Is Cam Newton's history's greatest monster for not putting on a happy face after Super Bowl 50?

Shocker: I wear my heart on my sleeve. As Squawker Jon would say, all you need to do if you know me in real life to sense my mood is to look at my face! I can't hide my emotions, whether happy or sad or angry. So I have great empathy for other people who also wear their heart on their sleeve. Especially when they are professional athletes. Thus, my affinity for Cam Newton.

In addition, pretty much nothing makes me happier than when I have something to crusade about -- especially when it goes against conventional wisdom. And especially when it involves sports. Call me the president of the "He's Not Bad, He's Just Misunderstood" school of athletes. After all, so much of our perceptions of sports stars are based on what the media tells us. And the journalists have their own biases and agendas. (As do I, but at least I'm up front about them!)

So I have to admit to rubbing my hands with glee this afternoon, ready to take on the post-Super Bowl Cam Newton controversy! I did feel bad for Newton after his and the Carolina Panthers' ignominious defeat in Super Bowl 50. Think about the worst defeat of your life -- getting dumped, getting fired, getting humiliated -- only in front of hundreds of millions. Oh, and having to talk about your feelings just 30 minutes later, and answer question after question on it. And if you don't act like a phony, and put on a happy face, people will call you a sore loser. Come to think of it, if you do put on a happy face, then people will think you don't care. (Ask Jay Cutler about that!)

True, that's what athletes get the big bucks for, but let's not forget that they are human, too. And although I do think Newton should have stayed longer at his postgame press conference, just because these reporters get mad if they don't all get to ask questions, I can understand the way the Panther felt. Heck, I was miserable myself after the game, and I'm just a fan on the couch! I can also get the notion of walking away before saying something you regret. I have also had to do that a time or two in my life!

What kills me, though, is the way the media acts like Newton's some sort of phony now. Wow, somebody who gets excited and jubilant during good times looks completely miserable during adversity. Shocking, I know! What, did we expect stoicism? Especially given that Newton could hear Denver player Chris Harris over the partition of Newton's own presser talking about beating him. (Thanks to my friend Brent for the tip on that video!)

As Scott Gustin of Tribune Broadcasting aptly put it, Newton acted like one of us fans would:

You scream at your team, tear off your jersey and threaten a kicker over a missed field goal. Cam dabs when he scores touchdowns, collapses on the sideline when his team loses and is unable to put on a happy face immediately after a devastating loss. He has highs and lows, just like you. And like all fanatics, his highs are the highest and his lows are the lowest.

One of the many writers who criticized Newton was Chris Chase of Fox Sports. Chase insinuated Newton was a fake because he was so unhappy talking after the loss. "That laughing, smiling, carefree quarterback we've watched all season?" Chase wrote. "Evidently he was just an act, a byproduct of an undefeated record and an easy schedule." He also called the QB "childish, sulking" and "petulant."

Then Chase says that Newton should have...pretended not to be so miserable, even though he acknowledged that the QB's "attitude, while untoward, is the kind a fallen champion needs to get back up off the mat." But Chase thinks he should have faked it:

"No one expected much from him, the same way they don't expect much from any losing quarterback. Put on some clothes, walk out, answer some stupid questions by expounding on the concept of 'we played hard but they played better' and then get out of there. He could have been in front of reporters for the same three minutes, but if he had given real answers, looked them in the eyes and didn't act like it was the greatest burden of his life to be sitting there at that exact moment, he wouldn't have the PR disaster that's currently befalling him."

Funny thing is, though. Chase had no problem when another quarterback was miserable after a big loss. When Peyton Manning lost to Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, and left the field without shaking Brees' hand (let it be noted that Newton congratulated Manning and shook his hand), Chase wrote the following:

"Walking off the field without congratulating Drew Brees may go against our misguided notion of what sportsmanship should be, but it wasn't at all disrespectful or bitter. It shows how much Peyton Manning wanted to win the game. And who can argue about that?"

Chase also wrote then that "the great ones make their job their passion. Hall of Fames don't tend to include guys who can't care. The desire to win is what sustains greatness." He also said then, "The great ones are competitors and competitors can't flip a switch immediately after a devastating loss and act like it didn't matter." You mean like how Cam Newton looked like this after losing Super Bowl 50? Just saying!


Give me Newton's real reaction over the most devastating loss of his career -- even if he looked like a hot mess up there -- over Peyton Manning's promoting binge drinking Budweiser (!) twice after the game. Here's what the legendary QB said when asked by CBS' Tracy Wolfson if he were going to retire:

"I’ll take some time to reflect. I’ve got a couple of priorities first. I want to go kiss my wife and my kids. I want to go hug my family. I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight, Tracy, I promise you that."

Yes, folks, those are Peyton's priorities:

1) Kissing his wife and kids
2) Hugging his family
3) Drinking a lot of Budweiser

And Cam Newton is the bad role model here, according to the media, and some of the fans out there?
Really?

Manning, who also mentioned Budweiser while on the podium after the game, and on TV the next morning, just happens to have an ownership stake in two Anheuser-Busch distributorships in Louisiana. So that was about as calculated a mention as the way he was shown drinking Gatorade in the locker room (with a ton of bottles around him) when he was introduced as a Super Bowl MVP during that pre-game ceremony.

And really, let's face it. You're a millionaire many times over. You just won the Super Bowl. And with all of the great craft brews out there, you're going to drink Budweiser? That's about as tasteless as kissing Papa John on the field after the game!

Can you imagine if Newton had won the Super Bowl and done what Manning did? Do you think it might have been a little controversial? I sure do. I also think that if Manning had lost, and had the same reaction as Newton did, the media would be talking about much he cares. You know, the way Chris Chase did in the quotes I posted above. Shocking, I know!

Anyhow, I know I'm biased in favor of Newton. I am honest about that. If only the media would admit to their bias against Newton, and in favor of Manning.

Why I'm rooting for Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50 -- and why you should, too!

I am basically a free agent football fan. I root for both the Giants and the Jets, but I am not a fan of them the way I am the Yankees. And, of course, I hate the New England Patriots with every fiber of my being!

Me dabbing before the Gridiron 4 Mile
 running race in honor of Cam Newton.

This year, I've been rooting for Cam Newton and the Carplina Panthers (Cam was my workplace fantasy football team's MVP, and got me into the playoffs. I ended up losing in the finals during the week of the Panthers' sole loss, but I wouldn't have made the postseason -- or gotten my second-place victuory -- if it weren't for Newton.)

Anyhow, I'm very excited about the Panthers this year for the Super Bowl -- about as excited as I can be on any game that doesn't involve the New York teams (or rooting against the Patriots!) I think Newton is the best, most dynamic, and most interesting player in the NFL right now. It's been fun to watch him grow up and become a leader. Who couldn't like him giving the game ball to little kids in the stands, too? I also like his positive attitude, his million-dollar-smile, and his dabbing and dancing, too. And I don't understand why some are against it.

What do we always hear about sports? That they're playing a kids' game. So what's wrong with acting with the joy of a kid? Why was it okay for Brett Favre to act like a kid out there, as broadcasters always said about him? Or for Aaron Rodgers to do the wrestling belt move after touchdowns (the move that became the Discount Double Check)? But Newton gets criticized for dancing? Really?

And yes, I do think the criticism is, at least partially, a racial thing (and a cultural thing.) As Tony Gonzalez said on CBS Sports, Peyton Manning is George Strait, and Cam Newton is Jay-Z. Some people prefer black athletes to be humble (or to at least act humble, like Derek Jeter) and to be quiet. They don't like the brashness of Newton. They also don't understand what the dabbing or the "hit dem folks" dance moves are all about. Me, I love it!

Incidentally, Newton has gotten way more grief for showing joy at a game than Peyton Manning has for being named in a PED scandal. (Even the Washington Post reporting that Manning's goon squad showed up at that pharmacist's parents home has been greeted with radio silence from the mainstream media. Not to mention that Peyton has admitted to that Al-Jazeera report saying that his wife did get a shipment from that anti-aging clinic. My friend Eric Wilbur of the Boston Globe notes the hypocrisy in this issue, and he's right that if this were Tom Brady, it would be a much bigger story. Many people's outrage over PEDs is based on who is doing them!)

Anyhow, back to Newton. Human emotion -- whether it be Carlton Fisk motioning for his home run to go fair, or George Brett having a meltdown, or Jose Bautista flipping his bat in the playoffs -- is what makes sports interesting. So what's wrong with Newton enjoying doing well, and having fun out there? He's earned it!

This is a great matchup tonight between one legend, and the best player in the game today. Here's hoping that in the battle between Denver's Sheriff and Carolina's Superman, that No. 1 is No. 1 at the end of the game. Go Panthers!

P.S. I am hoping the game ends with a 6-9 Broncos/Panthers score, or a  0-0 or 7-7 score for the last digits. That's because I'm in a $250 winner-take-all office pool in which those are my digits!

Super Bowl Sunday: Black Curtains for Jet Fans

Nothing will be as bad for me as the Yankees-Phillies World Series in 2009, but I've been avoiding dealing with this Super Bowl as much as possible. And it's not because I can't stomach the thought of either team's fans celebrating and laughing at the Jets. It's because those other teams and their fans have good reason to lord it over Gang Green.

After three years of Rex Ryan guaranteeing that a Super Bowl team would come out of the Meadowlands, he turns out to be right, except that it's not his team. But Ryan's big mouth isn't the worst thing about a potential Giants title. It's the Jets staff's classless covering up the Giants' Super Bowl logos outside their locker room with black curtains before their December game.

Hard to believe that just a few months ago, the Jets seemed to be the local team on the rise. Everyone wanted to play for Ryan, while Tom Coughlin's job looked to be in jeopardy. Jets' GM Mike Tannenbaum was the aggressive wheeler-dealer who quickly built a contender, while Giants GM Jerry Reese was too passive in the wake of the lockout.

Now nobody seems to enjoy being in the Jets' poisonous clubhouse. And players Tannenbaum got rid of for nothing (Steve Weatherford, Danny Woodhead, James Inhedigo, Shaun Ellis) are now contributing to Super Bowl teams. It's particularly frustrating when legendary Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff goes out of his way to criticize Weatherford, who ends up being a key part of the Giants' playoff run.

At least it figures to be a good game, and now that Super Bowl Sunday is here, I'm actually looking forward to it.

Because once the football season is over, it's almost time for the unveiling of the 2012 Mets.

Now there's somethning that should be covered in black curtains.

Is A-Rod Being a Diva or Not Over The Popcorn Incident?

I wrote Monday about the goofy-looking clip of Cameron Diaz feeding Alex Rodriguez popcorn at the Super Bowl. But the story doesn't end there.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, A-Rod was not happy about Fox cameras catching them at that moment. Bill Zwecker claims that "Alex Rodriguez wanted to slug a few folks after he spotted himself and his girlfriend Cameron Diaz being shown to the 111 million people watching the game."  His story quoted an anonymous source saying:

“He really went ballistic — thinking the cameraman was out to get them in a paparazzi-like shot. … That’s so crazy,” said my source. “Anyone who knows anything about producing a live sports event — especially something as huge as the Super Bowl — would know that those celebrity shots are purely random.

“A-Rod, of all people, should know that.”

A few points:

* Zwecker's prose is more than a little overwrought here. A-Rod "wanted to slug a few folks"? Really? I don't doubt that he was ticked off over being caught on camera in that awkward shot. But that doesn't translate into physical violence. I know the Sun-Times is a tabloid, but still. Does anybody really think A-Rod would punch somebody over this? Come on now.

* The writer fails to mention that none other than broadcaster Joe Buck himself commented at the time the clip was shown that Rodriguez wouldn't be happy with the image, implying that anybody would be embarrassed at being caught at that particular moment.



* The columnist's source is very disingenuous in saying that "A-Rod, of all people, should know that” regarding the way live events are filmed.  A-Rod, of all people, should know that the media loves to make him look stupid. Is it possible that the camera just happened to catch Rodriguez at that moment? Of course. But it's just as plausible that the camera was filming him for a while the way the paparazzi do, waiting for the "perfect" shot to make him look ridiculous. Why is that "crazy," to use the source's words? This is Fox, not PBS, after all.

* It was unclear when Fox ran its clip as to whether it was live or on tape. Granted, as my brother noted to me, it doesn't take long for Alex to do something dopey. But call me a little skeptical over the idea that the camera just happened to catch him at that moment only. Fox uses a ton of things on tape during "live" broadcasts, as we've seen when they'll be interviewing a manager "live" on the field, only to see him get thrown out of the game at the very same time he's shown in an interview (I think that happened with Ozzie Guillen a few years ago.)

* At the same time, Rodriguez has to know that when you go to a high-profile event like the Super Bowl, with a movie star on your arm, chances are that you're going to be on camera. If you don't want to get caught looking awkward with Cameron Diaz feeding you popcorn, then don't let her feed you popcorn.

* At any rate, the fact that this story has become such a big deal shows how everything involving A-Rod gets blown out of proportion. This isn't exactly Charlie Sheen on a wild night out, or Lindsay Lohan at the jewelry store. A-Rod did absolutely nothing illegal or immoral. As I noted Monday, he's sitting at the Super Bowl, with a movie star on his arm.  That "should have been a real coup for Alex," I wrote, but instead it's turned into a punch line. Which invariably happens when A-Rod is involved!

Squawker reader Symphony decried the attention to this incident, saying:

Sorry, but I continue to believe what one focuses on, criticizes, has a problem with, etc. says just as much about them as the object of their feelings.

The focus on this moment has been silly.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

A-Rod and Cameron Diaz (and Popcorn) at the Super Bowl: Most Unromantic Gesture Ever?

One of the things I find oddly endearing about Alex Rodriguez is his terminal awkwardness. Even when he's doing something that should be totally cool, he still manages to look goofy. It kind of humanizes him, in a weird way. And no matter what he does, somebody will always, always, bring up Derek Jeter and say that Jeter would never do whatever A-Rod did.

Like when A-Rod was sitting in a luxury box at the Super Bowl last night with Cameron Diaz feeding him popcorn. That should have been a real coup for Alex, but it ended up causing snickers and snarky remarks. For one thing, she fed him the popcorn the way I had to feed my late cat C.C. a pill when she was sick. And A-Rod looked about as pleased as C.C. did, which is to say, not at all.

And what was up with Alex's very awkward hand placement? Not a good look, dude.

Anyhow, I wrote about it on Facebook last night, and it didn't take long before somebody to note that Derek Jeter would never put himself in a position like that. You mean having a movie star cater to his every whim? I dunno about that. But the awkwardness, I grant you, would not be there. But at the same time, people are not fascinated by Jeter the same way they are Alex. The captain doesn't sell the newspapers that A-Rod does.

However, the other kind of tabloids -- the supermarket gossip ones -- aren't interested in either Jeter or A-Rod. In the Rodriguez-Diaz partnership, she is the one the scandal sheets focus on, not Alex. I was thumbing through Life & Style a few weeks back, and they ran that pic of the two of them vacationing in Mexico, with Cameron paddleboarding, while A-Rod was relaxing. And they cut the top half of him out of the photo. Harsh!

Anyhow, here's the video from the Super Bowl. It also cracks me up that Joe Buck mentions John Madden before noting that George and Laura Bush were at the game.

Call Him Mayor Jinx! Mike Bloomberg sez Jets are going to the Super Bowl

Oh, great. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the person who jinxed the Yankees' ALCS chances by yakking on his radio show about planning the World Series parade, has done it again. Today, on his weekly WOR radio show, Bloomy said that the Jets are Super Bowl-bound:

"The Jets are going to the Super Bowl. You heard it from me. The Bloomberg prediction,"the mayor said during his radio show.

In an article about Bloomy's comments, the New York Post compares him to Joe Namath guaranteeing that the Jets would win Super Bowl III. Oh, please. As if.

And by the way, even Broadway Joe in his "I want to kiss you, Suzy" phase could have had enough sense not to talk up going to a Broadway show, when most of the city's streets were rendered impassible thanks to the city's ineptness during last month's blizzard.

It wasn't enough that Bloomberg jinxed the Yankees with his parade-planning talk (and besides, what the heck was he talking about regarding planning a parade route. It's called the Canyon of Heroes for a reason -- the ticker tape parades do the same route every time!) Now he's done it with the Jets.

Yeah, yeah, I know I also predicted that the Jets would be going to the Super Bowl -- and even went as far to say they would win -- but I at least was right when I went out on a limb to say that the Giants would beat the Patriots in a Super Bowl. When has Bloomy ever been right on his sports predictions?

I'll let Jet fan Squawker Jon have the last word. He sez that the fact that both myself and Bloomberg think the Jets are Super Bowl-bound shows that we aren't really Jets fans. And given the worrisome comments I've seen from Gang Green fans on the blog over the past week, he might have a point!

What do you think? Tell us about it!