COMMENTARY

Hey, kids, don't behave like NFL MVP

The Cam Newton story was about to burn out when he poked it with a stick and stirred it all up again.

Instead of apologizing for his behavior in the press room on Super Bowl Sunday, the Cam man was still defiant days after his team's defeat.

"Show me a good loser and I'm going to show you a loser," Newton said during an interview with reporters in North Carolina.

On Friday, Newton posted a picture of himself on Instagram wearing a T-shirt that read "I win my way." His attitude continues to draw criticism, especially from coaches who are constantly trying to teach young people about sportsmanship, accountability and proper behavior.

"Show me someone who has been entitled and I'll show you someone who can't handle not getting his way," Gravette boys basketball coach Greg White said. "The only thing missing from Cam's press conference was his dad complaining about the refs or the coach. To act like he did is unacceptable from a teenager, a coach and, definitely, a league MVP."

I turned to White for a comment at midweek because he was one of the first to respond on Twitter after Newton threw a hissy-fit following Carolina's 24-10 defeat to Denver in Super Bowl 50. Newton showed up to the postgame media room in a hoodie and gave mostly one-word answers or no answers before walking off.

The media would've been better served had Cam been sitting in a high chair with a baby bib and rattler. Sensing a teachable moment, White sent out a tweet that was viewed or re-tweeted 6,237 times.

"Every coach regardless of sport, age or gender should talk to their teams about Cam's actions at the press conference. Unacceptable," White tweeted last Sunday night. "You can't want the spotlight and not know how to handle it when it gets too hot."

Character is shown not by how you handle success, but how you handle defeat. It's a universal truth most of us learn at a young age. Newton, the son of a minister, hasn't learned that fact or he was taught it and just doesn't care.

I was 13 years old when I watched a hotshot pitcher in Little League baseball receive a life lesson that didn't cost him a penny. His name is Dave Rozema, and he eventually played for 10 years in the Major Leagues and was selected as the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Year by the Sporting News in 1977.

But on this day, in Little League, Rozema threw his glove against the fence after giving up a run that lost the game. My dad stomped out of the bleachers and told Rozema to pick that glove up and get in line with the others for the postgame handshakes.

I didn't see Rozema throw his glove again, and I attended junior high and high school with him.

I understand a lot of people don't like the media. I don't like the media myself sometimes, especially when the 24-hour news cable stations invent a controversy then invite a long list of guests to talk about it all day.

Interviewing athletes and coaches after they've lost a game is difficult. It's the worst part of our job as sports reporters, and there is usually a cooling off period before the interviews take place. But I don't think Newton would've acted any differently had he been given an hour or two to cool off.

"I am who I am," Newton said days later. "If you want me to conform, I'm not that guy."

The guy who wears a Superman shirt is a gifted athlete and the MVP of the league, without question. But at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, the Cam man still has plenty of growing up to do.

Maybe he can learn something from Blake O'Neill, the Michigan punter who fumbled the ball on the last play of the game to allow Michigan State to escape with a 27-23 victory over the Wolverines.

"That's life, that's football," said O'Neill, who was heavily criticized for his blunder by people on social media. "You sort of pick yourself up, dust yourself off, then move on."

And behave like an adult, not a child, when things don't go your way.

Sports on 02/14/2016

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