Evading the Sack: Manziel to Miss First Half of Rice Game

Gotta wonder about Johnny Football's end of the bargain.

Texas A&M quarterback -- and all-around A-lister in the off-season -- Johnny Manziel will sit out at least the first half of the Rice game Saturday.

A journalist in College Station filed a report on Twitter about the Manziel suspension:

Manziel 1st half suspension "closes the book" on Manziel/autograph saga. NCAA acknowledges Manziel did not accept money, source said — Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 28, 2013

There's a reason why the autograph brokers paid Manziel's 'uncle' in cash.

Manziel is also lucky he's attending college in a football-mad state. So football-mad, in fact, that its legislature passed what amounts to a poison pill statute that equates whistleblowers and witnesses alike to rats in a goodfellas movie.

Why suspend Manziel at all, then? Simple. So that the NCAA wouldn't look more idiotic than they already did, they jumped all over the offer of a compromise.

Mighty white of 'em.

Used to be a time when, if the NCAA came a knocking at your door, you'd be scared to death.

Now, schools usher them in, tell them to have a seat, and offer them some coffee. But they don't offer evidence if they just know their revenue-generating student-athletes are innocent. My, how things have changed! No one fears the NCAA any more, and why should they with punishments like this?

If you know you can get away with murder, you continue to kill, right?

At the very least, you're not as concerned about driving around town in the ride that rich car-dealer alum provided you under one lame justification or another.

Trust me, Johnny Football is going to keep on keeping on as long as fans, Texas A&M, and the NCAA allows it to happen.