After losing Super Bowl 50, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton raised eyebrows by stalking out in the middle of a news conference. Since that night Newton has been called a “sore loser” for his behavior. But the QB now essentially says “so what?” to those accusations.
Immediately after the 24-10 loss to Denver, Newton walked out of a televised post game news availability after taking only a few questions. Newton was visibly annoyed as he sat before reporters giving mostly short answers and after only a few minutes before reporters he stood up, pulled a black hoodie over his head, and stalked out as cameras snapped and reporters shouted questions behind him.
But even as he has been accused of being a sore loser since that night, Newton now reminds everyone he’s called himself a sore loser. So why is everyone so surprised, he asked rhetorically?
“I’ve been on record to say I’m a sore loser,” Newton said in North Carolina on Tuesday. “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.”
Saying “that’s cool,” the player was also seemingly unconcerned if anyone was offended by his actions on Super Bowl night.
Regardless, Newton said he is comfortable with himself over it all.
“But I know who I am,” he told the media, “and I’m not about to conform nor bend for anybody’s expectations because your or anybody else’s expectations will never exceed mine.”
The QB must have been feeling the pressure over his walk out, though, because as ESPN notes he’s never spoken to the press on the last day of the season as he did on Tuesday. Clearly Newton felt the need to address his actions during the fateful presser.
“It happened,” Newton insisted. “I didn’t want to talk to the media at the time. The truth of the matter is I really still don’t want to talk to the media. But at the end of the day, things have to happen.”
“I had a lot of time to go back and play everything back. I’m human. I never once said that I was perfect. I never proclaimed that I was perfect, but at the end of the day, people pick and do things of that sort,” Newton added.
Still, the newly crowned league MVP was defiant about his behavior.
“The truth of the mater is, who are you to say that your way is right?” Newton said. “Like, that’s what I don’t understand. And we got all these people that’s condemning and saying ‘Aw, man, he should have done this, that, and the third.’ But what makes your way right?”
Carolina coach Ron Rivera praised Newton for setting the record straight and stuck up for his star player, calling criticism of Newton’s walk out “unfair.”
“Obviously somebody had a great conversation with him and explained it to him and he was able to compose himself and speak to you folks,” Rivera said in defense. “That’s huge. What he did today was a part of his growth. He is still growing and maturing as a man in this world.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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