Cam Newton, MVP of the NFL, face of the NFL walked off the stage after five minutes of a rough press conference following the Super Bowl 50 loss. Moments later (perhaps even as it was happening) the press crucified him. There is a lot of hate towards Newton and how he handled the pressure of the moment. In this case the moment is a press conference–not a game. He’s been called immature and things far worse than that, but I want to write here and now that Cam Newton is a man who was put in a situation where he made the right choice.
Lets say you are sitting feet away from someone who just publicly disgraced you and all you can hear is them talking real loud about exactly how they jacked you up. Meanwhile the world’s press is peppering you with questions about how it felt to get jacked. Add to this the fact that you are a young player (26) who wears his heart on his sleeve and fell embarrassingly short in the most important game of your life. Again, all the press are trying to do in this moment is jab you for emotion and try to get some rational explanation as to why you sucked like that. Now, with all that happening, what do you do?
Cam said all he could say about it and the questions kept multiplying. Eventually the dude had enough of the smack talk and questions and, in a moment of anger, chose to walk away instead of saying something he would regret. Unfortunately, when you are the face of the NFL and walk off the stage, all there can be is regret and apology.
Cam found himself in a no-win situation. Then, after he lost, he found himself in another no-win situation in front of the reporters. Rough night for (by all indications) a really good dude. I’ll be routing for you next year, Cam. That is unless the Giants show up. Then its about them.