The polarization of Cam Newton is the sort of perplexing condemnation that only starts to make sense as you get closer to the sun. Only then can a light be shined on the fact that there really is no escaping racial stereotypes and tone-deaf criticism, even for one of the NFL’s most revered black athletes.
Say hello to the newest New England Patriot.
Less than a week ago, people were debating whether the Patriots planned on tanking the 2020 season with second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham behind center. Suddenly, the same talking heads that spent the last several months burying the Patriots were picking them to win the division. The team’s Super Bowl odds moved from 25-1 to 20-1 after signing Newton.
There’s nothing wrong with having an opinion on the move potentially helping or hurting the Patriots from strictly a football perspective. Newton is a rare athlete with a long injury history, which should create hordes of speculative drama leading all the way up to the start of the season.
Then there are those other arguments aimed at dissecting his character for dabbing and Superman-posing on the football field. The ones hell-bent on dressing down his image for something as trivial as a flamboyant wardrobe at postgame press conferences. The ones eager to bury him for having a personality, while simultaneously giving a pass to players with a lighter skin tone.
Is that close enough to the sun for you?
For months, people have debated Newton being a bad fit in New England due to a potential personality clash with Bill Belichick. Those same individuals were always quick to point to the celebratory antics of the former No. 1 overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, stemming all the way back to his time at Auburn University.
Unsurprisingly, however, none of them had an issue when Rob Gronkowski was cracking “69” jokes at press conferences and openly taunting opponents on the field. The former All-Pro tight end’s antics were generally brushed off as lighthearted fun. He was just a big kid with a personality.
If only the same benefit of the doubt was given to Newton.
Never mind the fact that he is extensively involved in charity work, including owning a foundation aimed at improving the lives of young people. Let’s just close our eyes and pretend that we don’t see him feeding the homeless and holding an annual “Thanksgiving Jam” for hundreds of families in the Charlotte area.
"I. REALLY. REALLY. MISS. YOU!"
Cammy Cam loves the kids 💙 pic.twitter.com/pRlwGe604A
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 26, 2019
We can make believe he was anything less than a great teammate for a Panthers organization that rarely put him in a position to succeed.
But God forbid he busts out a “dab” after scoring a touchdown. How dare he strut into a Superman pose in a competition where he’s playing a game for a living against other larger-than-life personalities. A no-nonsense coach like Belichick wouldn’t stand for such shenanigans, right?
“There’s nothing wrong. In fact, you should be excited when you make a play. Hell, look at all of the work you put into it,” Belichick said in “A Football Life: Bill Belichick,” via For The Win’s Steven Ruiz. “All of the time you spent at practice and put into it. And to go out there in a game, competitively, and execute it well and make a play—you should be excited about it. And your teammates should be excited too.”
The greatest football coach in NFL history has already spoken.
We live in a sports culture where black athletes are consistently called out of character for simply being outspoken.
It’s hard to forget when Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman was called a “thug” — a word thrown around often with racial undertones — on social media for his emotional post-game interview in the 2013 NFC Championship, after making the game-winning play to help seal a victory for the Seattle Seahawks. An everyday rivalry on the football field between a defensive back and receiver was blown up into a black player being compared to a criminal.
Bear in mind, this is the same Richard Sherman that has donated school supplies and cleared thousands of dollars worth of cafeteria debts for public school students.
“Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family,” Sherman said in response to the comments, via TheMMQB.com back in 2014.
Nothing about any of this is surprising in a climate conducive for a black athlete like Colin Kaepernick being blackballed from the NFL for peacefully kneeling in protest of police brutality and racial inequalities during the national anthem. The NFL has since admitted its wrongs in assuming the protest was ever about disrespecting the American flag — all while Kaepernick remains unsigned as a backup in a league with worse quarterbacks starting.
The Newton criticisms haven’t reached those levels of extreme, but that also doesn’t make the racial context of such comments sting any less. If he avoids penalties and plays good football, does it really matter how he celebrates scoring a touchdown?
There are other legitimate concerns as to why the move might not work out. Newton hasn’t played a full season of football in three years, and he sat out 14 games last year with a foot injury. Sure, the Patriots have shown the ability to adjust on the fly with a new quarterback, but it will essentially be a blank slate for them in 2020. Brady isn’t coming back, and their receiving corps doesn’t look any better than it did a season ago.
An argument could even be made that they’ve gotten worse with Phillip Dorsett departing and Julian Edelman turning 34 years old. Newton faces a tall task in learning a whole new offense, developing chemistry with his new teammates and somehow making it work with the same cast that struggled with Brady — while overcoming a long list of injuries and a shortened offseason of actual on-field work.
So many other topics would make for far more compelling talking points. Literally, anything would have been better than the low-hanging fruit of the same closet racial bias.
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