Johnny Manziel's golf course incident was labeled a non-story by Browns head coach Mike Pettine Tuesday and he insisted that the organization is not ready to move on from the quarterback.
But something else was said about the mercurial quarterback that slipped through the cracks a bit.
Here's cornerback Joe Haden, a friend of Manziel's:
"I'm walking around with Johnny and we're leaving a little restaurant, we're walking back to valet going to the car, and then, you just hear, 'How was rehab?'" Haden told The Plain-Dealer on Tuesday. "I'm like, 'Dude, you're just getting at him when we're chilling, leaving the restaurant,' so it's just negativity that people are trying to get a reaction out of him, and it's upsetting."
Essentially, this is a playbook on how not to be a good fan, or person of the world for that matter. In the not-so-distant past, I covered Ravens safety Will Hill and I remembered him telling me why he kept finding himself in a difficult place. Though I have no first-hand experience with Josh Gordon, I can only imagine the difficulties he's faced as well.
The bottom line is that people who enter rehabilitation need help and constant support.
Rehab is difficult enough without people constantly getting in a person's face about it. Manziel, like Hill and Aldon Smith, and anyone else who has tried to go through a program, should be applauded for their efforts. It's not an easy thing to do and, for once, it's not about how their absence impacts your team.
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