Sports Editor Justin Kline explains the example Cam Newton set.
As always, the Super Bowl brings us a bittersweet moment: some of us get to see our favorite players get a ring (or we win a lot of money), but all of us have to deal with losing football for six months. Bummer.
This year, the Denver Broncos’ immaculate pass rushing gift-wrapped this game for the anti-Cam Newton crowd. It wasn’t the outcome I had desired, as a Cam fan, but I always appreciate watching a team put on a clinic in some aspect of the game (when the Buffalo Bills aren’t on the receiving end).
You know who else put on a clinic? Cam Newton.
There are a lot of young football players in Plant City that look up to him, and for the right reasons: he’s great with his fans, he excels at his job and he (almost) always looks like he’s having more fun than anyone.
“He’s not just a good player — he’s got good character all around, he gives back to the community and everything,” past Athlete of the Week Cory Cotnoir told me.
So, when I say that Cam “put on a clinic” at the Super Bowl, I’m not talking about his on-field performance. While many of the Panthers’ offensive struggles came from an inconsistent offensive line and bland, ignorant play-calling, Cam was clearly scared of that pass rush and played more like Josh Freeman than an NFL MVP.
That post-game press conference, for which Cam has been getting slammed, is the teachable moment I’m talking about.
I understand fully well that, even though football is just a game, the Super Bowl is the biggest of them all. Losing it is never fun, and this is especially true when you’re one of the main reasons your team failed. So, the fact that a player sat slumped in his chair, head down, and gave one-word answers before leaving abruptly is understandable.
But when you want to be like Cam — when you want people to see you as a team leader, an icon, the real deal, whatever — you need to learn how to own up to your biggest losses as well as you can after any win. I don’t think he’s figured that out yet.
I’m still hoping that I’ll talk to kids around here that cite Cam as a favorite athlete, and even a role model. But I want them all to look upon that press conference and realize that it was out of character for the star quarterback, the NFL MVP, that they’ve been looking up to. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t owning his persona when he had the best possible opportunity to silence the “I hate Cam, he’s fake” crowd.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an athlete get grilled harder in a loss than LeBron James did after the Miami Heat lost the 2011 NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks in six games. And LeBron — upset as he was — did not back down from any of the hardball questions that were thrown at him. Say what you will about LeBron as a team player, but no one can watch that and deny that he knows exactly how a self-professed leader should act when facing the facts.
I doubt that very many of Plant City’s athletes will ever get grilled like that. Heck, many of today’s pros won’t ever have to deal with it. But for all of the kids that want to one day get to Cam Newton’s level, it’s better to learn this now than later: you have to own up to your failures as well as you can own up to your successes.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
