There's a virus spreading through the country, and it's being administered by the sports media. This virus apparently doesn't affect its host, without the administrators repeatedly telling you it's in your system, and this is the reason for the consistent attention Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel receives. There's really no other explanation for it. We’re not talking about an Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III coming into the league, we’re talking about a player not many think has the tangibles – outside of large hands – to be great, but dog-gone it, he’s exciting out there. Guaranteed, if you browse through any of your sports stations right now, Manziel is being talked about. And why wouldn't he be? Despite first-year Cleveland coach Mike Pettine saying Brian Hoyer was the No. 1 quarterback months ago, ESPN has been repeatedly promoting the 'quarterback battle' in Cleveland. Upon being drafted 22nd overall in the NFL draft, ESPN immediately dispatched reporters to Cleveland, because the nation was so invested on how a 6-foot, 210-pound quarterback was going to fair with a team that went 4-12 last year. Grabbing a lot of attention as "Johnny Football" in a red-shirt freshman season in 2012, his fame really took off when he led his 15th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies over No. 1 Alabama, 29-24, giving him the signature moment in winning the Heisman Trophy, tallying 3,706 passing yards and 26 scores that season. His following season with the Aggies was also a good one, finishing fifth in the Heisman voting after throwing for 4,114 yards and 37 touchdowns. Eligible for the draft, Manziel bolted and was slotted to be a late-first round to second-round pick. But then ESPN's draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. said he'd be his top pick, and the world lost its mind. In fact, he wasn't the top pick and Cleveland traded up to get him at 22, but that didn't slow down the hype machine. Now in the preseason, ESPN's Bob Holtzman sits outside the Browns’ training facility giving updates on what's going inside even when there's no real updates. Working at the office Monday night, I had the television turned to ESPN to have some football noise in the background while I worked, but it was really difficult with Jon Gruden gushing about Manziel during the Browns/Redskins preseason game. At one point, he was impressed with a three-yard pass he made to a fullback out of the backfield. Then, if something did go wrong, it was because the offensive line just wasn't protecting well enough or the receivers weren't helping him. There wasn't near as much talk about how Cleveland will likely be without wide receiver Josh Gordon, the NFL's receiving leader with 1,646 yards in 2013, this season after violating the league's substance abuse policy. Guess that's not as important as a quarterback battle between a sixth-year player with a 3-1 overall record and a rookie, whose ESPN scouting report started off – "Exceptional game-day competitor -- rises to the occasion. Has a passion for the game. Played on the biggest of stages and revels in having his back against the wall." Right. Those same things could have been said about Tim Tebow, but he was regarded as a guy who had no business in the league and had no backers outside of the obnoxious Skip Bayless on the network. In jaw-dropping news Wednesday morning, Pettine made the call to make Hoyer his starting quarterback for Week 1 at Pittsburgh, which resulted in "breaking news." As if “breaking news” wasn’t enough, Mike Greenberg of ESPN's morning talk show Mike & Mike, let it be known that this was in fact "significant breaking news." Greenberg stopped mid-sentence upon seeing the news on his computer screen, but in my small world, all I could think was, 'Who cares!?!? It's the Cleveland Browns!" Even in Ohio, people aren't even as interested as they're being told they should be. Over on NBC Sports Network's The Dan Patrick Show, Profootballtalk.com's Mike Florio was guest hosting and continued to pound how relevant the quarterback debate is. When asking for an update on the show’s poll question inquiring about which was the bigger Ohio football story – Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller's injury or Hoyer being named the No. 1 quarterback – the response was 70 percent thinking Miller was more important. Wow, 70 percent. That's not really close. Proving that numbers are just for nerds, Florio responded, 'I still think that should be the other way." That was just a classic example of the media repeatedly telling its audience what's important. Yes, Manziel was an exciting player in college, but so was his wide receiver Mike Evans, who always seemed to be under his bombs or extending a 10-yard pass into a 95-yard touchdown against Alabama in 2013. However, none of that matters in the NFL. The coach is going with a veteran, and the sports media is just going to have to deal with it. But that's not going to happen. How do I know? Because as of 1:05 p.m. on Wednesday it was the story on ESPN, ESPNews and ESPN2, each one asking when he’d get his chance. The consensus was Week 5, following Cleveland’s bye week. All this news has me feeling ill and in desperate need of an antibiotic – or maybe just topics involving NFL teams that will finish over .500. Heck, I’d even take Tony Romo news.
