Cam Newton Needs a Time Out

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The childish behavior -- and that is an insult to people who act childishly -- that Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton exhibited in his press conference following Super Bowl 50, where he couldn't back up his talk and was soundly defeated by the solid defense of the Denver Broncos -- needs to be addressed. I believe that it is incumbent on Carolina Panthers fans to stand up and call Cam Newton on his shameful behavior. He is not the first quarterback to lose the Super Bowl; in fact, if that number is correct, he's the fiftieth QB to lose the Super Bowl. The other 49 didn't act like that, and some of them had their lunches, dinners, midnight snacks, and two weeks' worth of grocery orders handed to them in defeat! For instance, the former quarterback of the winning team, Mr. John Elway, took two of the worst beatings in Super Bowl history (losing 42-10 to Washington in 1988 and 55-10 to San Francisco in 1990). He didn't act that way in his postgame interviews; rather, he congratulated the opposing team on being the better team. I've read people say that it's "wrong" to ask someone who's just lost such a big game to do an interview immediately after losing the game, but I disagree. This is a long-standing practice. Phil Mickelson has no trouble going to press conferences after he shoots a 78 in the PGA Championship (something he's only done twice in his career) and acting like a gentleman. In 1990 the Duke Blue Devils were trounced by UNLV (30 points) in the NCAA Championship, adding more fuel to the fire that coach Mike Krzyzewski couldn't "win the big one." Despite the fact that his team was stomped into the ground and the media had 100 questions, 99 of which involved "when are you going to get this monkey off your back of not being able to win the NCAA tourney" (the answer to that question: the next year, 1991, when Duke beat UNLV in the Final Four rematch then defeated Kansas) Coach K went to the press conference and was gracious, polite, congratulated the other team (that was later found to be in violation of countless NCAA rules), and patiently answered the questions about "what went wrong" in that game...and the games he'd lost in 1989, 1988, and 1986. (The post script: today, Coach K is the winningest mens' basketball coach in history, with [as of this writing -- they're playing tonight] 1,034 victories AND FIVE national titles.) World Series managers talk after games, no matter how soundly they're trounced. Terry Collins, the New York Mets' manager, didn't give sulking, one-word answers after losing the World Series four games to one with a 7-2 thrashing in the final game. And in the National Hockey League, the players, managers, and coaches shake hands after the playoff series end. No, Cam Newton was totally unprofessional. He shamed his team, his city, and his fans. And those fans need to tell him to GROW UP.