Bell: Newton shouldn’t be backtracking,
After making bold statement, star QB shouldn’t backtrack
Nobody makes a statement quite like Cam Newton.
After arriving on the scene for Super Bowl 50 with the flaming Versace skinny jeans seen around the world, the Carolina Panthers quarterback made another riveting fashion statement during his first media appearance Monday.
Newton wrapped a Super Bowl towel around his head, knotted from behind for a bandana look.
Like the black-and-gold patterned jeans flamboyant Hall of Famer Deion Sanders called “must-win pants,” the headdress screamed Look at me! No doubt, Newton — with his
GQ ensembles, Magic Johnson smile and scintillating talent — embodies a strong non-verbal message of supreme confidence with his style.
Yet the aftermath of the statement Newton made last week — when he declared his exuberant celebrations, including the dab, rub some people the wrong way because they fear an AfricanAmerican quarterback — says something else about the iconic entertainer.
Newton, 26, has followed up his bold statement by ... backtracking.
Having ignited debate about the hideous perceptions and snap judgments that still permeate through our society, Newton now maintains it was all a misunderstanding. He insisted his pointed comments were misconstrued and it wasn’t about race. Huh? “I understood what he was trying to say,” former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart told USA TODAY Sports. “But he said it from an emotional place and wanted people to understand that his style is different than everybody else’s.
“It’s like, ‘Even African Americans before me didn’t do it like this. I’m going to be me, whether you like it or not.’ But, of course, him saying what he said got him pinned up against the wall.”
Stewart, in the media throng as an analyst for digital content app TuneIn, can relate to Newton better than most, given his chapter in the history of AfricanAmerican quarterbacks. To get his shot as Steelers quarterback in the 1990s, he morphed from a wide receiver and “Slash” role.
It’s hardly lost on Stewart that Newton’s presence marks the fourth consecutive Super Bowl with an African-American quarterback, which underscores the opportunities now compared to, say, the first one I covered, Super Bowl XXII in 1988, when Washington’s Doug Williams became the first African-American quarterback to start in the game.
When Russell Wilson appeared in the past two Super Bowls and Colin Kaepernick played in the one before that, their race was barely a story line.
Newton’s case, though, is about cultural acceptance — and why his dabbing and other forms of expression are used as polarizing fuel more than Aaron Rodgers’ discount double-check or Tom Brady’s head-butting ever was.
“Take that style with the smile and swagger, and people think it’s cockiness,” Stewart said, “when all he’s doing is having fun.”
There are surely more critical racial issues to be examined in our society than Newton’s persona. But given the spotlight on the NFL and the manner in which sports traditionally have inspired conversation, if not change, in society, it strikes me as fair game for discussion against the Super Bowl backdrop.
Maybe Newton doesn’t have the stomach to further engage, given the pending challenge against the Denver Broncos. Then again, my guess is that someone with serious clout within the Panthers hierarchy might have advised Newton to alter his message, given the huge stage of this milestone event.
“The truth of the matter is, when they see more of me, I need not have to explain myself,” Newton said Monday. “What am I trying to say, the more that they get me, it becomes easier to digest.”
Maybe so, but I wouldn’t bet on that.
See, deciphering Camspeak is a sport of its own.
Talking about his decision to roll to the Bay Area with his loud (and cool) jeans, he said, “It’s Super Bowl 50. The mantra ... or the colors, are black and gold.” Mantra? When someone asked if his maturity on the field was the result of more time spent in the film room, he said, “I can’t necessarily take that type of credit, because I think that would be a crusade answer.” Say what? Listen up folks. Newton, who likely will be named the league’s MVP this week, is a phenomenal athlete who fashions himself as Superman, able to leap across the goal line in a single bound. He’s the emerging face of the NFL.
And he’s also, as one pundit nailed, the Yogi Berra of our time.
Charismatic Newton, who went back to Auburn during recent offseasons to complete requirements for a degree in sociology, needs to know better. Credibility is a good thing. Sure, the scrutiny is intense. Newton undoubtedly welcomes that as part of being The Man.
He has a great platform, a pedestal on top of the nation’s most popular sport that will expand with Super Bowl exposure.
Yo, Cam: Your words can make a difference and ignite firestorms.
Be yourself.
That’s one of the messages we keep hearing from the Panthers and their wonderful, pragmatic coach, Ron Rivera.
The problem is making a bold statement while being yourself, then backtracking as if everyone took the message the wrong way.