The New Face of the NFL Has Gold Feet of Clay

I've had time to think about Super Bowl 50 and how it ended. Cam Newton, literally the Golden Boy NFL MVP, not only was shown that he could be beat, sorry Falcons, but it also showed that he, like almost every other player these days, is playing only for himself in a game that stresses team more than any other professional sport.

During the season Newton was reveling in the attention he got each week as the Panthers won game after game leading up to talk of the perfect season. He could do no wrong and couldn't wait to stand before the press after each game and answer what would be the same questions week in and week out. He would flash that $Million smile and "his ego grew three times each day" if that was possible for a man who came in with an ego the size of the Super Bowl audience world wide.

However the week leading up the to the big game Newton grew tired of answering questions every day (kind of foreshadowed something didn't it) and made the comment, "It's confusing. How can I reword questions I've been asked so many times? Goooooolly, it's not like the questions have changed since I saw you 24 hours ago. I had an unbelievable sleep and yet I'm up here again. It's cool. I sound like a broken record."

Before I go on let me interject this, "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat did he just say?" Instead of saying how can I come up with different answers to the same questions day after day, but he said how can I reword the question. Then the sleep remark. If he had said I was up all night and yet I'm up here again would be more appropriate, but to say I had an "unbelievable" sleep and yet I was able to drag myself from my place where nobody is asking me questions to come here and be verbally assaulted by stupid people like you who keep asking me the same stupid questions over and over and over again. It could be just me, but that sounds like gibberish or arrogance or both.

Winner Loving It

Newton (I guess he is no longer Superman and thank goodness since I'm a big Superman fan) evidently hasn't seen the Super Bowl before. He didn't seem to know how things work leading up to the biggest single game in sports (the World Cup may be bigger, but it isn't one game takes all). He didn't know he would be asked the same questions.

He evidently lives in a world all his own and plays by his own rules. The Panthers' media relations staff evidently doesn't talk to him during the season and so they didn't brief him about what Super Bowl Week was all about and that he being the newly minted MVP would be asked questions from Monday through Saturday night non-stop. I guess on the Panthers there is Newton and then the rest of the team. I wonder if Newton even dresses in the same locker room or has people who do that for him in another building.

All that aside this petulant athlete made it to the big game without any other further missteps, if questioning the questioners was a misstep. He didn't get arrested the night before for soliciting a prostitute (ala Eugene Robinson) or beating up people in a strip club - it seems that is a favorite pastime of professional athletes - or anything else.

The loss to the Falcons in week 16 not withstanding the Panthers were anointed the new champs, but instead of being the 1985 Super Bowl Shuffle Chicago Bears (came into the game with a 17-1 record and soundly beat the Patriots or the 1984 49ers and the 1976 Raiders for that matter) the 2015 Panthers turned out to be the 1968 Baltimore Colts, who came into Super Bowl III with a 15-1 record only to lose to the Joe Namath and the Jests or the 2007 Patriots, who came into the game 18-0, before losing to Eli Manning and the Giants. Isn't it ironic, don't you think.?

Before the game Mr. Ego wore golden MVP cleats in warm-up, but thankfully he didn't try to wear them in the game itself. The new NFL player reflected by Hall of Fame rejectant Terrell Owens and Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson (I guess you all know that Ocho Cinco didn't only mean 85 his jersey number, but also the act of a prostitute giving oral pleasure to any guy while with a man. It seems prostitutes and NFL players go hand in hand or some other body parts), but I digress. Owens and Ocho Cinco would have wore those shoes and taken the fine. This is one in Newton's favor.

That Fumble

However, one play will define Super Bowl 50 and Newton. Down 16-10 with 4:12 remaining and the Panthers on their own 23 with a third and nine Super Bowl MVP Von Miller stripped the ball from NFL MVP Newton. Only Newton was close enough to recover the ball for the Panthers and he backed off. He explained it this way, “I didn’t dive on one fumble because the way my leg was (positioned). It could have been contorted in a way. You say my effort? I didn’t dive down. I fumbled—that’s fine. That’s fine. We didn’t lose the game because of that fumble.”

He was right. I hate to admit. The Panthers didn't lose the game because of that fumble. However, the Panthers didn't win that game because of that fumble.

If Newton was thinking of his team instead of himself he and his prototype body would have recovered the ball and punted. The Panther defense would have held the Broncos to three-and-out and got the ball back with around 3 minutes left still down 16-10 with a chance to make the winning drive and be the hero he thinks he is.

Instead he let the Broncos recover the ball at the Panther 4. Four plays later the Broncos score with the help of a penalty by Josh Norman and after a 2-point conversion the game was over at 24-10 with 3:08 left.

Selfish. Thinking of being injured instead of saving the game. I don't know about you, but I don't want someone like this being the face of my pro league. Forget the game. Forget my team and my teammates and all the hard work it took to get to the Super Bowl. Forget all the fans. My health and my bank account means more to me than all of you. I paraphrased that last one, but I think that sums up Cam Newton.

Loser In The House

To put the cherry on top of the cake Newton then sulks in the post-game press conference and finally walks out when supposedly he overhears Chris Harris talking about winning the game, so he can't stand it when the winner is talking, so he picks up hoodie and walks out.

Loser Has Left The Building

Afterwards he gave this explanation for walking out, "I've been on record to say I'm a sore loser. Who likes to lose? You show me a good loser and I'm going to show you a loser. It's not a popularity contest. I'm here to win football games.'' He added if he offended anyone, "that's cool. But I know who I am and I'm not about to conform nor bend for anybody's expectations because your or anybody else's expectations will never exceed mine."

It seems he is being contradictory when he said "I'm here to win football games." Really? It seems to me part of winning football games would be to recover a fumble with the game on the line. Our expectations would be to do whatever it takes to win a football game, much less the biggest game in his career, but I guess his expectation was to survive the game without being hurt so he could be paid for another season. I now think I know who he is now.

As Charles Barkley once said, "I'm not a role model... Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."

Here's what Newton had to say Wednesday before the Super Bowl about being a role model, “Whether I want it or not, the position that I’m in, I’m given a stage and what I do on that stage means a lot because for people who I’m going to actually meet and for people that’s watching this live and saying, ‘Damn, Cam’s cool.’ For these same people that are saying, ‘Hell, I hate Cam,’ either way, I’m going to stay true to who I am and try to fulfill the things that are important to me. For anybody that’s coming after me, I want to make the road as clear as possible, because those are the same things that help me. The people that I talk to from family members to close friends to even the idols that I looked up to have played a key in helping this whole transition play out.”

So it came down to Newton being true to who he is. To sum it up on the biggest stage of his career he chickens out on the field and then walks out like a child. It seems to me that Newton is a selfish young man who is all about ME, ME, ME. In fact, Cam Newton is the Poster Boy of the ME ME ME Generation.

Cam Newton said he accepts being a role model to some, but looking at how he handled success and failure you couldn't ask for a worse role model for yourself or your children. This is my opinion and I'm sticking to it.