This week, a second open letter lecturing quarterback Cam Newton surfaced, educating the former Tiger on the topics of class and winning. The first offender was a mother from Tennessee, who viewed Newton's end zone celebrations as atrocities. Now, a Seattle Seahawks fan has taken it upon herself to continue the saga of "Don't do that, Cam" letters. The following message is a response to not only Sarah the Seahawk and Rosemary the Titan, but to the next anti-Newton scribe who can't seem to find the fun in football anymore.
Hey friend!
Sorry for your loss. I’m sure you and your fellow bleacher-quarterback comrades are upset that Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers just beat the brakes off your defense and are now celebrating as a result. It's hard to watch. Look at those godawful winners, celebrating and such. You see, the thing about football that most fans forget is that it's a game.
But it's more than a game, Emily.
I know, I know. It's a giant part of your life. Believe me, I love sports too. But have you seen fans nowadays? They're anti-fun. "Act like you've done it before," they say. Why? In an industry that pays millions of dollars just to have the strategy, energy and talent these athletes have, why should they have to do anything "like they've done it before?"
In the National Football League, where players are constantly arrested for domestic violence, DUIs and sexual assault, Cam Newton gets the butt end of it all. Because he wins. What does he do when he wins? He celebrates, God forbid.
Before you pour your angry heart out over a keyboard and share it for the world to see, take a second to think before you act. For example, take Sarah, the disgruntled Seattle Seahawks fan who was upset that Cam threw one of the Hawks' "symbolic" 12th Man flags after it was handed to him by a Panthers fan.
You mean she really got upset over something they stole from Texas A&M?
Yes, Sarah was not happy about it.
"You see, the one that people don't realize is, Seahawks fans aren't just fans," she noted.
One thing that Sarah didn't realize was her typo. Another would be that every fanbase considers themselves "not just fans," even though that's exactly what they are. Just fans.
Friend, don't be like Sarah. Don't criticize the winning team for doing harmless things, because your team has definitely taunted, cursed or made some sort of "classless" act on the field. Don't blame the winning team for your loss when it falls on the fault of your players and coaches.
Don't even begin to call Cam Newton — the man who spends time with kids on and off the field, the man who gives a game ball to a child in the stands after every touchdown, the man who started a foundation to better the lives of children physically and emotionally, both education wise and socioeconomically, across the country — classless.
Think about it. Are you really about to pen a letter to the NFL MVP for not only celebrating a win, but because you can't grasp how sports work? Because you take the actions of someone who doesn't even know your name, has no way of targeting you personally, seriously?
I'm sorry you get offended so easily. I'm sorry that you've become a fan that has fallen into the idea that games aren't fun. Because that's what they are.
Most importantly, I'm sorry that out of all the issues surrounding the NFL itself, Cam Newton is the one thing that offends you.
If you still feel the need to pen your "classy but informative" letter after all that, don't forget to congratulate Cam and the Panthers because they were the better team that day, even though "that's not what you're upset about," just like all the others.
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