Dunlap: Cam Newton Isn't The Bad Guy
Ever have a bad day at work?
Lose that big account?
Miss out on that client that you really wanted to reel in?
The projections, or other numbers, came in and they weren't anywhere near where you would have liked --- or, more important, where your boss would have liked?
It sucks, doesn't it?
You have probably been in no mood to talk; been in dampened spirits and had a diminished sense of happiness and pleasure.
Now imagine being the guy who was supposed to win Super Bowl 50 --- and do it on your powerful right arm and commanding two legs. You were supposed to be the man but wound up being the player the brunt of the blame fell on because you couldn't seem to muster any continuity on offense.
This was supposed to be oh-so easy in the Super Bowl for you. Up and down the field, piercing through that defense that, even with everything said about it, was supposed to have a really hard time stopping you.
But instead it didn't happen that way. No, instead, you and your team played a crummy game that led to a crummy feeling when you had to see the Denver Broncos being crowned as champions.
That's what Cam Newton went through on Sunday night.
He had a terrible day at the office.
Actually, he probably had about the worst day at the office someone in his position could have had.
That's why --- if you will forgive me, please --- I can't find it in me to take this young man to task for what he didn't say in his postgame media availability.
For the one-word answers and the sulking; for the hood pulled up and lack of eye contact and general discontent with which he carried himself before he abruptly bolted, I just won't bury this young man.
If you will forgive me, I can't find it in me to demonize or take a bunch of shots at a guy who is still a relatively young man trying to figure out his path in the National Football League and in his professional life.
Cam Newton had certainly brought a lot of this spotlight on himself with what some people describe as showboating ways, with the manner in which he talked in the run-up to the Super Bowl, with his dabbing and Superman act and a rub-it-in-your-face attitude that surely rubs some the wrong way.
But consider the worst day of your professional career --- and now consider that you probably just wanted to go home and nothing more. Also, consider that Newton did, by definition, fulfill his obligation to the media.
He showed up. He gave answers (albeit short) and he didn't cuss or antagonize anyone.
They asked, he answered. It was as simple as that.
Now also consider when Newton sat down to face the media just after playing what will be a memorable game (for all the wrong reasons) on what had to be the worst day of his professional life, it has been reported he did so with only a thin curtain separating him and Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr.
He could hear Harris rattling on --- and rightly so because his team had won --- about how Newton was afraid of physical play and how the quarterback had been totally shut down by the Denver defense.
That said, perhaps Cam Newton can take a lesson from all of this. He didn't necessarily acquit himself all that well in the postgame news conference and, upon looking back, will try to do things differently moving forward.
But maybe we can all take a lesson from it as well. Maybe, at least just for a few moments, we could put ourselves in Newton's shoes in that situation and think about how down we would have been.
Maybe we wouldn't act the same way he did --- but to me, at least, it's understandable. It's also something I don't think he should be buried for.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
