Bell Tolls: Cam Newton has a great platform, and should use it wisely
Cam Newton has it all wrong on this loser thing.
Sure, losing stinks. Especially when you’re the NFL’s MVP, positioned to make such a difference in the biggest game of your life, and you’re upstaged by the best defense in football.
"Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser," Newton declared this week, after having a couple days to process the reaction to his walk-off disaster of a press conference following Super Bowl 50.
No, act like a loser and it adds layers to the perception problem that undermines all that is to be, well, celebrated about the Carolina Panthers’ star quarterback.
Here’s why the logic behind Newton’s it’s-cool-to-be-a-sore-loser shtick is flawed:
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Winning and losing should not define the person.
What an immature message to send — especially to the kids that Newton told CBS’ James Brown that he’s "embedded" with — in suggesting that because he lost a game it’s fine to kick class to the curb.
Not to suggest that Newton needed to come out after the Super Bowl wearing a smiley face and cracking jokes, but being professional would have been enough.
He can be a dabbing delight when he wins, but a jerk when he loses?
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Newton is undoubtedly a fierce competitor, and far from perfect. But for much that is given, much is expected. Newton’s leadership may be reflected within his team, but the flip side is that it is also reflected to a world outside of the team, which sees a quarterback leaving his teammates to face the music at a time when the tone from the leader can carry much weight.
Hey, he’s not perfect. Newton likes to fashion himself as Superman, but that’s fiction. He’s human.
If Newton’s crisis management moment is flowing from how he deals with the press after a loss rather than the types of off-the-field issues that have floored others, then he’s way ahead of the game.
Yet with his immense, MVP talent and lightning rod presence, Newton is also the NFL’s MSP — Most Scrutinized Player. That comes with the territory, fair or not, when you have one of the highest profiles in the nation’s most popular sport. When you’re an entertainer and an icon, things get magnified.
Amid all of the dump-on-Cam scorn and debate, though, comes an incredible opportunity.
Here’s to hoping Newton, 26, accepts a golden teaching moment from the Golden Super Bowl’s fallout and truly realizes that the results of any given game in a team sport pale in comparison to the manner in which you represent yourself.
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I wonder if those in Newton’s inner circle — family, friends, advisors, teammates, coaches and management — would offer constructive criticism to their walking meal ticket.
Some, I’d suspect, are merely enablers telling him what he’d want to hear.
At the same time, it’s not a stretch to think that Newton has received some good advice that he has opted not to heed. Or maybe bad advice that fed into a bunker mentality.
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Regardless, this grown man who is often described as a "big kid" is the one responsible for his behavior.
What does it say about a man who posts the first public picture of his newborn son on Instagram this week, with the baby flanked by daddy’s MVP and Offensive Player of the Year trophies?
Like it was only so much about the baby. Using the baby as a prop struck me as another sign of how much new daddy needs to grow up.
Newton is a budding pitchman with a Hollywood smile. He can be so charming and engaging. He’s fun to watch as a special player. His joy and emotion on the field come across very well. His ritual of giving away footballs to kids after touchdowns connects.
But he should never forget that his GQ brand — with his "do it my way" swagger — can be damaged, too, by foolishness.
If you watched the Super Bowl, you know how it went down. A lot of Von Miller in Newton’s face. A lot of DeMarcus Ware chasing Newton from behind. A lot of bad passes by Newton.
People can understand when it’s not your day. It happens to the best of them, many who might have demonstrated even more competitiveness than Newton and dived after a loose football with the game on the line. It’s a shame, however, that Newton helped fuel the post-game narrative with his unprofessional actions.
He can blame himself for that. And that’s not generational, racial or spiritual.
No doubt, Newton has had enough lectures from critics (and I knew a few) to last the rest of his career. The critics often whiff, too, and when biases and double-standards are thrown in, the heat on Newton, an African-American, tends to be more intense than it would be for a white superstar player.
But knowing that, Newton still needs to accept the part of his job that allows him such a great platform, and use it wisely.
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The privilege of being the face of the NFL, as many project for Newton, comes with some responsibility. It’s a professional privilege.
Yet even in the days before the Super Bowl, Newton was snippy about having to attend multiple press conferences. On more than one occasion, on multiple days, he grumbled about having to answer the same questions thrown his way in previous days.
Really? That’s the negative vibe he wanted to put out there?
Pity Cam. There were maybe 30 other NFL quarterbacks who probably would have loved the problem of having to spend one hour at Media Night, then 30 minutes on each of the next three days, hyping the big event — because they had reached the point in playing in the Super Bowl.
For 50, the NFL issued more than 5,500 media credentials, many to outlets who don’t normally cover the league on a daily basis. I’d guess that at least half of the media at, say, Newton’s Wednesday presser were not at his Tuesday session. So of course there are going to be repetitive questions.
But for the week, with the mass press conferences, we’re talking about three hours. For the week.
The dots of that media attention and the NFL’s popularity, by the way, can also be connected to Newton’s $100 million contract.
It was so disingenuous that Newton — who has a lot of charisma and is a wonderful story line about resilience — would become agitated when asked about the rollover crash that he has said provided him so much perspective.
Turns out, Newton was saving his biggest diss for later.
The journey is not over. Newton will have more triumphs and setbacks on the football field.
Now let’s see how much he grows.
Follow columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.