tiger Woods is arguably the best golfer ever, it becomes a
little easier to stand out in an individual sport. Some of the seemingly
impossible plays that Manziel is able to keep alive and convert are what make
him so special. As I referenced in my podcast, we all look back at his
razzle-dazzle play that had seemingly fallen apart, inevitably what we thought
would lead to a sack, interception, or fumble. However, in the end, after
running circles from one side of the field to the other, he managed to escape
everyone and throw a touchdown in an eventual upset over the then #1 team in
the nation, the Alabama Crimson Tide. These type of plays become synonymous
with Manziel and people tune in just to watch the magic he displays on the field.
Players that are this exciting are rare, but they are also good for the game.
However, with their popularity inevitably brings controversy. Look at the other
two players I referenced: LeBron James and Tiger Woods. There’s no lack of
controversy and conflicting perceptions there. The same holds true with Johnny
Manziel. That’s what makes these players so popular though.
In
this podcast, I started out by giving a background of Johnny Manziel. While
nearly everyone, including those who aren’t sports fans, knows who he is, it
served as a reminder of how he came to fame. Next I followed my introduction
with a brief background on some of the stories and instances that built the
controversy. My research here came from sources like ESPN, Wikipedia, Texas A&M’s
website, etc. Wikipedia obviously isn’t the most credible source, but it often
outlines a detailed personal background on public figures, which proved
beneficial to my background introduction. After my introduction and background
information, I went on to provide a few relevant examples of how we
characterize and subsequently criticize athletes who do not act how we expect
them to act – seemingly without a personality. Anymore, athletes are expected
to go to college, sit in their dorm, play on Saturdays, get drafted, be quiet,
perform on Sundays, and then retire. That’s not realistic though. However, that
lack of realism is what makes sports so great. There’s also controversy.
There’s always a winner and a loser. There’s always a good guy and a bad guy. But
the criticism and shunning comes with it. As I mentioned in my podcast,
examples such as Michael Sam, Tim Tebow, and LeBron James all illustrate my
point. When athletes act out of this “norm” they get put in the media
spotlight, where they are constantly monitored and analyzed. They get labeled
“distractions” by the media, whether they actually are to the team or not.
The
spotlight from the media also shapes public perception. For example, as I
talked about in my podcast, look at Michael Sam. He comes out as gay and
everyone praises him for his courage and willingness to lead. Yet, an analyst,
Tony Dungy, makes a comment about how he’s a distraction to the St. Louis Rams,
and now you have fans who wonder why the Rams get all this media attention over
someone who may not even play this season. It was a matter of finding these
examples and relating them to the point I was trying to make in reference to
Johnny Manziel. I wanted to prove that Manziel’s perception was consistent with
the way media shapes how we view athletes. This was probably the most
challenging part of my podcast because Manziel is so unique. We’ve never really
seen anyone like him. Yet I wanted to prove the point that the media really can
dictate our view of athletes.
Lastly,
in my podcast, I went on to express my viewpoint of Johnny Manziel and his
impact on sports and football. The underlying theme that I wanted to get
across, as I’ve outlined in this paper and in my podcast, is that Johnny
Manziel, like him or not, is great for sports. He has a personality. He’s
controversial. He’s fun to watch. Those three things, significant factors in
what makes fans love or hate him, fuel the flame of his popularity, whether
positive or negative. He’s not just another player. He isn’t an Andrew Luck
that keeps to himself and is never in the news unless it’s for his play.
Instead, Manziel is in the spotlight and he seemingly loves it. It seems that
we see Manziel on ESPN now more than we did in college and he hasn’t even
played a professional down. Yet his popularity continues to soar because of his
controversial 21-year-old antics. In the end though, as I expressed in my
opinion, Manziel is what football needs.
