Cam Newton is the brash quarterback for the Super Bowl-bound Carolina Panthers. He’s also probably going to win the NFL MVP this season, and his remarkable physical gifts combined with his position as an outspoken leader for a one-loss team has also made him a magnet for controversy. Specifically, those Americans who might be scared by an empowered black man usurping a position normally filled by a man sporting a complexion closer to their own. But it’s Cam’s on-field dominance that led one reporter to ask him about being the LeBron James of the NFL. Well, Cam’s response will of course be treated as just a whimsical bit of bravado by Newton. No way football and basketball fans overreact.
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Yes, LeBron has two titles and he’s steamrolled the Eastern Conference every year for the last half decade — the first player to do so since Russell’s Celtics in the 1960s. Yes, Cam has never played in the Super Bowl and has yet to even approach the hardware James has collecting dust somewhere in his Akron home. And yes, James was a can’t-miss prospect who had scouts and analysts drooling when he came straight out of high school in 2003, while Cam was considered a risk by many — despite going No. 1 overall — and the whispers about his maturity continued even after an impressive rookie campaign. But Cam is polarizing in a way James can understand, and Newton was just trying to turn a rather hackneyed question — not the fault of the reporter, that’s what media day is for — on its head.
Before LeBron fans and Cam haters fly into a fit of rage, remember that if Cam wins on Sunday, he’ll be one up on James. LeBron, if you don’t recall, lost his first two appearances in the Finals before finally reaching the top of the NBA mountain in 2012.
Plus, back when ‘Bron teamed up with Dwayne Wade’s Heat in the summer of 2010, it was Wade who was mimicking Cam that first season they played together.
