Cam Newton isn’t backing down from his behavior after losing the Super Bowl.
Newton spoke at the Carolina Panthers’ exit interviews on Tuesday, and naturally, his behavior in the wake of the team’s Super Bowl defeat was questioned. Newton had a rather sharp retort to his critics.
“I’ve been on record to say I’m a sore loser,” Newton said Tuesday, via Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer. “Who likes to lose? You show me a good loser and I’m going to show you a loser.”
It was just part of a wider response Newton gave when asked if he had any regrets as to how he handled his postgame press engagements on Sunday.
“I really don’t. It happened. It happened. I didn’t want to talk to the media at the time and the truth of the matter is I still don’t really want to talk to the media, but at the end of the day, things have to happen. I’ve had a lot of time to go back and play everything back. I’m human. I’ve never once said that I was perfect. I never proclaimed that I was perfect. But at the end of the day, people pick and they do things of that sort, and the truth of the matter is, who are you to say that your way is right? That’s what I don’t understand.
We’ve got all these people who are condemning and saying, ‘Oh he should have done this, that and the third,’ but what makes your way right? I’ve been on record to say I’m a sore loser. Who likes to lose? You show me a good loser and I’m going to show you a loser. It’s not a popularity contest. I’m here to win football games, and for this organization, for Mr. Richardson, for my teammates and for what it’s worth my fans—they know what’s real. And I leave everything else on the field. I prepare the right way.
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For me, nothing’s pretty much going to change. You get what you get.”
Newton also defended himself for not diving for the critical fumble late in the game, saying he didn’t want to injure himself.
“OK. I didn’t get the fumble, but we can play tit for tat,” Newton said. “I’ve seen numerous quarterbacks throw interceptions and their efforts afterwards…they don’t go. I don’t dive on one fumble because the way my leg was, it could have been (contorted) in a way.”
I actually like Newton’s quote about handling defeat, but the fact is there are certain obligations, even in defeat. Newton acknowledged that he’s a bad loser. There’s not much we can do about it. Cam is going to be Cam whether we like it or not, but when your opponent knows that they can play on your emotions and wind up succeeding, you probably need to consider how that affects you.
