Johnny, be better

People in the United States look at South Africa and shake their heads in disbelief because that creepy Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend to death, and only sat in jail for 10 months before being released to serve his term out in his uncle's lavish mansion.  And he will be allowed to leave this ritzy "home detention" for the purposes of work, which means he can just take off for any track meet that strikes his fancy.  We say that would never happen here.

It's actually a lot like here, because Pistorius is of the proper race, class, social stratum and level of athletic renown to catch big breaks from the legal system. But still, we look on this travesty with scorn, because we know that there is no question Pistorius shot his girl, Reeva Steenkamp, in the bathroom of the condo they shared. Why it happened, only he knows, but he needs to take the responsibility for his recklessness.

He's asking for money here

Meanwhile, back in the good old USA, here's an athlete who is just setting record after record, but they are all for asinine behavior, not anything on the field. He's Johnny Manziel, benchwarming second-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, but he also answers to "Johnny Football," a selfmade nickname that he coined in the fashion of Michael Jackson calling himself "The King of Pop."

He's only come off the bench long enough to throw 39 passes this year, completing 21 of them, but he keeps his throwing hand busy by punching out tweets to his adoring fans. Lately, he's been explaining away how he and his girlfriend Colleen Crowley got into an argument while driving on the highway.  He who came out of a ten-week alcohol rehab this spring admits he had "two" drinks before driving off with Ms Crowley.  Someone saw them tussling in the car, the police pulled them over, and even though she had an abrasion on her wrist from him trying to keep her from climbing out of the car he was driving at 90 mph, the police saw no reason to charge anyone with anything, and away they drove, to make up. 

Even though an eyewitness said Manziel's car drove at high speed on the berm on an interstate west of Cleveland, then cut across several lanes of the highway to exit, the police declined to take action when they pulled him over.

The shifty, sketchy look of a loser

The Browns are saying they don't know if Manziel is involved in the NFL's substance abuse program, and they say are handling the matter privately.

While you wonder how long it will be before this young man's alcohol problem causes a serious injury (or worse) to some unfortunate bystander, you might also wish to ponder what would happen to YOU if you acted like he does.  

And then,  imagine if he was any good at playing football, instead of just being famous at it.