When there are sports meets MH stories (articles/books/movies) released, many of you DM me. In this particular case, a wk ago it was “Did you see, Manziel is going to talk abt his suicide attempt in the Netflix doc.”
Even friends wrote me to tell me, but I didnt want to comment till it came out, & I saw it myself. When I heard the media tease it, I didn’t like how they portrayed it as a long, drawn-out plan for suicide after a “bender.” Didn’t seem rt. Had to be more than a guy who just “chose” an out.
So many were excited that this would normalize discussions of suicide bc of the hype of the film. After watching this wknd, I think, sadly, it did the opposite – it set back talk of both suicide & MH.
The focus of the film is on the CHARACTER of “Johnny Football.” He’s a cartoon character in it. Then, intermittently, there are throwaway lines: He was diagnosed w bipolar. He had addiction issues. He attempted suicide.
The takeaway – to ppl who don’t understand MH (sadly most of the population): Johnny Football the character can be EXPLAINED bc he was bipolar & egotistical, & that led to a suicide attempt. It casts such a bad light on MH in aggregate.
On the contrary, this was a kid thrust on the big time football scene in TX even in HS. Freshman Heisman winner. Couldn’t even go to class w/o being mobbed, so had to take online classes. 45 mill of his jerseys sold. He saw none of it, so engages in signing autographs illegally for $.
This was a kid CRUSHED by expectations, who was given no discipline at college bc he was “the man”…& it all came crashing down on him. Not excusing his own bad decisions, but this kid had so much put on him at once, w only a “frat-like-atmosphere” of his team camaraderie to support him.
Glad that Ryan Leaf, who knows this situation well, chimed in abt how this film HURT the MH convo (slide ➡️).
MH is NOT – a label, & then “crazy” actions. It’s a build over time, & we have to teach ppl skills & exercises, not damn them & ego & the label as “the reason” bad things happen. Johnny mistakenly thought this himself (slide➡️abt his diagnosis) & the film reinforced that erroneous understanding.