On Monday night, the Cleveland Browns lost to the Washington Redskins 24-23, but the preseason prime-time special was a showcase for Cleveland’s Johnny Manziel.
Johnny Football delivered the goods, at least in terms of creating sharable content. Trailing 14-3 in the third quarter, Manziel flipped his middle finger at the Washington sideline.
Never change. #JFF https://t.co/H4aqbHxTe1 pic.twitter.com/UPcytr2CiV
— Saturday Down South (@SDS) August 19, 2014
It was childishly flippant, but it did give sports something to talk about Tuesday morning, during a calendar lull that runs on hypothetical fumes about what might happen if specific knees stay healthy until December. Manziel’s steady hand offers you that network coverage and protection.
Reaction to Johnny Football’s middle finger. https://t.co/Y2oF16nd1W pic.twitter.com/oYdDS5AE4N
— Top Sports Fans (@topsportsfans) August 19, 2014
Weird thing is, several outlets chose to censor the Manziel gesture.
Ok. In the past week I have seen shots of a dead body on the news almost hourly. But we’re censoring Johnny Manziel’s middle finger?! GTFOH.
— Patrik Nohe (@PatrikNohe) August 19, 2014
As Deadspin noted, the flip was immediately followed by Browns PR rep Rob McBurnett telling Manziel that America had just seen him and that Tuesday this topic would lead sports talk radio. Manziel is already my favorite player of all time, after Michael Irvin.
Photo via Erik Drost/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)