Cam Newton: "I'm a sore loser. I hate losing. You show me a good loser, I'll show you a loser"

Vince Lombardi was no fan of participation trophies, haha:

"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is."

Amen, coach!!

**** wrote:

[quote]joho wrote:

Newton is better than about 99% of all players that have ever played. He is 6'5" 260 lbs. and runs the 40 in 4.5

Are you trolling or are you referring to his potential to be great? There is quite a large difference between physical attributes and achieving greatness. Right now, with his rocket arm and 40 speed he is not even in the top 100 of the all time greats.

He most certainly has the potential but there is just one, itsy, bitsy obstacle in his way - results. I will say that there is no denying that he is the greatest quarterback of all time at dabbin', I'll give you that.

I don't have an opinion of his personality, but Cam is an incredible athlete. He could play four or five positions on any football team, and likely be an elite player at most of them. He's an MVP quarterback, but could probably play receiver, certainly tight end, probably a rush DE and certainly LB.

norphxc wrote:

Agent of Change wrote:

12 teams entered the NFL playoffs. 11 of them lost their last game. Most of sports is losing. If you can't handle yourself after a loss, you probably won't make the changes necessary to win the next time.

Cam has lost before in his football career you know. And despite those losses, and being a sore looser, he won a Heisman, won a college national championship, won an NFL MVP, and took his 14-1 team (who had been kinda bad for the years before this) to the superbowl.

Valid points but,

1.) This controversy isn't just about Cam himself. Its about how athletes, (young, old, professional, amateur) should handle losses. The pressgame conference is just one slice of Cam's conduct after the game. Still, I think all athletes should strive to be respectful and responsive to their coaches, teammates, fan, and even the media after a game, win or lose.

Do I think Cam is an awful person for walking off. Of course not. Do I think his reaction is any worse than Gronkowski's 2012 "Yo soy la fiesta." comment. Not really. Did he pout any more than Peyton Manning walking off the field in 2009. Not really. Have Russel Wilson and others handled their Superbowl losses in a gracious and even inspiring way. Definitely.

2.) Watch the press conference after the Atlanta loss. (Where a strip sack killed the Panther's chance of a comeback) Cam says some of the "right things" about their fans, but he keeps coming back to how good his arm is, how good his hands are, etc, etc. He never acknowledges that Atlanta played a better game and came up with a way to get to him when it counted. Rivera was a little more congratulatory to Atlanta but basically just chalked the loss up to momentum and big plays.

Maybe Cam and his coaches should have said, or taken more action, after that loss, "Hey our pass protection is kinda weak and Cam is actually not that great at handling pressure, we need to come up with a way to help our guards and Cam needs to get rid of the ball quicker even if that means abandoning the deep ball." (See Point #1 in pre-game analysis)

3. Cam will be fine. I congratulate him on a great season, three quarters of hard effort in the Superbowl, and gracious on the field conduct after the game. I hope he improves as a quarterback and masters the public relations skills needed to become the megastar he wants to be.

Wilson got dragged to the superbowl by his elite defense, Cam dragged the Panthers

A couple posters stated Cam dragged the Panthers to the SB. Pretty disrespectful of the 6th best defense (based on pts allowed) in the NFL. Every Panther game I saw had plenty of defensive highlights. The Panthers off/def balance is pretty good, this wasn't Drew Brees dragging (and winning) NO to the Super Bowl.

Cam had a damn fine season 15-1 regular season is nothing to sneeze at, but hardly dragged the team along.

Since Dave Winfield...Bo JacksonDeion SandersHerschel WalkerJulius PeppersLebron JamesCam Newton All as good or better athletes than Dave Winfield. Cam is in that list but he is hardly alone.

Panthers' defense was not dragged to the Super Bowl by Cam. They're the only team in Super Bowl history to hold a team to less than 200 yards of offense and LOSE. The defense gave up 3 field goals. The one offensive touchdown was an extremely short field. No chance. And they had the stop when Manning airmailed the 3rd down pass and the ref called holding on an uncatchable ball.

The defense was up to the challenge. Cam was not. The entire offense was not. Cotchery dropped 3 balls, Cam overthrew several receivers. The running game was absent. The O line was sieve.

Newton has to learn to accept defeat graciously. Keep pouting! won't work.

Just looking on wiki to see if all these multi-sport allegations about Cam were justified. This doesn't sound like a guy who could have been a threat in multiple leagues:

Newton was also a talented baseball and basketball player as a youth but developed a fear of being hit by a pitch in baseball and could not avoid foul trouble on the basketball court. He stopped playing baseball at 14 years old and quit basketball shortly into his high school career.

The fear of being hit by a pitch might explain some of the non-fumble recovery action...

Add Denver GM John Elway -- drafted twice by two different MLB teams.

Les wrote:

Add Denver GM John Elway -- drafted twice by two different MLB teams.

Saw him play for the Oneonta Yankees (NYP League, Single A) one summer while he was still in college. A very gifted athlete.

Wilson shouldered Seattle into the playoffs, but was very humble I'm their loss to the Panthers. Of course, he was not exactly a #1 draft pick either. Cam has a more immature sense of entitlement as a matter of course.

Are people who fashion their arguments by asking and answering their own question ineffective at making a point? yes.

norphxc wrote:

It would be nice for our star athletes to set an example for what we want our kids to learn. However it is not their job to teach our kids. As a youth sports coach, it is your job. Please don't complain about pro athletes not doing your job. They're paid to win. If they don't win enough, they get fired.

Did we have this much outrage when Peyton didn't shake Drew Brees' hand when he lost the superbowl to the saints? They're all super super competitive people, its part of how they got here. At least Cam congratulated Peyton immediately after the game.

If we really wanna be upset about something, Talib almost ripped a guy's head off with that facemask tackle. And the penalty only cost the team a couple yards. I'd be more concerned with youth football players seeing that example.

I think you misunderstood my point. I was responding to somebody who said we shouldn't care about cam Newton being a huge b!tch and throwing a hissy fit.

I wasn't suggesting we need to protect kids from witnessing it. I was suggesting that the person I was responding to shouldn't defend it as acceptable behaviour.

I also agree about that facemask. The league should penalize that sort of egregious (mis) play, I can't bring myself to believe that was an accidental facemask. I'd rather the kids I coach see bad behaviour that is then strongly spoken against and punished than artificially positive role models.

I wouldn't say I "defended" it. Regardless, I was suggesting that it was "unsurprising" behavior.

However, mostly I just wanted to post that quote because I think it is funny.

He threw the game it wasn't sore loser, moping about it , was the best coverup he could come up with for making sure the Broncos won.

Zombie wrote:

And they had the stop when Manning airmailed the 3rd down pass and the ref called holding on an uncatchable ball.

Holding is holding, whether it is a catchable ball or not. That only applies to pass interference.

Speculatior wrote:

He threw the game it wasn't sore loser, moping about it , was the best coverup he could come up with for making sure the Broncos won.

...yet another butthurt Panthers fan, eh? No one threw the game. The game was not fixed. Carolina was a very, very good team this year. They just had not encountered a defense like Denver before. The Broncos defense this year will probably go down in NFL history as one of the greatest defenses of all time. If you watched most of the Broncos games this season you could've easily predicted the super bowl outcome.

The faux Newton presser controversy is a good study in how the media works (or doesn't work) nowadays. A lot of ink spilled about not much of anything.

I liked Barry Sanders, who just handed the ball to the ref after scoring. When you're in that school, it's hard to embrace Cam, even though I respect his talent and what he brought to the game this year. I don't much like Manning either, never have. He has always gotten something of a pass from the media, and does now especially because of the retiring hero narrative.

But I guess it's harder to write the real storyline: Uninspiring aging QB who probably took steroids gets carried by his defense to a Super Bowl victory, which he probably won't remember 17 years from now when his CTE kicks in.

Showboating QB fails to back up his talk when it matters most, refuses to play the prescripted post-game farce of talking up the other team, and then wonders why the hacks have a go at him. It will be interesting to see whether Cam gets better next year, or if this is as far as he goes.

None of that matters. He is a football player, a quarterback and that is what he is measured as. In no universe is he the best qb in the NFL.

Not

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