Larry Brown Sports

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was kind enough to join Kiss 95.1 in Charlotte on Wednesday morning to help one of our country’s servicemen take the next step in his life.

A caller named Brian, who serves in the US Air Force and is currently stationed in New Mexico, proposed to his girlfriend over the phone. Typically the over-the-phone proposal is frowned upon, but when you’re serving in the military and get an NFL quarterback to help you pop the question it’s completely acceptable. Newton joined Brian on the line while hosts Drex and Maney got his girlfriend Kim on the phone.

Kim was told that Newton was on the line, which seemed to completely overwhelm her as she’s obviously a huge fan. The Panthers quarterback then informed her that Brian has something he would like to ask her, and the conversation went something like this.

“From the moment I met you, I knew that I loved you, and I knew that I wanted to love you for the rest of my life,” Brian told Kim. “I know when you say something over and over again, it can lose meaning, but every time I say I love you, I mean it, and I want you to be my wife. I want you to marry me.”

Kim eventually said “yes,” but her immediate response after Brian’s proposal was priceless.

“I can’t believe Cam Newton is on the phone,” she said.

Talk about having a lot to take in at once. I recommend listening to the entire audio clip, which can be heard here. This is not the first time an NFL player has helped a fan propose to his girlfriend, but it just may be the most entertaining reaction we have seen.

Photo: Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

Cam Newton has decided to go back to Auburn to work toward finishing his degree this offseason, and it appears he has had no problem acclimating himself to campus life once again. The War Eagle Reader has been closely following Newton’s return to Auburn since the NFL season ended. Earlier this week, we showed you a video of Cam cheering on the Tigers basketball team with the rest of the student section. Apparently that isn’t the only campus activity he is taking part in.

The photo you see above shows Newton playing intramural basketball with some other members of the student body. According to The War Eagle Reader, the team that was supposed to be playing against Newton’s didn’t show so the Panthers quarterback took part in some pick-up games instead.

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Auburn and Alabama may not have the same type of intense rivalry in basketball that they have in football, but a special guest added a spark to the latest meeting between the two teams on Wednesday night. Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton returned to his alma mater and helped cheer the Tigers to a 49-37 win over Bama.

“I wish I knew he was here. I would have put him in the game,” Auburn head coach Tony Barbee joked after the game. “He’s still got some eligibility left. I didn’t know he was here. I didn’t see him.”

I can tell you one guy who did know he was there, and that’s the dude sitting at the scorer’s table whose ear Cam was screaming into. Judging by his reaction, I don’t think he cared that it was an NFL quarterback who was blowing out his eardrum.

If Barbee really wanted to put Newton in the game, he probably could have. This is the SEC we’re talking about. Everything has a price.

H/T War Eagle Reader via The Big Lead for the video

Cam Newton apologized Sunday for bumping official Jerome Boger during the Carolina Panthers’ 17-6 win over the Oakland Raiders, though he was less apologetic for kicking Tommy Kelly in the game.

Newton was steamed after what he likely felt was a late hit from Raiders safety Mike Mitchell in the fourth quarter. Newton got up immediately after being driven into the turf and aggressively stepped to the referee. He likely was trying to make sure Boger would call a penalty for a late hit, but he ended up penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct because he bumped the official.

Boger reportedly said after the game that Newton was penalized for disrespecting him, not for contacting him. He also said the bump was not malicious. Newton apologized for his actions after the game and apologized to Boger.

The second-year quarterback is lucky he wasn’t ejected for making contact with Boger, but he can expect to receive a fine from the league.

Newton also got feisty earlier in the game following a sack by the Raiders. Newton felt Kelly was interfering with him after the play, so he kicked him.

“I was trying to get up. I was trying to get up. … Nothing good happens when you’re at the bottom of a pile. With me looking at the replay I realize it looked like I kicked him but I was just trying to get up as fast as I could and get to the next play. He fell a certain type of way, then he put his hands in my face,” Newton said after the game, per NFL.com.

Mitchell thinks he knows why Newton was upset.

“I don’t think he liked to get hit; he was doing a lot of complaining,” Mitchell said via Paul Gutierrez. “This is full-speed tackle football.”

I have no doubt that Newton kicking Kelly was a natural reaction to whatever was happening to him in that pile, but he has no excuse for bumping the referee. He needs to keep his emotions in check to avoid being penalized. In hindsight, he’s lucky he wasn’t ejected from the game.

The 2012 season has been a trying one for Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. A 6-10 season in 2011 showed signs of promise for Panthers fans, who expected their team to be in playoff contention this year. That has not happened, and much of the blame has fallen on Newton’s shoulders.

Last season, Newton lit up the stat sheet and set a number of NFL rookie quarterback records — both with his arm and legs. His numbers have fallen this season and it has shown in the wins and losses columns. The losses are something Cam says he cares about. The stats? Not so much.

“As far as statistically I could really care less as far as how it’s been going,” Newton told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when discussing this weekend’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. “We play this game for one reason. We are looking forward to playing this game. It’s a division game and we just want to get back in the swing of things.”

As Alex Smith reminded us earlier this season by using Newton as an example, statistics mean very little if you aren’t winning games. That being said, the Panthers drafted Newton to be a game-changer, and game-changers typically put up numbers. The fact that Newton’s numbers are down this season and the Panthers have only won three games is not a coincidence.

Putting up huge numbers but missing the playoffs is pointless, unless you’re simply aiming to make the Pro Bowl. Based on what we heard about Newton’s experience in Hawaii last season, veterans around the league will likely be pleased if he’s not around when the stars get together this year.

Photo: Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

The average NFL rookie would be in awe of a scene like the Pro Bowl. It may not be one of the most highly-rated television events of the year, but the NFL’s All-Star game still brings together the most talented football players in the world and a number of future Hall of Famers.

Last year, Cam Newton was selected to the 2012 NFC Pro Bowl roster after an outstanding rookie season. According to a report from Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com, he walked into Honolulu like he owned the place. And not in a good way.

According to several players in the game, some from both teams, Newton’s standoffish, diva ways made him enemy No. 1 in the eyes of some of the players.

“He was a total —-hole,” one AFC player said. “Who did he think he was? He acted like the big sh–. Here he was at his first game and he acted like he was the star. Guys didn’t like that.”

Another player said a player asked Newton for his autograph — presumably to give to the player’s child — and Newton “big-timed” him by telling him “now’s not the time.” The same player also said he was also disrespectful to 13-time Pro Bowler Ray Lewis.

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Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has been the target of a ton of criticism this season. Much of it has been warranted, some of it has not. Whether or not he deserves the latest heat that ESPN’s Rick Reilly put on him is open for debate.

On Tuesday, Reilly tweeted that Newton held up the Panthers team bus after their win over the Eagles on Monday night — something he also supposedly did earlier in the season while sulking after a loss.

Cam Newton is really quick, until it’s time to get dressed. Took him 54 minutes last night. Then did media. Team waited on bus for 40 mins.

— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) November 27, 2012

Panthers assistant director of communications Steven Drummond took to Twitter on Wednesday to assure people that Reilly’s report is completely fabricated:

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