Everyone has tried to come to the rescue of Johnny Manziel to no avail. The NFL has tried to help, his parents, teammates and now Charles Barkley yet no one can get through to him.
Charles Barkley knows all about the road Manziel is headed down after seeing his own brother deal with drug and alcohol problems. During the NBA Western Conference Finals, Barkley cross paths with Manziel in Las Vegas and used it as a perfect chance to try to save Manziel from more troubles, but he failed. TheScore.com features an interview with Charles Barkley where he gives a play-by-play of that night and his talk with Manziel.
“I said, Johnny, man you’re screwing up your life, man. I’m not your dad, I’m not gonna try to lecture you. I’m just telling you I had a brother who passed away at a young age. Drugs and alcohol got him. It’s gonna end like a bad movie.”
He said, “Man I just like to have fun,” and I said, “Johnny we all like to have fun, at some point it’s out of control.” I said, “Man, don’t screw up your career, and I’m worried about your life. … My mom, when my brother passed away, I thought she quit living after that happened. I felt bad for her, and I don’t wanna feel bad for your mom and dad if something happens to you man, stop being selfish.” He said, “You know what, I’m gonna try and do better.”
So it’s about two o’clock in the morning. I got the plane waiting at the airport ’cause I got to get to Oklahoma City. So me and my boys, we stay there for a couple more hours. I’m driving to the airport, “Breaking News: Johnny Manziel arrested at a nightclub in Vegas.” … My friends, they were riding me, “Yeah, you’re a good mentor, the guy gets arrested three hours after talking to you.”
To add to it all, Manziel has promised to get clean and remain that way as of July 1st yet the NFL jumped in a day early and suspended him for 4-games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
I’ll be honest, as much as I enjoyed Manziel running around on the football field in college and the NFL, I could careless about him playing football again. I just want to see him get his life back on track. It doesn’t matter who talks to him nor does it matter what is said, Johnny Manziel won’t change until he makes up in his mind he is ready to change.