Scott, I appreciate the way that you’ve tried to be balanced and realistic in pointing out that it can be tremendously difficult to mask the type of raw emotional moment that Cam Newton had to go through. I’ve certainly been a terrible loser during my minor sports participations. However, as you and many others have pointed out — professional athletes, and especially those like Cam who are given the mantle of being the “face” of the franchise, city, league, have to deal with the responsibilities that come with that role. Other losing quarterbacks and players have had to go through what Cam did, and the fact is they did a better job. More importantly, they did it with more class. That’s what it is when a man (or woman) has to go out on the public stage after an emotional loss and understand that all sorts of other people have their jobs to do. Even before he left the stage, his curt answers and demeanor left a lot to be desired. Your article tries to soften Cam’s press performance with all sorts of excuses — it’s just the flip side of his exuberance; he could hear Chris Harris talking nearby; he’s been as flippant with his own coaches and teammates — but in the end they are excuses, because many many others have been in Cam’s shoes and have handled it better. I also find it funny that as part of Cam’s defense you tried to skewer Manning for his 2006 jab at his line, pointing out that Cam wouldn’t put his teammates under the bus. I’ll admit I’m not a Cam fan. I appreciate his talent, and I don’t think he’s a bad person. But I don’t like the way he excessively celebrates, taunts other teams by saying that if they don’t want him to celebrate they should stop him, and often does not show respect for the other equally talented players who share his game. If you want to gloat and dance when you win, you should be gracious when you lose.