He took my call every time, answered every email and knew I was just doing my job as a journalist. He knew I couldn’t afford to make anything up. I interacted with Cook a lot during those days and the guy was a consummate professional. I juxtapose how Sharp reacted with how Jason Cook, the head of communications in the Aggies’ sports department, treated me. None of us would want our sons to go through what he’s had to.” He’s a lot nicer than I am, I don’t think I would have handled it as well as he has. When asked what else he knew about Manziel by reporters, Sharp said that the NCAA investigation and its details were above his pay grade, which was then $500,000.īut he did say this: “There’s zero doubt in my mind that Johnny Manziel is innocent.
It is surprising that the nation’s largest sports channel would support publication with this lack of corroboration.” - Sharp in an email to Texas A&M fans He has taken down his Facebook page, changed his telephone number and is refusing attempts to be interviewed by the NCAA. In fact, his ‘named source,’ Drew Tieman (initially referred to as the broker), was reportedly booked twice for possession of marijuana and placed on four years probation. During his report on Johnny Manziel, he cites unnamed sources who refuse to provide an interview or any tangible proof. Darren Rovell of ESPN, who broke this story, has been duped before. However, some members of the media have chosen to declare #2 guilty with no evidence whatsoever. “We have had ongoing and productive dialogue with the NCAA during their investigation, as required. The hotel doorman told me Manziel was in fact there, but I never did see him.īut then, here was Chancellor Sharp, making it like it was easy to put my 13 years of journalistic integrity - and ESPN’s for that matter - on the line to put together a narrative that would make Johnny Manziel seem guilty. I spent more than four hours in the lobby and went to the pool to try to spot Manziel. I flew to Florida in July 2013 and checked into the Fountainbleu for the night. I was told of Manziel’s signing at the Fountainbleu. It was a gated community and the security guard wouldn’t let me in. I was following the trail.Īfter Freistat wouldn’t answer his phone, I went to his development to try to get some answers. You see, I wasn’t just getting tips on the phone as to where Manziel was signing.
Johnny manziel autograph code#
I’ll give you the code to the safety (box), the money will be in there.” When you’re done, just send me a picture of all of it. “All this stuff will be in there laid out.
“So, this guy’s pretty much, ‘All right, go to this room at the Fountainbleu,” Manziel said on the podcast. The number we were told was $50,000, and the person paying Manziel was a guy by the name of Kevin Freistat, who made a business in athlete signings. He said he was signing for cheap and then got word that someone was willing to pay him $30,000 to sign. That’s because Johnny Manziel went on with the guys at Barstool’s “Bussin with the Boys” this week and laid it all out. I’m ready for your apology, Chancellor Sharp. I just didn’t know when that day would come. My producer Justine Gubar and I had sat in the office of the guy who wanted to know everything about our journalistic processes, Vince Doria, and we had painstakingly drilled down every fact with our sources. I knew much more than what I could report and everything I had reported was double- and triple-sourced. My desire to shout back was quieted by what I had known: My reporting - both for ESPN’s website and what I said on television - was solid. But to have the chancellor of a major university attack my credibility, with no substance, in front of his people, was beyond strange. Go to the message boards, take out your anger, try to poke holes in my reporting. I can understand how a fan base might be disappointed with a report that could make their star ineligible. It was Texas A&M’s chancellor, John Sharp, who wrote a letter to his constituents supporting Manziel blindly and ripping me. Eight years ago, after I wrote a report for ESPN detailing that Johnny Manziel was getting paid to sign autographs after his Heisman season, I read something that I couldn’t believe.