Puskas: Manziel is living large

It’s Johnny Manziel’s world. The rest of us just get to live in it.

How big is the Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback these days?

Manziel — Johnny Football to you, me and just about everyone else — was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 28th round of the amateur baseball draft on Saturday.

And that wasn’t even the most interesting thing to happen to him over the weekend.

At best, the Padres drafting Manziel 837th overall — a “Hey, look at us” if I’ve ever seen one — was a distant second to Friday night, which Manziel apparently spent in Austin, Texas, watching the X Games.

Doesn’t sound all that interesting until you find out that Manziel also — allegedly — rode an inflatable swan while guzzling champagne from a bottle. Just another Friday night in Johnny Football’s world, and thanks to a citizen reporter, the event was documented.

It’s going to be a long summer for Browns fans if legitimate news organizations are forced to report — with TMZ-like ferocity — everything Manziel does in his free time.

Give it a rest.

Unless he’s breaking the law, who cares what a 21-year-old does when he’s not on the clock for his team? He’s young, famous and his bank account just blew up. Anyone who expected Tim Tebow II hasn’t been paying attention.

Manziel plays fast and loose on the field and seems determined to live the same way off it. He said as much recently, after a pool-side photograph surfaced of the former Texas A&M quarterback posing with New England Patriots tight end — and noted party guy — Rob Gronkowski and a slew of bikini-clad women. Cue the finger-waggers.

A colleague’s reaction to Manziel making like a latter-day Joe Namath?

“He is doing exactly what I’d be doing if I was 21 and my name was Johnny Manziel,” he said.

Maybe. Maybe not. But Browns fans won’t judge Manziel on what he does in May in Las Vegas or in June in Austin. They care only about what happens when he hits the practice field in Berea in July and when he steps onto an NFL field for a real game for the first time.

We don’t even know if Manziel will be the Browns’ starting QB. Brian Hoyer and the Browns’ coaching staff will have as much to say about that as Manziel.

Will the hype subside if Manziel begins his rookie season as Hoyer’s backup? That might be a good thing.

Namath, perhaps the NFL’s first “rock star,” pushed the envelope like few player of his era. But he didn’t have to worry about cell phone images and videos going viral. Can you imagine that technology being available when Mickey Mantle was in his prime — both as a baseball player and a carouser?

Despite the distractions, Namath won a Super Bowl and Mantle collected MVPs and World Series titles like it was his job.

It was his job. So let’s see what happens when Manziel shows up for work.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.