Where's the joy, Cam?

In the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl 50 (or Super Bowl L, if you insist on roman numerals) the number one topic of debate was Cam Newton.  The problem, in some people’s eyes, was that he played with joy.  He beamed smiles during football games.  He smiled in press conferences.  He danced when he scored touchdowns, and gave little kids footballs.  Some people thought it was impolite for quarterbacks to be so happy, and other people thought these people were racist. 

Now that the Super Bowl is over, I have one question.  Where’s the joy, Cam?

For a player who had spent most of the season smiling and dancing and pretending to be a disrobing Clark Kent, Cam Newton was somber during most of the Super Bowl.  If he wasn’t ebullient during the game, he was downright surly in the mandatory post-game press conference, where he stormed off after only three minutes. 

Why the change in attitude?  What possibly could have caused this dramatic shift in personality?  I’m just guessing here, and I’m not sure, but I would guess that the number one reason for the dramatic personality alteration was that, unlike in 17 games during the season and post-season, the Panthers fell behind quickly and ultimately lost the game.

It’s not so easy to play with joy when you’re being sacked seven times, overthrowing receivers ten times, being forced to fumble near your own end zone twice, and generally being harassed for sixty minutes by the league’s best defense.  My biggest laugh of the game was when crack announcer Phil Simms said, “The Panthers have faced some good defenses this season . . .”  They hadn’t.  They had faced the second easiest collection of defenses any team had faced since the merger.  The Panthers didn’t beat a single team with a winning record during the regular season.  In sum, they were a good team that beat up a bunch of mediocre teams and thought they were invincible.

Do I mean this to be an indictment of Cam Newton?  No.  He’s just a young man who needs to gain experience and eventually even out his emotions.  A few lower highs and some not as low lows.  Wearing his heart on his sleeve isn’t a terrible thing, but it is not productive.  It doesn’t help your teammates when you react so emotionally when things don’t go your way.  You have to realize that just because you go 15-1 doesn’t mean you deserved to go 15-1.  Luck is always involved in any sporting success, and accepting all the credit for success while pouting during adversity just makes you look like a spoiled child.  Hopefully he will learn something called humility.

It's an equation: the more arrogant you are in victory, the more humble you have to be when you lose.  You can’t claim to be invincible and then sulk when you lose.

This reminds me of when some athletes, notable LeBron James and Peyton Manning (!) who have refused to shake hands after a loss, claiming “I’m just too competitive to shake hands.”  That’s just poor sportsmanship, yet athletes try to make it into a positive character trait.  Newton did shake hands with Manning after the Super Bowl, so give him credit for having more class than Peyton had after Super Bowl XLIV when he lost to the Saints and wouldn’t shake Drew Brees’ hand.  Of course no one who loses WANTS to shake their opponents hand; character isn’t built by doing what’s easy.

As an aside, what is Peyton’s legacy, assuming this was his last game?  He will go down as the greatest “regular season” quarterback ever.  That asterisk, “regular season,” has to be present, given his post-season record is one game over .500.  He’ll never be the GOAT, given Montana’s four rings and Brady’s four and counting.  I’m fairly confident the HGH allegations will go away, and even if there is some fire to go with the smoke Peyton is perfectly situated to pull the patented Mark McGuire, “I did it to heal, not to gain an advantage.”  In five years he will be a no-brainer first year HoF inductee.

Maybe he can celebrate by watching Tom Brady win Super Bowl LV against the Panthers, after which Cam Newton will congratulate them during his post-game conference.