NFL.com: Cam's Leadership Crucial to Panthers Development

[fieryprophet]

http://www.nfl.com/n..._writer_experts

He towered above fellow flyers as he waited in the security line at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Thursday, rocking a neon yellow Under Armour jacket with a purple hat and a pair of shades.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton cannot hide here, which perhaps is why he doesn't seem to try. The people around him are gawking, mostly in silence, as they wind together like a snake through a maze of nylon ropes. It is slightly awkward -- all of these looks amid the silence -- but only until Newton, traveling by himself, calls out a young, onlooking female loud enough for most of the line to hear.

"How do I look?" he says before throwing his arm around the shorter shoulders of a man who appeared to be a total stranger next to him.

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Everyone laughed and everyone smiled, but nobody smiled quite like Newton. This, after all, is his city. This was his security line. And, oh by the way, yes, he did look good.

After just one year as Carolina's quarterback -- although the term "just" doesn't seem so fitting, given all the records that have fallen since he arrived -- Newton has transformed this sports scene into his own. The question, of course, is whether his rise will continue. It is a question, though, that no longer deserves any of our doubts. We can still wonder what remains ahead for Newton, but not in terms of his own ability and potential. Instead, the focus now shifts toward his team's overall success -- whether his Panthers are capable of accomplishing what needs to be done for them to become a top-tier organization in the second year of a major makeover.

[TruCatzFan]

I saw this earlier... definitely worth the read. I thought it had been posted already though... either way it's a great feel good story that any fan of this team should read

[footballisasport]

I personally feel the media is still hell bent in painting Cam as the next VY. They seem to make way to much of him being human and wanting to learn from his actions. They turn everything he does into some microscopic debate while ignoring or passing off the behavior of the other QBs as simply growing and learning.

We have drafted a QB at number one in the 2012 draft and all I've read so far are a bunch of excuses being made for him by the same media who is still treating Cam like a run away slave; who needs to be watched and overly analyzed to make sure he doesn't make anymore mistakes.

Heck Tom Brady had gotten pissed at his players and sit with a towel on his head and no one is up questioning his leadership skills...Why is that?

The Panthers will grow when they realize that it takes a full team to accomplish a single goal.

[SCP]

Cam in the security line? Lucky bastards. I bumped into Chad Pennington last Sunday in the D concourse at Charlotte-Douglas.

[KendrickPanther]

Sigh, how come I never run into Cam at the Gastonia Wal-Mart checkout line.