Here’s another anti-Cam Newton hot take for reasons that aren’t at all football-related.
Former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel, who led the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2000, says he lost respect for the quarterback because… he wore gold shoes in pregame warmups.
“All of the numbers pointed to Carolina. And when I saw Cam Newton walk out in gold shoes — ‘MVP’ — I switched my mind, essentially, right then,” Fassel said on Mile High Sports 1340. “I said, ‘That’s not what a starting quarterback, MVP, leading his team — and I had a lot of respect for him during the season — that’s not what happens.’ You don’t do that. And I said, ‘This guy’s already become soft,’ and that’s what he was.”
This is the kind of unwarranted criticism that puts Newton on a much higher pedestal than anyone else because he does things his own way — which isn’t a bad thing. For some reason writers, retired football players, and coaches think his end zone dancing and post-game press conferences deem him a worse football player and/or attack his character for reasons I can’t comprehend. This time it’s because he wore gold shoes. How ridiculous is that?
Fassel calling Newton soft just seems weirdly personal. He has every right to criticize Netwon’s performance, but to take shots at him because he’s wearing flashy shoes isn’t fair. I’d wager Fassel, who last coached the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League in 2012, is just trying to stay relevant. That, not Newton’s gold cleats, is truly sad.
