.Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton seems to polarize football fans more than most current players. David Saunders examines why as he attempts to put his celebrations into perspective.
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Here’s a quick list of things Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has not done this NFL season. These are a handful of the dubious accomplishments of NFL players in the last few years:
- been found guilty of murder
- raped anyone
- punched out his girlfriend in an elevator
- arranged the murder of his pregnant girlfriend
- driven a car while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs
- tested positive to banned substances
- worn purple cleats or a message promoting a cause in his eye black on game day
- worn his socks too low (These last two bullet points don’t serve to trivialize the other transgressions; it’s just that NFL regards them as sufficiently egregious to warrant fining players—so they must be bad)
Here’s a couple of things Cam Newton has done this season:
- won the PFWA’s MVP
- become the first quarterback ever to throw 30 touchdowns (he ended with 35) and rush for 10 in the same season.
- celebrated scoring a touchdown by dancing—in the end zone of an opponent’s home ground
- thrown a flag on the ground—an opponents’ fan club flag, that is; not the Stars and Stripes or the flag of a foreign country.
- attended the birth of his son to his long-term partner.
And yet the man who is one victory away from leading his team to the second Super Bowl appearance in the franchise’s 20-year history, has this past season attracted public opprobrium and media scrutiny worthy of a criminal—or at least a scandal-prone politician or celebrity.
The last three items on the above list have been considered such an affront to “decent” society that they have prompted members of said decent society to write letters to newspapers and television stations to complain about Newton’s lack of respect, decorum, even morals.
‘We Saw It All’
In her now infamous letter published in the Charlotte Observer following the Panthers’ 27-10 win in Nashville last November during which Newton danced in front of a camera after running in a touchdown, Tennessee Titans fan Rosemary Plorin expressed her indignation:
“…[W]e had a close up view of your conduct in the fourth quarter,” she wrote. “The chest puffs. The pelvic thrusts. The arrogant struts and the ‘in your face’ taunting of both the Titans’ players and fans. We saw it all.”
Ms Plorin was so concerned about the effect that Newton’s strutting would have on her nine-year-old daughter that she diverted her attention to the Titans cheerleaders. Apparently the choreographed display by a group of women who train very hard and get paid to…ummm, dance, strut and puff their chests presents less of a moral danger to young eyes than a black man dancing, strutting and puffing his chest.
Last Sunday, Newton incurred the wrath of Seattle fans for throwing a flag on the turf after the Panthers’ 31-24 win over the Seahawks in the NFC divisional playoff. One such fan, identified only as “Sarah” took it personally. Sarah wrote to television station KIRO 7 Seattle condemning the Panthers QB’s behavior, sending Twitter into brief apoplexy.
“So Cam,’’ wrote Sarah, “the next time you think of disrespecting our flag, I hope you remember that even though you may have won this game, it is the Seahawks and the 12th man, who are the real winners. Win or lose we come with class, respect, a love for the game, a willingness to help others, love for God, and love for those surrounding us. So Mr. Classless Cam Newton, good luck and may God teach you what real winning looks like.”
‘The Least He Could Have Done’
Earlier this month, following the low-key announcement (low-key for a pro athlete, anyway) that Newton’s partner Kia Proctor had given birth on Christmas Eve to a son, Chosen Sebastian Newton, the Charlotte Observer saw fit to print letters from readers condemning Newton (and by extension his partner) for having a child out of wedlock.
“Congratulations would be in order if he had been man enough to marry the mother of his child and make a home,’’ tut-tutted Patricia S. Broderick of Mooresville, NC.
A fellow resident of Mooresville, one Thomas Uhl, added: “Cam is a role model to many of our young males, both white and black. The least that he and his longtime girlfriend could have done is to get married prior to giving birth to show his followers that not only is he a superstar, but also a person with high morals.”
As one commentator put it, “these letters…sound like they were written from a rocking chair on a plantation.”
Newton is, lest we get carried away with his youthful charm, no saint. In 2008, while at the University of Florida, he was charged with receiving stolen property after buying a stolen laptop and suspended from the team. In 2010, the NCAA briefly banned Newton after allegations that his father had attempted to solicit a cash payment from Mississippi State University to secure his son’s recruitment, in violation of the NCAA’s amateur rules. He was almost immediately reinstated after investigators found insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
In 2012 during his second pro season, Newton incurred a 15-yard penalty and was subsequently fined $21,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct after making contact with a match official in a game against the Oakland Raiders. He later publicly apologized.
Disproportionate Celebrations
Pro sportsmen are prone to boorishness—football players perhaps more than most. Their jubilation often seems disproportionate to the actual achievement being celebrated. Anyone who’s witnessed the spectacle of defensive lineman strutting around hollering like a lunatic in the face of a quarterback because he’s made a tackle must have wondered whether this moment—significant as it may be in the immediacy of the contest, but ultimately a singular statistic at best—is just the slightest bit of overreaction.
And Newton’s routines are brash and ostentatious and self-evidently provocative—well provocative enough to inspire sniffy letters from opposing fans to newspapers at any rate.
But is his conduct really worthy of the condemnation and abuse he cops? From the footage I’ve watched, he’s less about getting in the faces of opponents and more about interacting with fans. I’ve seen worse, more graceless exhibitions of triumphalism than Newton’s.
His demeanor is typically uninhibited jubilation. He smiles. He looks like a kid who’s been given the keys to the candy store and then told once he’s done, he’s got a limo ride to Toys R Us.
Newton is a showman. Watching the displays that have so enraged opposing supporters, one gets the sense that he is acutely aware he’s paid to entertain people. He looks like he enjoys being in the office, particularly when things go right. The reaction of at least some of his critics suggests the faintest whiff of, how shall I put it, double standards?
Arizona’s Carson Palmer, Newton’s opposite number in this Sunday’s NFC championship game, was cited in December for unsportsmanlike conduct after his pelvic thrust touchdown celebration against Seattle, for which he was subsequently fined more than $11,000. I don’t recall the same level of outrage being directed at Palmer in the aftermath. Certainly he wasn’t widely condemned for being a bad role model.
NFL’s More Pressing Concerns
There’s a lot of things I wish didn’t happen in sports; mostly the relentless commoditization of games by corporations which (understandably) want their pound of flesh for the billions of dollars they kick in for broadcasting rights, for uniform supply deals, for players’ salaries; the obscene amounts of money one must pay to attend regular season games in elite sports, let alone playoffs. And that’s just the on-field grievances.
Off the field, the NFL, more popular with consumers (sorry fans) than ever before, has a multitude of challenging issues it struggles to address with any apparent conviction: the disturbing frequency of domestic and sexual violence involving players, the health risks the game presents to its participants, substance abuse and the long-term welfare of players after their careers are over, to name but a few.
But dancing by jubilant quarterbacks, not so much. Sport has changed. The world is arguably more vulgar, less subtle than it was in days past. But it’s not the 1930s anymore, so we can’t expect a fleeting handshake or a pat on the back as players run back to the bench after scoring.
Frankly, if celebratory dancing is the worst thing fans have to worry about when attending a game where their team doesn’t win, I think we’re in a reasonably good place.
To end, I’ll leave you with this from those well known bad role models Pharrell Williams and Daft Punk, combining shamelessly with the even more terrible influence of Nile Rogers. Watch this and I guarantee you will be gyrating along and becoming a bad role model yourself. You have been warned.
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Photo: Getty Images
I’m a Falcons fan so no doubt I am biased against the Panthers as they are a big rival. I respect what Carolina has done this season, and no doubt Cam has played great. But I’ll give you an example of where all the apologists who say his behavior is just good fun are wrong. Early in the Falcons game in Atlanta, Cam ran for a first down. Nothing special at all, just a scramble for a few yards and out of bounds. Then he proceeds to jog past the bench and over to the opposing fans, where he begins… Read more »
You’re clearly a Panthers fan and don’t mind the fact that Cam is an arrogant, pompous, and cocky player. He’s an amazing talent and hasn’t done some of the horrid things other NFL players have, but that doesn’t give him a right to be an arrogant “in-your-face” asshole that taunts other plays and fans when he makes a good play.
I miss the days when humble athletes played the game. Do you ever remember Bo Jackson, Hershel Walker, Steve Young, or Jerry Rice behaving like that?
Funnily enough I’m a Seahawks fan. Thanks for asking. I agree, in simpler times athletes like those you mentioned just went about their business without the theatrics. My point is, I guess, why is Cam Newton the target of all this abuse? It’s not like he invented touchdown celebrations. It’s not like he’s the only one who does such things and nor is it a recent phenomenon. A contemporary of those you listed was Ickey Woods, famous for his shuffle. People are getting mad and writing in snarky letters to newspapers whose editors lack the ability to look past contrived… Read more »