Grammatron wrote:Anaxagoras wrote:Grammatron wrote:I just checked, Manziel is still listed as 6'1"
If he's 6'1" then I'm at least 6'3".
Are you saying that he really is 6'1"? I'm not sure what point you're arguing here.
I actually don't care either way myself. I'm not a fan or, as CH seems to be, a hater of him. I'm just trying to be objective.
My point is he is what Texas A&M says until shown otherwise. I don't accept photographs because they are sometimes manipulated for dramatic effect.
Fair enough. We'll learn eventually, maybe this year, maybe next, maybe even Johnny's senior year, whether scouts buy the claim that he's 6' or 6'1". I've made it clear that I don't, and I freely admit that it's based on hard to determine accurately and precisely comparisons on live TV broadcasts and photographs, which are not always reliable and can be subject to manipulation, both high tech and low tech (shoot from a deceptive angle or perspective, or with a distorting lens, for example). I also pointed out that the head to torso ratio is a somewhat reliable indication of a rough estimate of a healthy, young adult's height, and I also base my judgment of his height on that, again based on photographs I've seen of him and his moving image on television. It's not the best possible evidence, which is indeed to measure him on level ground with a properly calibrated measuring stick, but no one is advocating it's necessary to do that in order to guesstimate his height.
I suppose the chief difference between Grammy and me on this narrow subject is that Grammy doesn't question the stat Texas A&M publishes and lists for him, and I do. I know that height and weight numbers for high school and college players are routinely fudged to make them look better than they are, and I suspect very strongly this is the case for Manziel. As for cold, hard objective and unassailable evidence to the contrary, I have none, and I'm pretty sure Grammy understands that would not be reasonably feasible to obtain without going to College Station myself to measure the guy or get the sworn affidavit of someone in the Texas A&M organization who has. I contend Grammy's unquestioned acceptance of the published figure is dogmatically unreasonable, given that it is such a common practice to fudge those numbers, especially for smaller players, and goddammit, the guy looks small for an elite college football QB.
CH