This morning I was skimming my way through yesterday's paper (don't judge...Wednesday is a very long and full day for me) and I found myself flipping pages in the sports section. On page 6D there is a column which highlights quotes and tweets from athletes and the first one read as follows:
"You show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser. If you want me to conform, I'm not that guy. ...I am my own person. I take pride in that." -Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, addressing criticism about him giving terse answers and walking out of his post-Super Bowl news conference
My first thought? Good for him.
I don't follow football extremely closely, although I am a Buffalo Bills fan and watch their games whenever I'm home on a Sunday afternoon. But I do know that Newton has ruffled a lot of feathers in his NFL career due to his attitude. I also know that he was very short with his answers, not going in to details, and overall seemed depressed and down after the Super Bowl. Well, pardon my language, but no shit Sherlock.
Picture this: you're a young quarterback who in just a short time has managed to help get your team to the biggest game perhaps in all sports (at least in the US). You did the best that you could but your offense, the guys literally standing next to and in front of you on the field, just could not get past the Broncos defense. Maybe you're disappointed in yourself because you start going over every play, wondering what you could have done to be better. Should I have passed there instead of handing off? Should I have aimed for another receiver? Should I have run here when I realized nobody was open? I've never played football, but I can certainly imagine what must go through a player's head after a loss. As an actor I've done that countless times with roles, wondering if I should've said a line differently or gone at the script or character a different way. I also know what it feels like to lose, and it isn't good. Even now, I'm likely to feel depressed and to start thinking of ways I could've done better and been mad at whoever won, convinced they were cheating or I didn't get a fair shot. And I'm not paid to win.
So who are we to expect Cam Newton to go before the press the same night as his biggest loss and be gracious? Do we want it? Yes, of course we do. Because we hold our celebrities up to higher, and at times impossible, standards. We want them to be better than us. We want them to react the way we wouldn't in a situation. We want them to be more than human. We want them to be one dimensional, always happy and calm and gracious no matter what. And we are so quick to rip them apart when they act like the rest of us. Just because someone's face is on a magazine cover or a TV screen it does not make them better. Different, yes, but not necessarily better.
I think back to when I was 26, the age Newton is now. Perhaps part of his reaction comes with his age. I react differently to situations now at 37 then I did 11 years ago. Maybe in 10 years Newton will be able to sit down at a post-Super Bowl conference as the QB of the losing team and be able to answer questions calmly and graciously. And maybe not. But it's not up to us to judge his reaction based on how we think he should react. I applaud him for always being true to himself, even if it's not what people want out of him. In a world where too many of us are quick to compare ourselves to others and to react to situations the way we think we "should", it's refreshing to see somebody who isn't afraid to put himself out there as himself. We don't have to like it, but we should respect it.
Cam Newton, you do you, boo. Congrats on making it to the Super Bowl (did I mention I'm a Bills fan and it's getting hard to remember when it last happened for us?) and it was a tough loss. Good luck next season and keep on being you. Because at the end of the day, no matter how many Super Bowl rings we have, we still have to live with ourselves knowing we were true to who that was no matter what.
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