Now there’s a headline we never thought we’d write! Not because tattoos are uncommon in the sports world, but because it’s hard to imagine a sports icon like “Johnny Football” being inspired by Drake’s tattoos. No offense to the Young Money rapper, but most of his tattoos are either gigantic portraits of the people he holds close to his heart (i.e. Aaliyah, his uncle and his grandmother) or cryptic and kind of random tributes to himself, his friends, his music and his clothing line. Who would have thought a college football player would find inspiration there? Not us!
NCAA football star Johnny Manziel raised eyebrows during Texas A&M’s 52-31 season-opening win against Rice on August 31, and not just because of his three touchdowns. The 20-year-old athlete inadvertently revealed a new tattoo during the game – “OVO” written in large black letters on the inside of his right wrist – which was visible just below the sleeve of his warm gear. Johnny Football is known for his seemingly inexplicable connection to Drake, and now the Texas A&M quarterback has gone and added a permanent tribute to the rapper on his wrist.
Drake and Manziel reportedly met for the first time in Toronto during spring break this year, which the football player says was the highlight of his off-season. Since their introduction, the unlikely duo has been building a relationship, with Manziel saying he has learned a lot from Drake and the rapper congratulating Johnny Football for the way he handled SEC Media Day in August. After a self-imposed Twitter ban this spring, the football player re-entered the social media world by quoting the lyrics from Drake’s 5AM in Toronto track: “Young dude just try n win here again, if I like her I just fly her to the city I’m in…I gotta drinking with ya boy I gotta faded shawty ah ya.” Well, that explains a lot.
We’re not sure if their relationship was quite to this level yet, but like it or not, Drake and Johnny Football now have matching tattoos. Drake got his “OVO” owl tattoo in 2011, and revealed the ink during his annual OVO Festival in Toronto. The acronym OVO stands for October’s Very Own, which is the name of Drake’s clothing line and also represents the month the singer was born. Drake’s OVO tattoo is inked on the back of his right shoulder and also features a simple image of an owl, which is included in the logo for his clothing line.
Okay, so Johnny Manziel is a big fan of Drake and was so inspired by the rapper’s musical prowess, international success and all-around bad-ass-ness that he went and got a tribute to the Young Money star inked on his wrist. We’re just wondering how much Johnny is getting paid to rep Drake’s clothing line…
Hear that?? Somewhere out there, Johnny Manziel is slapping himself in the forehead right now.
