If we choose to believe the reports, then Johnny Football shed his typical pads and helmet this past weekend in favor of a blond wig, faux mustache and pair of shades.
According to ESPN Las Vegas, Manziel missed a mandatory medical check-in with the Cleveland Browns on Sunday morning for the simple reason that he was over 2,000 miles away in Las Vegas the night before. Eyewitnesses place the reportedly disguised quarterback on the Vegas Strip on Saturday, wig and all, seemingly trying to hide from the public eye by seating himself right smack in the middle of the gaudiest place in the nation.
While the image -- a blond, mustached Manziel -- has inspired, er, a creative outburst online as people try to visualize him in costume ...
... the situation is less comic than it initially appears. Manziel spent over two months in a drug and alcohol rehab facility last winter, and a few unfortunate episodes this fall suggest that he may have fallen off the wagon again. All signs point to this being anything but a funny situation.
Whether or not the Sin City rumors are confirmed, it’s likely that Johnny Football has suited up in a Browns uniform for the last time, as Sports Illustrated's Peter King has indicated.
After a rocky two years together, it may be preferable for both parties that Cleveland and Manziel divorce; this weekend in Vegas, if true, would just be hastening the inevitable, ripping off the bandage instead of waiting for it to unstick, confirming Manziel’s imminent trade before the final down of the 2015 NFL season is played. You might think the question is who would want him. But the real one is this: Is football really what's best for Johnny right now?
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