Johnny Manziel, as he is wont to do, has been in the news quite a bit lately. There are honest questions about whether he missed a team-mandated visit with a doctor last weekend and how he feels about LeBron James’ marketing company dumping him. There are legitimate questions about his future with the Cleveland Browns and his approach to being a professional athlete. You could even say it’s well within the rights of the media to want to know why he allegedly decided to visit Las Vegas in a disguise the same weekend of the Browns’ last game of the season.

There’s a time and place for all those questions — and they’re probably not while in line at Heinen’s — like in the locker room in Berea as the players cleared out for the season. Manziel was at the facility on Monday but didn’t appear in the locker room or take questions.

Which is fine. That’s well within his rights. There will come a day when he’ll issue a statement or speak to reporters. We might want that to be sooner than later, but such is life.

Except if you’re channels 19 or 5 in Cleveland. If you work for those TV stations, there will be no waiting. Instead, there will be visits to Manziel’s house in Avon. There will be stakeouts. There will be awkward knocks on his door to confront him for ANSWERS, as if he was a wanted fugitive or facing arrest. MANZIEL WATCH CONTINUES HERE WITH NEWSNET5. Let’s go to the videotape before we get to channel 5’s counterparts at the former home of Action News.


Let’s break this down. The first thing that sticks out? They didn’t just go one day. They went back a second day. Two times. Twice. More than once. 

The second day was more fruitful than the first, according to Kristin Volk, who begins her report below by saying, “Something interesting happened today.We heard voices inside. Guys’ voices.”

GUYS’ VOICES! DO GO ON KRISTIN.

“When I knocked, they got silent.”

Holy hell. 

“When we got to the front door there was a sheet over the window.”

That inconsiderate asshole wants some privacy. You show him he doesn’t deserve that. Go get ’em.

“We knocked three times and rang the doorbell two.”

Get ’em!

“No answer. I also left Johnny a voicemail and texted him.”

Your friends must love you.

“Four hours later and no one has come out here.”

YOU’VE BEEN THERE FOUR HOURS?

Once again, holy hell.

And Channel 5 wasn’t the only upstanding news organization in town that staked out a suburban house of a third-string quarterback who didn’t do anything illegal. Channel 19 was also there.


It’s rare local TV news coverage in Cleveland can set a new low, but it’s been done. 

This article appears in The Comics Issue.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

9 replies on “Two Cleveland TV Stations Staked Out Johnny Manziel’s Suburban House Yesterday TO GET ANSWERS, or Something”

  1. For the pathetic Cleveland TV media…..this is better than actually attempting to do solid investigative work on corrupt politicians lurking around city halls. No muss, no fuss and the caked on makeup looks better in midday sunlight.

  2. glad I only watch Channel 3. Leave the guy alone, he is gone after this season anyways. What kinda scumbag reporter camps outside his house hoping to catch a glimpse of him… I would give them the middle finger also.

  5. Hope he comes out screaming “GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY FACE, YOU VULTURES!” That would be some great reality TV, and would also generate tens of millions of YouTube hits. Probably won’t happen. But hey, it’s Johnny Fubar we’re talking about here. Never say never.

    So these douchebags get paid the big union bucks to spend hours stalking Manziel AT HIS HOUSE? Seriously? And I betcha they expect him to be approachable…even congenial…and say something like: “I’m sorry for being such an asshole and such a loser. But I’m a mentally ill, entitled, over-privileged substance abuser who’s suffering from affluenza. Please forgive me…and be gentle with me–I need help..”

    Put down the pipe, you a-holes. WTF are you smoking? Must be some dynamite shit. Pass it over to me.

    Chuckles the Clown

  6. I dont think this is that big of a deal??? The dude is a liar and he is basically saying “F U” to the city of Cleveland.

  7. Johnny needs to face the media and grow some balls and admit he’s a liar and doesn’t take football seriously

  8. he’s a piece of shit so who cares what they do to him. some of you say to leave him alone?? you know what we would if he wasn’t a liar, drunk and worthless football player. when you sign a contract to play in the nfl you owe whatever city that is to at least try. he did none of that. we buy the tickets to go and see him so yea he should at least try and if not then yea please explain why.

  9. So, at this exchange, I burst out laughing at my computer:

    “Something interesting happened today.We heard voices inside. Guys’ voices.”
    GUYS’ VOICES! DO GO ON KRISTIN.
    “When I knocked, they got silent.”
    Holy hell.
    “When we got to the front door there was a sheet over the window.”
    That inconsiderate asshole wants some privacy. You show him he doesn’t deserve that. Go get ’em.
    “We knocked three times and rang the doorbell two.”
    Get ’em!
    “No answer. I also left Johnny a voicemail and texted him.”
    Your friends must love you.
    “Four hours later and no one has come out here.”
    YOU’VE BEEN THERE FOUR HOURS?
    Once again, holy hell.

    Maybe it’s just me, but I found this hilarious, probably because it goes along with my dry sense of humor. Anyways, copying and pasting aside, I feel no sympathy for Johnny. Yes, I feel bad that he is having such troubles in his life and this is not what he needs right now personally. However, when he signed for that 8 million dollar contract, this is all stuff that he agreed to deal with, and deal with in a professional manner. It’s unpleasant, but what celebrity isn’t hounded by the media, especially when there is a storm of news swirling about them? My sympathy for Johnny goes out the window when you realize this is what he signed on for, and this mess was created by him and his behavior. He made his bed, now he gets to lie in it.

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