Riders’ denial of Manziel workout needed a face
Some people are inclined to slam Dunk. Others consider his information to be correct.
Who do you believe — 3DownNation.com’s Justin Dunk or the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Chris Jones — with regard to the latest story about former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel?
Dunk reported Thursday morning that the Roughriders had worked out the 24-year-old quarterback, in contravention of CFL regulations. Manziel, you see, is on the Hamilton TigerCats’ negotiation list and is therefore off limits to any rival CFL club.
The Roughriders contend that they have not done anything wrong. In a media release issued Thursday afternoon, Jones — the head coach, general manager and vice-president of football operations — said: “The Saskatchewan Roughriders have not held or attended a workout involving Johnny Manziel. With that, I will not be commenting further on the report.”
The problem is, many people are still talking about it.
The story has even attracted the attention of ESPN and that noted CFL authority, TMZ. Manziel told TMZ on Thursday that “I have had no workouts with any team from the CFL.”
There was also a denial from Manziel’s agent, who spoke to TSN’s Gary Lawless.
The CFL released a less-thandefinitive statement that said, in part, that the league is “investigating the matter” and “at this point, the report appears to be false.”
While others were crafting the prepared statements, Dunk was amenable to discussing the matter. He spoke to CJME/CKOM’s Jamie Nye and stood behind the story pertaining to the workout.
“It happened,” Dunk told the radio station.
“The Riders worked out Johnny Football.”
Even after the denials, the story remained on 3DownNation.com and the Hamilton Spectator’s website.
Such decisions are not taken lightly in the reporting business. Although there are plenty of gasbags who bleat “fake news,” that fashionable claim often turns out to be, well, fake news.
The Roughriders did not resort to applying that label, but they did respond sharply to Dunk’s latest bombshell of a report. Jones told Lawless that legal action was being considered. The team’s prepared statement came later.
Unblinking amid the mention of possible litigation, neither Dunk nor 3DownNation.com editor Drew Edwards retreated from the oft-retweeted story.
Despite what media bashers may think, such stories are not thrown around frivolously, haphazardly and/or maliciously. Reporters’ careers are on the line. A swing and a miss on a major story can be damaging to one’s credibility, a quality Dunk and Edwards possess in abundance.
While weighing both sides of this “he said, he said” story, it would be preferable to hear directly from Jones in an interview setting that allows for direct questioning and followups.
A canned response unaccompanied by a face or a voice leaves questions unanswered. (Could this simply be a matter of semantics? How, precisely, is a “workout” defined by the team? Were any overtures of any nature made to Manziel or his people? Is there some sort of explainable misunderstanding? Was it an innocent mistake? Et cetera.)
Jones, who I consider to be a straight shooter, certainly is not averse to addressing matters head-on and in impressive fashion.
Laudably, he flew from his native Tennessee to Regina to personally address the media — and, by extension, the fans — after the rights to marquee quarterback Darian Durant were traded to the Montreal Alouettes on Jan. 13. Only after patiently and courteously fielding every inquiry did Jones head back to the airport.
It was a spectacular display of accountability.
In the latest instance, however, nary a word has been heard.
Yes, the January discussion pertained to an iconic Roughrider, as opposed to a quarterback whose famous name appears on a rival team’s negotiation list. Manziel may never play Johnny Football while gambling on third down or marvelling at the wonder that is the waggle. He may never meet John Lynch.
But regardless of whose version of events you endorse, the Manziel story does have legs and is out there. Jones should be out there, too.