A lot of talk has been circulating this past month about the birthday video Cam Newton posted to his Instagram to celebrate his 28th birthday, and while it’s completely expected in this era of hot taeks and sports shouting, the reactions have ranged from slightly annoyed (“Why isn’t he working on his footwork in the offseason?”) to outrage (“HE CAN’T SMOKE A CIGAR HE’S AN ATHLETE!!!!!”) to downright hilarious (“Would you rather have Andrew Luck or Cam Newton?”). You’re telling me a hugely successful millionaire in his twenties who is just over a year removed from being voted as the MOST VALUABLE IN HIS ENTIRE PROFESSION wants to take a couple of days off from his job getting annihilated by three hundred pound behemoths and jump into crystal clear waters in Central America during what I will assume is an extremely family friendly yacht party with his friends? CRAZY!
Insert the criticism here: He’s too cocky. He doesn’t take the game seriously. He’s a leader, and leaders shouldn’t be partying like this. For the money he makes, he should be held to a higher standard. HIS FOOTWORK MAN WHY ISN’T HE WORKING ON HIS FOOTWORK???
Cam Newton is a man. A very talented man, who has achieved heights in the first six years of the NFL that few quarterbacks have, but a man just the same. He is at his best when he is at his most confident, as evidenced by the swagger that the 2015 NFC Champion team carried with them, dabbing and taking team pictures on their way to scoring the most points in the league. His enthusiasm is infectious, spreads throughout the entire team (and fanbase for that matter), and that attitude led the Panthers to their first MVP award and second Super Bowl appearance. As Cam Newton goes, so go the Carolina Panthers. Cam stays healthy and plays at an MVP level, the Panthers go to the Super Bowl. Cam battles injuries and throws 19 scores with 14 interceptions, and they’re sitting at home come January.
The Panthers need Cam to be the player he was in 2015 in order to win the ultimate NFL prize. The #1 player in the NFL. The dabs. The outfits. The nicknames. The first down celebrations. “Winning excuses everything.” The unbelievable runs. “If you don’t want me to do it, don’t let me in.” The passes that seem to fit into impossible windows. The eye popping plays that no other quarterback in the league could make. They’re all part of the same package. They’re all part of our quarterback.
“Winning is contagious, you know, its a thought. It’s not something that just happens on Sundays. You know that’s something, like, you have to live like a winner. You have to think like a winner. You have to eat like a winner. Everything that you do with life, you gotta be a winner.”
-Cam Newton
When Cam has fun, everyone has #morefun.
