http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefoo...ike-bear-bryant-who-handled-joe-namath-091013
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Bear Bryant was born 100 years ago Wednesday. That was about 50 years too soon to rescue Johnny Manziel.
[h=3]LATEST ON MANZIEL[/h]
Maybe Bryant could have made Johnny Football grow up. Nobody else seems to be having much luck.
Weâre all familiar with Manzielâs antics by now. The partying, the preening, the petulance, the payoffs. Oops, strike that last one. After a 37-minute investigation, the NCAA couldnât find any of the unmarked bills autograph brokers allegedly gave Johnny Autograph.
Manziel was suspended for half the Rice game. He promptly showed his remorse by flashing âair autographsâ and getting a personal foul for taunting.
âThat wasnât very smart. Thatâs why he didnât go back in the game, either,â coach Kevin Sumlin said. âYou would hope at this point, youâd learn something from that.â
Itâll take more than a half-game slap on the fanny. Bryant certainly would have been up to the task. He had the original Johnny Football, a fellow whoâd later become known for his love of blondes, Johnny Walker Red and the greatest guarantee in football history.
Bryant's trademark hat was a staple of his Alabama legend. (Photo: Getty Images)
Before Broadway, Joe Namath ruled Tuscaloosa. But when he went Manziel during the open week of 1963, Bryant suspended Namath for the seasonâs final two games. If Sumlin dared to try such tough love heâd likely be run out of town by Texas A&M fans, the Sugar Bowl committee and CBS executives.
In case you havenât heard, the Aggies are playing Alabama this weekend. Manziel Mania is boldly going where no football craze has gone before. Thereâs now a backlash against the backlash. A ESPN columnspoke for many fans Tuesday when it decried the smug bashing of Johnny and pined for more characters like Brian Bosworth.
[h=3]PREDICT EVERY GAME[/h]Take a look at the Penn State career of Joe Paterno in photos.
âThey want to see maturity and class,â it read.
Well, yeah.
Bad guys make great theater as long as all you have to do is watch them. Unless you want them to turn out like the Boz, enabling a jerk isnât doing them a favor.
Besides, Doug Flutie didnât have to do anything wild in his personal life for viewers to find him compelling. Manziel would be must-watch TV even if heâd spent his summer on a bed of nails in a Tibetan monastery. Or maybe running gassers in the scrubby heat of Junction, Texas.
Bryantâs centennial provides a nice historical twist to this Saturdayâs game. Before he became a God in Tuscaloosa, he was a legend in College Station. Bryant had his flaws â though back then, schools didnât get sued for refusing players water during training camp.
Bear drank and smoked too much â but his teams had a code of conduct, and heaven help the players who broke it. They tip-toed around Bryant in fear and awe. Those who stuck with the program ended up revering him. None more than the kid from Beaver Falls, Pa.
Namath wasnât wearing mink coats when he showed up in Tuscaloosa, but there was more than a trace of early Manziel.
âHe could think like a fox, run like a deer â and drink like a fish,â Playboy once wrote.
Bryant only approved of the first two. Namath was tearing it up his junior year when Bryant heard his quarterback had a few beers during an open weekend.
Namath didnât blame media scrutiny or (obviously) internet bullies. He didnât ask to be read his NCAA rights and lawyer up. He quietly accepted responsibility for breaking team rules and apologized.
âItâll hurt us, thereâs no doubt about that. Joe is a great football player,â Bryant reportedly said at the time. âBut Iâve never seen a one-man team. I certainly donât think ours is a one-man team.â
There was no Twitter or 24-hour cable, but the news caused such a firestorm Namath moved out of the dorm and into a basement for a few days. It was Bryantâs basement.
It would be tidy to say the whole experience turned Namath into Tim Tebow. History and Suzy Kolber say otherwise, though without Bryantâs influence he might have really done crazy things â like guarantee the Jets would beat Baltimore by 70 points in Super Bowl III.
If nothing else, it set a moral, classy tone for next season as Namath led Alabama to a national championship. And though he would sign the biggest contract in pro football history, he probably never once did the money-counting finger move Manziel has all but trademarked.
We'd love to hear what Bryant would have to say about Manziel's latest antics. (Photo: USA Today Sports Images)
âI donât guess anybody would think much of what Joe did nowadays, including myself,â Bryant recalled in 1980, three years before his death. âBut he was supposed to be a leader, so he had to live by the rules. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and it was to the greatest athlete I ever coached.â
That sounds like what somebody born 100 years ago in a farmhouse outside of Moro Bottom, Ark., would say.
Happy Birthday, Bear.
Instead of getting a gift, heâd probably want to give one to Manziel.
A good kick in the butt.
Johnny Football would thank him for it someday.
.
.
Bear Bryant was born 100 years ago Wednesday. That was about 50 years too soon to rescue Johnny Manziel.
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- WR rips anti-Johnny t-shirt
Maybe Bryant could have made Johnny Football grow up. Nobody else seems to be having much luck.
Weâre all familiar with Manzielâs antics by now. The partying, the preening, the petulance, the payoffs. Oops, strike that last one. After a 37-minute investigation, the NCAA couldnât find any of the unmarked bills autograph brokers allegedly gave Johnny Autograph.
Manziel was suspended for half the Rice game. He promptly showed his remorse by flashing âair autographsâ and getting a personal foul for taunting.
âThat wasnât very smart. Thatâs why he didnât go back in the game, either,â coach Kevin Sumlin said. âYou would hope at this point, youâd learn something from that.â
Itâll take more than a half-game slap on the fanny. Bryant certainly would have been up to the task. He had the original Johnny Football, a fellow whoâd later become known for his love of blondes, Johnny Walker Red and the greatest guarantee in football history.
Bryant's trademark hat was a staple of his Alabama legend. (Photo: Getty Images)
Before Broadway, Joe Namath ruled Tuscaloosa. But when he went Manziel during the open week of 1963, Bryant suspended Namath for the seasonâs final two games. If Sumlin dared to try such tough love heâd likely be run out of town by Texas A&M fans, the Sugar Bowl committee and CBS executives.
In case you havenât heard, the Aggies are playing Alabama this weekend. Manziel Mania is boldly going where no football craze has gone before. Thereâs now a backlash against the backlash. A ESPN columnspoke for many fans Tuesday when it decried the smug bashing of Johnny and pined for more characters like Brian Bosworth.
[h=3]PREDICT EVERY GAME[/h]Take a look at the Penn State career of Joe Paterno in photos.âThey want to see maturity and class,â it read.
Well, yeah.
Bad guys make great theater as long as all you have to do is watch them. Unless you want them to turn out like the Boz, enabling a jerk isnât doing them a favor.
Besides, Doug Flutie didnât have to do anything wild in his personal life for viewers to find him compelling. Manziel would be must-watch TV even if heâd spent his summer on a bed of nails in a Tibetan monastery. Or maybe running gassers in the scrubby heat of Junction, Texas.
Bryantâs centennial provides a nice historical twist to this Saturdayâs game. Before he became a God in Tuscaloosa, he was a legend in College Station. Bryant had his flaws â though back then, schools didnât get sued for refusing players water during training camp.
Bear drank and smoked too much â but his teams had a code of conduct, and heaven help the players who broke it. They tip-toed around Bryant in fear and awe. Those who stuck with the program ended up revering him. None more than the kid from Beaver Falls, Pa.
Namath wasnât wearing mink coats when he showed up in Tuscaloosa, but there was more than a trace of early Manziel.
âHe could think like a fox, run like a deer â and drink like a fish,â Playboy once wrote.
Bryant only approved of the first two. Namath was tearing it up his junior year when Bryant heard his quarterback had a few beers during an open weekend.
Namath didnât blame media scrutiny or (obviously) internet bullies. He didnât ask to be read his NCAA rights and lawyer up. He quietly accepted responsibility for breaking team rules and apologized.
âItâll hurt us, thereâs no doubt about that. Joe is a great football player,â Bryant reportedly said at the time. âBut Iâve never seen a one-man team. I certainly donât think ours is a one-man team.â
There was no Twitter or 24-hour cable, but the news caused such a firestorm Namath moved out of the dorm and into a basement for a few days. It was Bryantâs basement.
It would be tidy to say the whole experience turned Namath into Tim Tebow. History and Suzy Kolber say otherwise, though without Bryantâs influence he might have really done crazy things â like guarantee the Jets would beat Baltimore by 70 points in Super Bowl III.
If nothing else, it set a moral, classy tone for next season as Namath led Alabama to a national championship. And though he would sign the biggest contract in pro football history, he probably never once did the money-counting finger move Manziel has all but trademarked.
We'd love to hear what Bryant would have to say about Manziel's latest antics. (Photo: USA Today Sports Images)
âI donât guess anybody would think much of what Joe did nowadays, including myself,â Bryant recalled in 1980, three years before his death. âBut he was supposed to be a leader, so he had to live by the rules. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and it was to the greatest athlete I ever coached.â
That sounds like what somebody born 100 years ago in a farmhouse outside of Moro Bottom, Ark., would say.
Happy Birthday, Bear.
Instead of getting a gift, heâd probably want to give one to Manziel.
A good kick in the butt.
Johnny Football would thank him for it someday.
