Let’s be honest Superman doesn’t have a lot of problems.
Kryptonite and that is about it, yeah his planet blew up, but he was a baby, not like he remembered it. His Superpowers are so far and beyond anyone else, he basically can’t be stopped.
That pretty much describes Cam Newton’s MVP season. He was on another level, a superhuman level. He even said it himself, there is no one to compare him to and that makes people uncomfortable.
But, even Superman slips up from time to time and the Broncos brought ALL the kryptonite to Super Bowl 50.
Cam did not have a good game, he didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers, offensive line and running backs. Besides a couple of spectacular catches, the Panthers played their worst game of the season. Penalties, fumbles, bad protection, bad blocking, INT, drops, special team breakdowns and probably some more things I am not remembering.
Superman doesn’t handle things well when things go bad.
Panthers Cam Newton barely answered questions and here he exits pic.twitter.com/eNMDpv2sQH
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) February 8, 2016
To keep it 100, even if the questions are dumb (which they were) and you just lost the Super Bowl, you should be professional and hang around to answer them. Thomas Davis, Luke Kuechly and others Panthers did. For those that already don’t like Cam Newton this just gives them more fuel for their fire of hate (for those who just legitimately didn’t like it and have nothing personal against Cam I am not referring to you). Cam isn’t fake, when he is happy he is really happy, but when things doesn’t go his way he doesn’t hide that he is hurting.
This is why I think Cam should look to another Superhero for guidance.
Spider-Man is the opposite of Superman in a lot of ways, the biggest is that things don’t always go his way, but in the end he remembers regardless of how bad it gets for him personally, there are bigger things going on.
Let me preface this by saying being a black american means that you should be able to be the person you are and never have your “blackness” questioned.
I am using comic book analogies to do a story on the Super Bowl does that make me any less black than anyone else?
It doesn’t matter if you are Russell Wilson, Steph Curry, Larry Fitzgerald, Kobe, Jordan, LeBron or whoever, we are all black, you can’t hide from that fact. Society shouldn’t separate black athletes or black people by who makes them more comfortable.
What you can’t ignore is that certain athletes seem to CONNECT more with the black community. I believe that the ones that are shun by some in white america, black people want to root more for.
That is why people loved Allen Iverson and Michael Vick. It is why they love Cam Newton, because he doesn’t feel the need to make people feel comfortable, if you are uncomfortable with him, that is your problem not his.
But, with that comes great responsibility, because you become bigger than your sport. You are bigger than football, you are carrying the culture on your shoulders. Culture isn’t just about black people, but anyone who embraces that culture, those people look up to Cam as their role model.
When Cam lost tonight, seeing the reactions from people, you could tell that culture felt like they lost too. Even though the Broncos have a bunch of brothers on the their team it didn’t matter, Cam was the culture’s quarterback and it hurt to see him lose especially to a QB that fits what prejudice people feel a QB should be (White pocket passer). Doesn’t matter if Peyton had a horrible game, he still was the one who got to hold up the trophy.
Cam is hurting right now, when you been Superman all your life, never lost a championship game, you might not react the proper way, but he has to be like Spider-Man and realize life is always going to throw you challenges.
Peter Parker is always losing something, but it is those losses, that strengthens his will to keep going out there regardless if people hate him or the Daily Bugle writing trash about him, because he knows in his heart he is doing good.
Uncle Ben is dead, Aunt May rent is due, 1st love was thrown off a bridge and died, life throws some curveballs at you.
Cam will show what he is really made of by how he comes back from this and just like Spidey I think he is going to be ok.