Do you buy this excuse for Cam Newton bailing on interview?
The vultures swarmed the moment Cam Newton departed his post-Super Bowl 50 media session after roughly three minutes.
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No, it was not a good look for Newton who, as Yahoo’s Eric Adelson so eloquently wrote, went from Superman to the “Incredible Sulk” with his postgame ghosting.
But might there have been an extenuating circumstance to it?
Consider: The Super Bowl postgame setup is often a circus. Podiums are placed wherever there’s enough room in the cavity of whatever stadium the game is being played in, and they often are (a) positioned very close together, and (b) set up in the noisy, open bowels, separated by a thin sheet or riser.
So what you have is players and coaches from both teams all talking into microphones at the same time, with hundreds of media members shouting questions at them, and those sounds are echoed like mad all over the area these interviews are set up in. It’s madness for all involved for sure.
When Newton was talking, he clearly could hear the sounds of Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. being interviewed — and he essentially was saying that the Broncos dared Newton to beat them. Is this why Cam stormed off? Is it reason enough to explain away what happened?
I wasn’t there at the game, but I saw the interview live and have watched it several times since. I also talked to two media members who were there and who said Harris could be heard but that it was not drowning out Newton’s microphone.
Newton gave one lengthy answer and a slew of one-word or other abbreviated responses. It wasn’t the biggest crime against humanity, and yet it also wasn’t his finest hour. The rest of his Panthers teammates took their media medicine, and then on top of that were forced to answer more questions about Newton after he bolted.
The excuse of Harris’ voice being too loud is not enough for Newton to scramble there. Was he annoyed by the sound? It’s certainly possible. Was he upset at losing? Absolutely. But could he have stayed up there and dutifully answered, at worst, 4-5 more minutes’ worth of questions and come out looking a lot better today? No doubt.
Perception is reality, fair or not, and we now have a seven-month void of no NFL games. People who came into this game not buying into the Newton love fest now are more hardened in their beliefs. Of course, those who defended Newton before then are the ones who are more likely to buy into this working Harris theory.
We talk about Johnny Manziel weekly, so we’re of course going to parse this silly thing to death. But Newton is more mature and polished than Manziel and by this point should know better. Even if the media should get over it, there will be fans and sponsors who view this negatively, too, and that’s how the effect will be felt. And the excuse — if there even is one — of another players’ microphone being too close or loud is, at best, flimsy.
In short, this not-that-big-of-a-deal thing that likely will be made bigger than it is can’t be explained away with this microphone-annoyance excuse. Make sense?
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
