At this point, nothing needs to be recapped about what happened after last night’s Super Bowl. None of it should have come as a shock, either. Cam, like most athletes, really hates losing. On the flip side, sportswriters really love talking to athletes who just lost. For some, it’s the opportunity to reach athletes when they’re most vulnerable. For others, it gets them off to see larger-than-life idols forced to be humbled by becoming the same sorry failures “normal people” see in themselves. Those people were about to have their Super Bowl. The mighty Cam Newton was going to have to sit and take it, until he decided he wasn’t going to do that. It was predictable, it was childish, and to be completely honest, incredibly reassuring for Panther fans.
If you thought Cam was going to be humble, you played yourself. That’s not Cam. In fact, had Cam taken the podium with an opening statement expressing his disappointment in the loss, congratulating his competitors, promising to come back even better, and spouting off any other cliches other quarterbacks pluck from Bing searches to use in post-game interviews, it would be a safe bet that we’d never see Cam in another Super Bowl.
The “if you don’t like me dancing, don’t let me score” mentality works both ways, and it was again quite obvious that Cam lacks the ability to process defeat. If he doesn’t like dealing with questions after a loss, then don’t lose. And he’s probably not going to lose all that often moving forward because of that mentality. Lack of leadership? That is leadership. At least it’s Cam’s version of it, and the consistency is admirable. He is going to spend no time thinking about how to handle losing better because, in his mind, he’s never going to lose again.
The personality of this Panthers team drew everyone in this season. You either loved them, or you hated them, and both opinions were entirely acceptable and understandable. That must continue in order to be successful. The team is in real trouble if the first touchdown next year ends with Cam handing the ball to the back judge and jogging back to the sideline. The Panthers played tight twice this past season: first in Atlanta, coming off of the New York Giants game where there was incredible external pressure to reel in their personalty, and again in the Super Bowl, where there’s such an inescapable myth that you have to respect the magnitude of the game. For Carolina to make it back to the Super Bowl, the fun has to be there.
Be prepared, though. You think the hot takes are bad today? Just wait until the first time we see a first down celebration next year. The inevitable “Cam learned nothing from the Super Bowl” takes will be so vicious they’ll make today seem like constructive criticism. In reality, Cam learned plenty from the Super Bowl. He learned again how much it sucks to lose. Here’s to hoping he never matures enough to handle it with grace.
Nobody hates Russell Wilson, Seattle fans. Well, aside from maybe during a football game when the most ridiculous play ever happens and he’s on the positive end 99 times out of 100. That’s not why this is funny. This is funny because everyone hates you.
For a solid two weeks, ever since the Carolina Panthers bounced you from the playoffs with a historic 31 point first half explosion, you’ve taken to the internet to tweet through it, to post video blogs, or to pen letters to national sportswriters just to work through your feelings about your favorite team losing.
Look, truth be told, Panthers fans would probably be doing the same thing if the Seahawks had knocked Carolina out of the playoffs … again. But it’s the general tone of “right vs. wrong” and “classy vs. classless” that makes you the worst kind of fan in all of sports. All of your angst orbits one simple core belief that Russell Wilson is a better person than Cam Newton. Russell is genuine and humble, and Cam is flashy is self-serving. The punchline is that Cam’s flash and enjoyment of the game is far more likely to be genuine and come from a good place than the act that your quarterback puts on.
And yet none of you are in on the joke, which makes you the mark. So when stuff like this comes out, where your quarterback Googles how to tweet public compliments to his celebrity girlfriend, it’s hilarious. Not because it make Russell look silly. It just further confirms your role as the mark.
The Carolina Panthers play in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs Sunday at 1pm on FOX. It is not enough for you merely to pull for the Panthers, we must implore you to also viscerally despise the Seattle Seahawks. To help prepare you for this task, we have enlisted the help of Brett Thompson, whose picture we didn’t include lest you make fun of his outfit. Also be sure to check out our Behind Enemy Lines piece on the Seahawks, when Andrew Batchelor wrote about a visit to see the Panthers win in Seattle.
The Carolina Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks are gearing up to play their sixth game against each other in four seasons. With such frequent dust-ups comes both great familiarity and bad blood. After more than three years of seeing these guys, I can safely say it:
I hate the Seattle Seahawks. A lot. I hate their stupid colors and their stupid fans and their stupid uniforms and their stupid Macklemore. I hate their stupid refusal to acknowledge that the sound they make is because of acoustics. I hate their 9/11 truther coach who gets away with not putting his star running backs on the field in championship games (has anybody seen Pete Carroll and Larry Fedora in the same room, btw?). I wish they would move to Los Angeles.
A good portion of Panthers fans hate them, too. If you’re not quite sure if you’re ready to invest so much negative energy into a team all the way across the country from you, here’s a quick guide to justify it.
THE FRANCHISE:
The Seahawks are owned by Paul Allen, a John Clayton lookalike and Microsoft co-founder. That’s an appropriate thing to note considering that Russell Wilson’s “MVP” campaign was a Windows 95 PC to the finely tuned MacBook Pro that was Cam Newton in
Hey, look, it’s not Steve Jobs or Bill Gates
2015. Paul Allen’s net worth is $17.4 billion, which means you would have to hit the highest jackpot in Powerball history more than SEVENTEEN times to be as rich as him. Asshole.
The franchise itself is currently enjoying its first real renaissance. The Seahawks made it to their first Super Bowl in 2005 after 29 years in the league, two years after the Panthers’ Super Bowl appearance at the age of nine. Since then, the Seahawks have made the NFL Playoffs seven times, including four consecutive years under Russell Wilson. In that time, their popularity has skyrocketed, resulting in the most obnoxious fanbase in the NFL.
THE FANS:
I hate this guy more than he looks like he hates himself
Imagine if St. Louis Cardinals fans had a football teamthey cared about. Seahawks fans pride themselves on being the best in football, and will totally remind you of that fact at any moment’s notice. They’re not just fans, they’re PART OF THE TEAM.
No, seriously. The franchise has gone on to completely pander to these Starbucks-swilling hipsters and embrace the “12thMan” nicknamethey stole from Texas A&M. They passionately refer to themselves as “12s,” because of course they do. In 1984, Seahawks President Mike McCormack retired the number 12 for the years of hard work, dedication, sweat and performance of… Seahawks fans.
It gets worse. The number 12 being retired hasn’t stopped Seahawks fans from wearing their own jersey, and from 2013-14, it cracked the top ten highest-selling in the league. THOUSANDS of adults paid $79.99 shamelessly wear the name “Fan” on their back. They must be stopped.
Stop it. Stop it all of you. For the love of everything good and right in this world please look at yourself in the mirror and see what you have become. Look at that neon green “We Are 12” flag in your hand. Look at that fictional player jersey you are wearing. Look at those Bose headphones around your neck blaring Thrift Shop. None of this is okay and you should feel bad about yourself. I hate you until you can fully understand what kind of monster you have turned into.
(note: As insufferable as they are, a man wearing an actual jersey with his own name on the back still reigns as king.)
THE PLAYERS:
There are plenty of Seahawks players who are polarizing at best, but there is one man in particular who stands out among the rest of them.
I hate Russell Wilson.
With a fiery passion that shouldn’t be reserved for another human being. If Darren Rovell were an elusive athlete with a horseshoe lodged firmly up his ass, he would be Russell Wilson. Wilson is a walking stereotype of what fans always dreamed of as the ideal likeable athlete until we realized how freaking unbearable the act is.
And it sucks, because by all accounts Russell Wilson should be a fantastic guy. In any other context, he should be cheered. Glorified. Praised. He’s an upstanding man with clear values and blah blah blah I HATE HIM.
“Would you like a sports cliche? I knew you would.”
Wilson is not only a frustratingly talented player, but he’s also a great philanthropist for the Seattle area. This is public knowledge, because no hospital visit goes untweeted.
Wilson is undoubtedly a polarizing figure in the Triangle, which is why it’s important to remember why Wilson could actually bring us all together and unite fans of each university alike:
North Carolina fans:Oh this guy. How frustrating is it to watch Wilson go off on your team for three years, transfer so you NEVER have to see him again, and he end up right back on the opposing side of a rivalry to haunt your favorite team for YEARS to come? To date, your favorite team is an astounding 1-7 against Wilson, and that one win came by a sheer superhuman effort by Cam Newton in the last minute of a game that you already turned off because you refused to watch Russell Wilson tell you God wanted his team to win more than yours. *exhales* He is your Kryptonite. He is Marcus Paige at your PNC Arena. He is the Chapel Hill to your Clemson. He is Michael Myers. No matter how many times you think you’ve killed him, he comes back, more unwatchable than ever. He is your archnemesis. Hate him almost equally as much as you love your Tar Heels and Panthers.
NC State fans:Even you guys don’t want him anymore, and that’s after YEARS of debate between Wolfpack and Badger fans. Why would you? He believes in Recovery Water. He, uh, Ciara. Sure, he’s like the greatest modern athlete to come out of N.C. State. Yeah, he beat North Carolina a lot when he was in Raleigh. Duh, he wanted to stay until Tom O’Brien pushed him away. Don’t let those good memories of your ex overshadow why you left each other in the first place. He is the enemy now. He even stopped his post-Carolina teleconference tradition of ending with a “Go Pack, Go Hawks.” HE HATES YOU NOW. Turn on him. Join us. Burn that bridge and never look back. #trader.
Duke fans:Wilson represents the very last of an era where it seemed every Triangle program except your team was somewhat relevant. It wasn’t an immediate shift, but after Wilson left, your team has posted the following records: 3-9, 6-7, 10-4, 9-4 and 8-5. Given how loudly Wilson wears his religion on his sleeve, it’s worth wondering whether there’s any coincidence that the Devils got stronger in his absence. Really makes you think.
Russell Wilson is a natural foil to your quarterback savior, Cam Newton. Newton celebrates, Wilson celibates. Newton is chastised publicly, Wilson publicly undergoes chastity. Newton is MADE, Wilson is Created. Newton is on his #pinnacle, Wilson is Pentecostal*. Newton does Beats commercials with 2 Chainz, Wilson does Bose commercials with Macklemore. These two were destined to feud. They’re Bret “Hitman” Hart and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin: A traditional hero and the way-cooler-and-better anti-hero.
Keep Pounding and for the love of God, beat Seattle.
“Unverified” opens tonight at The Varsity theater in downtown Chapel Hill, but Bradley Bethel, the film’s writer and director, was kind enough to share an advanced copy with SportsChannel8 for review. Due to the supercharged nature of the subject matter in our state, we’ll touch on both the film itself, and the backdrop of the UNC scandal.
Synopsis (provided via press kit):
“If you don’t read the newspapers, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspapers, you’re misinformed.” – Mark Twain
Beginning in 2011, the story of UNC’s “fake classes” made national headlines as a massive athletics scandal. Caught between university deans unwilling to accept responsibility and news media eager to implicate athletics, UNC’s academic counselors for athletes found themselves accused of complicity and without the means to defend themselves. Bradley Bethel was a reading specialist for UNC athletes and was outraged by the way the press portrayed his colleagues. Refusing to remain silent, he set out to defend those falsely accused and give them a platform to tell their side of the story . In the process, he realized the problem was even bigger than the media. Following Bradley over the course of a year, UNVERIFIED challenges the headlines and tells a story more complicated and heartbreaking than the one we’ve heard in the news.
Critical Review:
When you get the answer you want, stop asking questions.
If that’s the intended takeaway Bethel aimed to provide to the audience when he set out to make “Unverified”, then the film was an absolute success. Unfortunately, there were far too many instances where the filmmaker drove home this lesson by example, and the journey to shine a different light on friends Beth and Jamie, two academic counselors within the University of North Carolina’s maligned athletics support staff who were terminated in the wake of the Wainstein Report and subsequently raked through the coals by the media, fell short.
The film focused entirely too much on Bethel himself, including inner monologues, a 90-second montage of Bethel approaching and entering Ohio Stadium (although this certainly resonates with any sports fan), and a completely unnecessary scene where Bethel shouts at his laptop in anger over reading an editorial on the UNC scandal from a national football writer.
The low point of the film was a scene in Bethel’s house where he called a writer on speakerphone to confront him about allegedly misrepresenting a quote from ex-football star Deutna Williams. The writer expresses that he declined an invitation to be in Bethel’s documentary and reiterated a desire not to be included, all while unknowingly being filmed for the purpose of being included in the documentary after all. This scene greatly damaged Bethel’s intent to show that media will go to any measures to tell an emotionally charged story devoid of facts, which is exactly what Bethel did during this segment.
That’s not to say that there weren’t poignant, must-see moments throughout the 90 minute documentary. Beth Bridger sharing the details of how she was terminated by the University drew me into her story, and a great interview with UNC journalism professor Adam Hochberg was one of the few times Bethel’s choice to feature himself paid off. During the conversation, Hochberg points out “the media didn’t fire anyone”, and the immediate reversal in Bethel’s direction was a refreshing reminder that minds can be changed. Lastly, the film’s climax, an interview with ex-Chancellor James Moeser, was well worth the time it took to view the entire documentary.
In fact, the Moeser interview should have been a clue to Bethel to scrap the project and start over from the beginning as soon as he heard “AFAM was given a pass because no one wanted to be seen as dealing harshly with an African American Studies Department. Candidly.” Moeser goes on to add, “[Those responsible for the scandal] were people that were trying to help other people. People who were mostly poor, mostly black, coming from very poor households … giving them a leg up.” Now THAT’S a documentary, the attitude towards the AFAM department and its eventual, irreversible destruction, that’s far more gripping than the plight of two former academic advisors who both landed on their feet quite nicely just months after being dismissed by the university.
Unfortunately, Bethel redirected Moeser to the Wainstein report and succeeded in getting him to question whether or not the report was used appropriately to pinpoint Beth and Jamie, and in getting him to admit that the two may have been used as scapegoats when the University was satisfied with the answer they wanted to hear.
As with everyone else in the crosshairs of this documentary – the media and their readers, the investigators, and the University at large – as soon as Bethel got the answer he set out to find, the film ends with Bethel walking away from a freshly painted Old Well, satisfied with a job well done.
Now, on the topic of the backdrop itself, I expect most will be disappointed that Bethel doesn’t attack the validity of the allegations against the University of North Carolina. There’s enough sprinkled in that will satisfy UNC’ers and anger ABC’ers, but the scandal is not a central piece of the film. Considering that Bethel raised $150,000 from private donations, and assuming that a large portion of those donations came from Tar Heel fans expecting “Unverified” to rip apart the core of the Wainstein report and exonerate the university, I’m very interested to follow the reactions from the general public after seeing the film.
Personally, I enjoyed the film more than I would have if the scandal had been the central piece of the story. There’s a general acceptance that something bad happened at UNC for a long period of time, and there’s certainly an effort to show that academic advisors did nothing wrong in providing the athletes an opportunity to succeed, and the athletes did nothing wrong in taking advantage of that support. There is such fatigue surrounding this topic in North Carolina that the film is better off for keeping that story on the outskirts, and in general, is a relatively enlightening look at how the media tells stories and how the public consumes them.
The absence of information gets filled with assumptions, and as pointed out previously, when we, the audience, hear the answers we want to hear, we stop looking for actual information to fill those gaps. The pinning of the UNC scandal on two members of the academic support staff in athletics gives the media a great story to write, gives the University and their athletics department a plausible scapegoat, and gives UNC fans enough distance from head coaches and athletic staff members. It’s not fair, and Bethel succeeded in pointing that out. I just wish the film had gone further in getting those in power to dig deeper instead of just being satisfied with a small piece of personal validation.
There’s just something about those damn Longhorns. Or maybe it’s the time of year, and UNC just happens to play Texas a lot in mid-December when the team is traditionally focused on finals and researching which courses they’d like to take in the Spring semester. Either way, it’s absolutely crazy to think that UNC is a lifetime 3-7 against Texas, with two of those three wins coming before 1995.
Sometimes a loss is just a loss, but with teams in the national spotlight like North Carolina is, every loss HAS to mean something. The loss to Northern Iowa meant that the Heels would be alright when Marcus Paige came back, and that certainly seemed to be validated with the huge home win over Maryland. But with this game, it’s much more difficult to find a meaning. Maybe it just means we need to just take UNC at face value as a team who certainly is much better with Marcus Paige in the lineup, but still winning just 69% of their games (76-34) with him running the show.
While it’s becoming easier to visualize a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 loss as opposed to headlining One Shining Moment, the good news for North Carolina is that no one is really that good this year. Whether it’s the Tar Heels, or Kansas, or Kentucky or Michigan State, a good, but not great team is going to cut down the nets. It’s definitely time to accept that this is the same UNC squad with double-digit losses each of the last three seasons, but guard against counting them out for the National Championship. Experience is going to be a hell of a weapon down the stretch, this year.
Oh, and I’d be more mad about the shot getting off late than about the potential push on Paige under the basket. Replay officials stay losing.
East Carolina football finds their man in … wait, who?
There is literally no such thing as a sure-fire safe bet when hiring a football coach, and if anyone expected that from ECU, that’s a personal problem that has nothing to do with Duke’s ex-Offensive Coordinator Scottie Montgomery being hired as ECU’s new football coach. On the flip side, when the Athletic Director fires a beloved graduate of the very school he’s coaching in order to “upgrade the program”, you pretty much have to find the safest bet out there. In that sense, this was a terrible hire.
Removing that foolish quote from the equation, the Pirates probably couldn’t have found a better fit in terms of someone who can motivate fans and players alike, bring some excitement to the ECU football program, and relate to high school football players across the state of North Carolina. Convincing an in-state player to head to Greenville instead of one of four viable ACC options is asking that kid to go against the grain, and Montgomery was able to sell that at Duke because that’s exactly what he did as a high school standout. In Durham, he was a master of finding that two or three star player with a handful of FBS offers who somehow slipped through the cracks of the ratings services. That’s going to pay off immediately for the Pirates.
In Chapel Hill, the hire means that super-coordinator Gene Chizik stays put for now, although that’s likely just delaying the inevitable. In Durham, there’s likely not going to be much drama in the search to backfill the staff as head coach David Cutcliffe was actively searching for a spot that better suited Montgomery than the job he had at Duke. The Blue Devil offense regressed under Montgomery, and a change was imminent, so there’s likely a replacement already in mind. There’s more to coaching than playcalling, and Montgomery is perfectly suited to be a head coach if given the right staff. In fact, many expected him to be the “coach in waiting” when he returned to Duke, and now AD Kevin White gets to evaluate that possibility in a much safer manner with Montgomery coaching someone else’s school. With the need for a new staff in Greenville, the waiting game begins in Durham to see which other spots need to be filled this off-season.
BREAKING: With Scottie Montgomery headed to ECU, Duke’s Cutcliffe has reached out to a protégé as his new OC: pic.twitter.com/xudohZfa4M
Cam’s feelin’ hella good, so he’ll just keep on dancing
The set-up is soooooooooo obvious. History tells us that the Panthers are going to lose a game this season, and when they do, you can bet the ranch that it will be because of Cam Newton’s celebrations. Case in point, see the below from The Big Lead:
This was one of many post-game columns and blog posts continuing the running commentary on Cam’s behavior as “an MVP leader who loves to celebrate”. Cute little comments like “as you can see, there’s still time on the clock” and “Dan Quinn will show this video to his team next year before their first game against the Panthers” roughly translate to “I hate Cam Newton and I want him to stop rubbing it in my face.” You don’t care about the Falcons, The Big Lead. You are tired of seeing Cam, for whatever reason, and you desperately not only want someone to do something about it, but you want Cam’s antics to be the reason why when it does inevitably happen. In fact, you’re so mad about it you didn’t even think to check the schedule to see that the Falcons get another crack at the Panthers in two weeks.
There’s plenty of work available both criticizing and defending Cam, but EVERYONE is missing the single biggest story in Carolina this year … as much as we’ll always love Steve Smith, this is finally Cam’s team and it couldn’t be working out any better. Newton’s leadership may not look like what we expect, especially not in football. Football is tough and violent, and you have to lead by stern example, or by get-in-your face, manhood-challenging rage in the (deep voice) National Football League. Nobody’s supposed to be having fun and playing loose out here. Smitty fit the NFL mold, and so did Sam Mills before him. Even a guy like Brett Favre was so rugged and tough because he made everything look so difficult. Cam? Man, this comes easy. It’s fun. And he certainly has his teammates playing like this game isn’t very difficult, which has come in handy in the few come-from-behind situations the Panthers have faced this season.
Dan Quinn may show that film to his team, The Big Lead, but I don’t think they’ll see what you see. They’d probably be texting their agents asking them to reach out to Carolina in the off season because that’s the kind of quarterback they’d like playing for.
If you’d ever like to get in touch with us about anything, please drop us a note at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to post it so everyone can see what you sent us privately.
Dear SportsChannel8,
Might as well call it UNCChannel8 these days. I was seriously hoping once I started following your station that your entity wouldn’t fall under the same spell as ESPN, CBS, Fox, and all the other local NC news outlets. That being just another haven of UNC homerism. Let me guess, you have roughly 2-3 UNC J-School folks on your staff just like everyone else. Go figures.
To get to my point, the UNC love is just becoming too much. Of course you all have done nothing to keep the heat on the bigger issue of rampant cheating at that university. Did you forget that they still have a NCAA ruling coming?
The UNC football love makes me sick. Look at their schedule. They haven’t played anyone. They don’t have to play Florida State, Clemson and Louisville, but not shockingly your team of blue-lensed UNC fans have had little to say about that. You all waste your time coming up with college football playoff predictions for them that have ZERO chance of happening.
If only Georgia Tech had just beat those cheaters when they had them down, I guess we wouldn’t be sitting here. But knowing you all at sportsUNChannel8, that would just mean your coverage of UNC basketball would have started earlier.
Respectfully Irritated,
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous:
Thanks for your letter. While we’ll be the first to admit that we venture into the “homer” side for all of North Carolina’s college and pro teams, I can assure you that we would never, and I want to make this clear for emphasis, never hire anyone with a J-school background.
We go where the news goes, and right now the news takes us to UNC football. If the internet had been around back then, I promise you we’d have posts about the disrespect Duke received in the polls in a nearly identical run in 2013, and you can bet that we would have dropped a fire Ms. New Booty or Ridin’ Dirty parody to celebrate Wake’s ACC championship in 2006. And if State had done anything during that time frame, we would have been all over that as well.
You do bring up an interesting discussion, however. What if UNC had lost that day in Atlanta? My guess is they never recover and we’re sitting here talking about a red-hot Duke team, which gives you a 75% chance of still hating the work we do here at SportsChannel8. So don’t blame us. Blame Georgia Tech.
The “cheaters” comment makes me assume that you’re a fan of the Wolfpack, however, so three things on that assumption …
Please forgive me if I’m making an incorrect assumption, that’s not fair of me. NC State has wonderful fans who love their team very much, and every fan base across America has a subset of their population who just wants their rival to crumble.
When there’s news on the NCAA scandal, we won’t shy away from it. Sure, we’ll run it through legal first, and then we’ll give North Carolina a heads-up about it to make sure they’re cool with running it so we don’t burn any bridges. That’s not North Carolina specific, though. We’d do the same for your favorite school.
Here’s a previous post we ran about a month ago featuring an adorable dog who cheers for the Wolfpack.
Hang in there, Anonymous. We’ll do something to make you laugh and share us with your friends in no time. Go Everyone, as long as they’re from the state of North Carolina.
As reported by the Charlotte Observer this morning, Rosemary Plorin of Nashville wrote a letter to Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton to communicate the impact that Newton’s fourth quarter touchdown and celebration had on her nine year old daughter, who happened to be attending her first ever NFL game on Sunday. The Plorins were sure to get seats close to the action, because like most kids, the end zones are the best place to sit because you never know when Cam or one of his teammates will pick you out of the crowd for the post-touchdown football giveaway. But the Plorins, unfortunately, got much more than they were expecting.
Because of where we sat, we had a close up view of your conduct in the fourth quarter. The chest puffs. The pelvic thrusts. The arrogant struts and the ‘in your face’ taunting of both the Titans’ players and fans. We saw it all.
As a father of two boys, I get where she’s coming from. We all obviously want what’s best for our kids, and we want to protect them from the ills of the world. Kids are smart, and they’re tenacious with their curiosity, refusing to allow blank space to exist within their comprehension of what’s going on around them.
My daughter sensed the change immediately – and started asking questions. Won’t he get in trouble for doing that? Is he trying to make people mad? Do you think he knows he looks like a spoiled brat?
All Mrs. Plorins is asking is for help talking to her daughter about Cam Newton, which is not only fair, but very admirable to admit when help is needed. As a parent, you can choose to address these tough questions head on, or you can deflect attention to other topics.
I didn’t have great answers for her, and honestly, in an effort to minimize your negative impact and what was otherwise a really fun day, I redirected her attention to the cheerleaders and mascot.
Great call. If I had an impressionable nine year old daughter with a desperate need to find a role model at an NFL game, I’d DEFINITELY prefer that she focus on the Titans cheerleaders instead of the dancing quarterback.
But I really feel like you missed an opportunity to teach your daughter some life-lessons by turning her attention away from dancing Cam. Newton is the quarterback, and quarterbacks are supposed to be leaders. Leaders demand respect just by being who they are, and they don’t need to be all “hey look at me” after every accomplishment. Does a surgeon dabb after a successful procedure? Does a lawyer hit them folks after a ruling goes in his favor? Of course not. And that’s why you want your daughter to have positive role models so she studies hard and gets into a good school where she can meet a doctor or a lawyer to marry. She’s DEFINITELY not going to be attracted to someone who looks like Cam Newton. You know, all showy and boastful, I mean. You want your daughter seeing someone who looks like Newton act like someone who looks like Newton (again, all showy and boastful) to see how much his teammates are turned off by his false charisma and personality and fabricated enjoyment of his job. I feel like if she’d seen that, she’d swear off anyone who looks like Newton (one more time, showy and boastful) for the rest of her days.
I could tell she was still thinking about it as we boarded a shuttle back to our car. “I guess he doesn’t have kids or a Mom at home watching the game,” she added.
I don’t know about your family life Mr. Newton, but I think I’m safe in saying thousands of kids watch you every week. You have amazing talent and an incredible platform to be a role model for them. Unfortunately, what you modeled for them today was egotism, arrogance and poor sportsmanship.
Right on. One small correction … he does have a mom, her name is Jackie, by the way, but I doubt she cares much about how her son behaves on a football field while “thousands” (millions) of kids are watching. She’s probably more focused on things like her son going back to Auburn over the off-season to finish his degree, or his life-changing charity work that he does for the kids of Charlotte and beyond. That’s just two talking points right there, but it’s a start in what you could tell your daughter about Cam Newton. Maybe she could even Google him. The internet is a much safer place than a football game.
