Cam Newton knows he was a sore loser after walking out of his post-Super Bowl press conference. Everybody who watched it knows that. The issue at hand is whether it was a big deal to you personally, and if it was going to be a major hurdle in explaining what happened to your children because “class” and whatnot.
But now we have a better insight into Newton’s thought process now that a couple of months have passed. Via ESPN, Newton explained in an interview with Ebony magazine that he simply wasn’t done processing what happened in the loss to the Broncos:
“Who is anyone to tell me, ‘Man, it’s just an interview’?” Newton asked. “You haven’t been in that situation. You didn’t have millions of people watching you. Your heart wasn’t pumping [with] the embarrassment or the anxiety of the stress of dealing with that type of game.
“I just wasn’t ready to talk. Was I mad? Hell, yeah! But there could have been a better way to control it, and that’s why I think having more time would have helped.”
Newton reiterated that he could have handled the situation better. “I represent something way bigger than myself,” Newton said in the interview. “I’m doing it for [my fans and family] and I felt like I let them down.” Unless he’s mastered saying the “right things,” it appears Newton really has grown from the experience.
Still, the most interesting part is usually the most honest, and Newton was honest by saying he just wasn’t interested in pleasing people after suffering the biggest loss of his career.
Nearly three months later, I’m not sure anyone can still blame him for feeling that way, regardless of how it came out in his post-game presser.
Newton’s moved on, but there are people out there who clearly haven’t. If you’re going to take jabs at professionalism, Newton’s relentless critics might actually be a good place to start.
