The Stoop: It’s Hard To Be Humble

“Oh, Lord, it’s hard to be humble When you’re perfect in every way I can’t wait to look in the mirror ’Cause I get better lookin’ each day To know me is to love me I must be a hell of a man Oh, Lord, it’s hard to be humble But I’m doin’ the best that I can” — Mac Davis.

By now, you’ve seen the Super Bowl. You watched Carolina Panthers quarterback and NFL MVP Cam Newton fumble, stumble and bumble, helping the Broncos to a 24- 10 win. Newton has earned more than his fair share of criticism this season, as many fans around the country have vilified the “dabbing” and dancing Newton does when he scores a touchdown. Far more have championed the former Heisman Trophy winner, calling him the new face of the NFL. He has scores of fans across the country, including my son, who despite being an Atlanta Falcons fan (like me), has somehow decided to also root for a division rival’s signalcaller. That’s just awful…but I digress.

Much of the criticism has been classified as racially motivated, but in a league dominated by black players, it seems odd. On Jan. 27, Newton told reporters “I said it since Day One: I’m an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to.” That’s a ridiculous statement on its face. First off, I had a Michael Vick jersey in my closet when he was the Falcons quarterback. He may not have been an MVP, but he made three Pro Bowls and in 2006, became the first quarterback to ever rush for more than 1,000 yards in a single season. There have been numerous black quarterbacks in the NFL who have been Pro Bowl caliber with great ability; Doug Williams, Daunte Culpepper, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, and the late Steve McNair, just to name a few. In today’s NFL, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson are black quarterbacks who have played very well at times — Wilson has won and lost a Super Bowl in his young career — and are all considered stars in their own way.

But Newton is the MVP, the guy who wears an “S” for Superman in his pregame warmups, and the guy who dabs for the fans. He’s also the guy who has blown two chances to show he’s not a front-running showboat. Directly after the Super Bowl loss, Newton appeared at the postgame presser with a hood over his face, squirmed in his seat through an abbreviated interview, which he walked out of after hearing a Broncos player celebrate in the background. To many, it was an ill-advised decision. “It was as if Newton were intent on taking his magical season, his jumping jacks and dabs and evident leadership, and poking a hole in its side,” wrote Michael Powell in The New York Times. “He let his charisma and leadership drain away, to be replaced by a soup of the sour and the petulant. And in doing so, he confirmed the judgment of more than a few Broncos defenders, who spoke afterward of trying to push him off his game psychologically.” The next day, he had another chance to explain himself, to erase the embarrassment of perhaps an overly emotional response after the biggest loss of his career. “I didn’t get the fumble,’’ said Newton. “We can play tit for tat. I’ve seen numerous quarterbacks throw interceptions, and the effort afterwards … they don’t go. I don’t dive on one fumble, because of the way my leg was, it could have been [contorted] in a way. We didn’t lose that game because of that fumble. I can tell you that.’’ Well, let’s just say that when you fumble the ball in the fourth quarter, down by less than a touchdown with four minutes to go, I’d say it was pretty important. Cam Newton is a great player, and a very talented quarterback who should return to the playoffs and beyond. But a lesson in humility might be with his time, as my son and his friends, who all had Cam jerseys on at the start of the Super Bowl, had all taken them off by the time the game was over.