The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has received a great deal of heat from the press in recent weeks after he claimed he no longer feels safe while in the pocket and isn't having fun anymore. Well, I'm here to say Newton, like all other dual-threat quarterbacks, has a point. While I agree with many of these same critics that the NFL has gotten too protective of quarterbacks overall, dual-threat quarterbacks like Newton tend to be treated differently than traditional drop-back passers by officiating crews, and that's not right. I think this is largely due to many people, officials included, seeing quarterbacks like Newton as running backs behind center as opposed to actual quarterbacks. This shouldn't be the case, though. When a quarterback's behind the line-of-scrimmage, regardless if he has the speed of Michael Vick or Tom Brady, if he's hit in a manner which violates a league rule, the defense should be penalized. Newton might be bigger and quicker than m...

The only demographic I know of which cares about a Super Bowl losing team's players answering questions at a post-game press conference is the sports media, and when a star player or coach doesn't satisfy their odd needs, it's quite common for them to let the world know about it. The latest such case is with regard to Carolina Panthers starting quarterback and league MVP Cam Newton, who, after his team's disappointing 24-10 loss to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday night, didn't have a whole lot to say at the post-game press conference. While I've heard a few in the sports media say things such as, "Cam's play on the field was a much bigger deal than what he had to say after the game" and "It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened. He'll learn," I've heard many blast the quarterback like they would a player who had just been arrested for domestic violence. Could Cam have handled the situation better? ...

As many of my long time readers should know, I'm extremely nonpartisan when it comes to sports. While I have always loved both participating and spectating many sports, I'm not a homer for any one team. I enjoy sporting events like I enjoy movies. I appreciate good coaching/directing, solid execution/acting, can't seem to get enough twists and turns in the plots, and love a good, unexpected climax. Having said that, I similarly try not to hop on or off a player's bandwagon too quickly, which places me at odds with a majority of sportswriters/ESPN talking heads. This is especially the case with NFL quarterbacks, whom analysts seem to fall in and out of love with more quickly and more frequently than middle schoolers named Romeo and Juliet. When columnists fell in love with Andrew Luck and Colin Kaepernick of Indianapolis and San Francisco, respectively, I said, "Let's hold up just a minute. They certainly have potential, but let's wait a couple more years to...

I've often been critical of the letters-to-the-editor published in the local Columbus Dispatch  paper, but know my local paper is far from alone in the practice of publishing such awful letters. Just this morning, I read the following letter-to-the-editor, published by the Charlotte Observer  with regard to Carolina Panthers' starting quarterback, Cam Newton, entitled, "Cam should marry his son's mother": "In response to 'The Chosen One: baby will change Cam's life (Jan. 1): So the man whom we celebrate, and with good reason, has produced a son. Congratulations would be in order if he had been man enough to marry the mother of his child and make a home . This happy occasion is blighted when Cam, whose own parents were married, skips the very basis of being a good parent. I am just very sorry and very disappointed. Patricia S. Broderick, Mooresville" Granted, judging by her picture, the author of this piece appears to be between the ages...

It feels like I write a blog about this topic once a week and am the only one who feels the way I do, but here I go again. First it was Baltimore's Joe Flacco, then Cincinnati's Andy Dalton, San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick, Miami's Ryan Tannehill, and now Carolina's Cam Newton. Over the past couple of off-seasons, while most ESPN commentators have claimed these teams made the right moves in signing these quarterbacks to big-time extensions, I felt like the lone doubter in the room, and the same goes with the most recent such case, Cam Newton. Sadly, most of the before-mentioned commentators' rationale for the extensions seems to be, "Well, what's their other option? They could do worse." Yes, but despite what many seem to believe, quarterbacks don't make the team, and the thinking shouldn't be, "Well, they could do worse at quarterback," it should be, "Well, they could do better if they stock up at other positions and na...

ESPN is at it again with another awful article, this one written by Pat Yasinskas. It revolves around 2011 #1 draft pick Cam Newton - quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. In the article, Yasinskas writes the following gems: "...Yeah, I'll even step out on a limb and say he (Newton) has a better 2013 season than Wilson, Kaepernick, Luck and RG III. Why? Several reasons pop to mind, but let's start with this -- Newton has more all-around talent than any of those guys. Luck can pass nicely, but opposing defenses don't have to game plan for his running ability. Wilson, RG III and Kaepernick each have some throwing ability, but they aren't pure pocket passers, and their big 2012 seasons came largely because of their mobility. Newton is capable of more than any of those guys, because he's as mobile as RG III, Kaepernick and Wilson. At the same time, he's as good a pocket passer as Luck." and "But you can't overlook Newton and the Pa...

The short answer? Yes. The long answer? Hell yes! Okay, so that's not the long answer. However, that may be the only thing keeping Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel from being a shoo-in for the Heisman Trophy this year. You see, Manziel is a freshman and no freshman has ever won the Heisman Trophy before. There are some voters whom won't vote for a freshman because it's against their religion or something along those lines. In all honesty, I don't know what voters' reason(s) would be to not believe a freshman is worthy of the coveted award. Do they feel freshmen are undeserving, because if one has a great season, it's more due to beginner's luck than actual skill? Do they feel it's morally wrong to vote for a guy in his first year than another that has been with his team for between two and four years? Was an 11th Commandment added, which says, "Thou shalt not vote for a freshman for the Heisman Trophy"? Whatever the reason, hasn't...

It was another game and another loss for the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, which dropped them to 3-8 on the season. One could just look at the final score and say, "Well, at least it was close." But then I'd have to point out their opponent. It's not like the Eagles lost 30-22 to the 10-1 Houston Texans or the 10-1 Atlanta Falcons. No, they fell by that very score to the 2-8 (now 3-8) Carolina Panthers. The Eagles did what they've been doing all year - turned the ball over three times, didn't force any turnovers, and developed a case of Alzheimer's when playing defense. To the offensive coaches' credit, I thought they came in with a solid gameplan on that side of the ball. They found ways to ease the pressure off the beaten up offensive line, open some holes for Bryce Brown and the running game, as well as limit the hits rookie quarterback Nick Foles took. They did all they could to limit pressure on the rookie Foles. In a statistic that is ...

As I mentioned previously, I got into a rather heated exchange (well, I was on the receiving end of his "heat". I was rather cool and collected) about Carolina Panthers' quarterback Cam Newton last weekend. The person whom was speaking to me made the claim that Newton is already great and has nothing more to prove to illustrate this, as he saw it, fact. I, on the other hand, said that while Newton has gotten off to a solid start in what will hopefully be a lengthy NFL career, I'm not going to judge the guy based on 5 (4 at the time) games. So, how do we define greatness in terms of athletes? Is there one clear definition? As usual, I think there are a variant of answers to the question of defining athletic greatness. There is such a thing as short-term greatness and while Cam Newton hasn't illustrated even short-term greatness yet, I could understand the other's (the guy at the bar) standpoint a bit better if he had alluded to this as opposed to declaring Ne...

Ah, how I love when some people's thoughts and beliefs are strengthened to the point of unbreakability when one consumes alcohol. It's true. I don't tend to have very strong opinions about a lot of things and if I do, I tend to not want to talk about them while drinking alcohol, especially if in an already loud bar environment. One of the bar owners at a pub I frequent has been known to get into some heated arguments with people, especially pertaining to politics. Last night, it was with regard to Carolina Panthers' quarterback Cam Newton. I wrote a blog a couple weeks ago or so that while I thought Newton is an extremely gifted athlete and is off to a great start in his NFL career, I'm not going to herald the guy the next great quarterback of the league like some sports writers and commentators have done. I don't even remember how the conversation started last night, but the bar owner was riding the Newton-hype train and I played things cool. I smiled and kep...

There's no question that Carolina Panthers' rookie quarterback, whom they took #1 overall in this past year's draft, is very talented and physically speaking, is ideal. The guy is 6'6'' and anything but skin and bones, to go along with a strong throwing arm and an ability to make something out of nothing with his running abilities. The rookie has played well in his first three games in the NFL, throwing for close to 900 yards in his first two games and winning his first NFL game yesterday against Jacksonville. However, unlike most sports "analysts," I'm not buying the notion that Newton is the next great quarterback in the league. Newton may have thrown for close to 900 yards in his first two games, but was also picked off 4 times and his team lost both games. If we're looking at it from a Fantasy Football perspective, Newton was quite a steal the first two weeks of the season, but was also careless with the ball at times and from a team stan...