Media, Fans and Newton

[Mr. Scot]

Just because someone doesn't agree doesn't mean they dont understand.

Even while we are winning there are still negative stories circulating about him. It is this way and honestly it appears it may always be. There are an awful lot of people out there still upset about being wrong on their bust predictions. Blaine Gabbert a better QB... Remember that?

Even the Panthers fans who were vehemently (in some cases extremely ignorantly) against him as the pick will claim they are behind him, but that is only when our football team is doing well. Those people know who they are, and they express that on a daily basis here in different ways.

When in the past two seasons have we been winning on a consistent basis?

I don't know that I can rightly judge how the media would treat Newton in a winning season because we haven't had one yet. Who's to say what would have happened if we had? I do know that, generally speaking, the media are huge bandwagoners. Doubt it'd be any different with us,

As far as there being people who will never support him no matter what, it happens. There are some folks who will just never have a balanced opinion one way or the other. What are you gonna do?

For my part, the Panthers pretty much never take the guy I want - no exception this year, Kuechly wasn't my first choice - so I've become accustomed to supporting guys I didn't choose. Lord knows I've had plenty of practice, even going back as far as Kerry Collins (wanted McNair), Tshimanga Biakabutuka (Wanted Eddie George) and Jason Peter (wanted Vonnie Holliday).

Kinda hoping that trend changes once we have a new GM.

[JawnyBlaze]

How much of those comments do you think come from rival fans?

And for the record, Roethlisberger was the subject of plenty of negative coverage, including a multipage SI cover article about just how big a jerk he really was.

For a bit of perspective, keep in mind Roethlisberger was accused of raping girls. Cam wears a towel on his head and is sullen in interviews after a loss. To compare the two is kind of proving the "homers'" point.

[Mr. Scot]

For a bit of perspective, keep in mind Roethlisberger was accused of raping girls. Cam wears a towel on his head and is sullen in interviews after a loss. To compare the two is kind of proving the "homers'" point.

He's got a ring, which means he can get away with an awful lot.

You'd like to hope it wouldn't include stuff like this, but experience says otherwise.

He did get ripped pretty good by a lot of media around the time he was suspended, but all that's forgotten now.

[CRA]

Disagree with the general premise....

I don't give a poo about Tony Romo, Mike Vick or Sam Bradford. I know a lot a about 2 of those 3 or at least what the media wants me to believe to be true. They push stories and info and beliefs about 2 of those 3. Major media knows if they push stuff on Bradford I won't care.

A die hard KC fan knows a lot more about Newton's "leadership" than say a Sam Bradford. It isn't bc he follows Carolina....it is bc nationally Newton is PUSHED as a story

[TheRed]

When in the past two seasons have we been winning on a consistent basis?

I don't know that I can rightly judge how the media would treat Newton in a winning season because we haven't had one yet. Who's to say what would have happened if we had? I do know that, generally speaking, the media are huge bandwagoners. Doubt it'd be any different with us,

As far as there being people who will never support him no matter what, it happens. There are some folks who will just never have a balanced opinion one way or the other. What are you gonna do?

For my part, the Panthers pretty much never take the guy I want - no exception this year, Kuechly wasn't my first choice - so I've become accustomed to supporting guys I didn't choose. Lord knows I've had plenty of practice, even going back as far as Kerry Collins (wanted McNair), Tshimanga Biakabutuka (Wanted Eddie George) and Jason Peter (wanted Vonnie Holliday).

Kinda hoping that trend changes once we have a new GM.

Time will tell.. People are who they are, like it or not.

Well the first rounders the last two years who weren't your choice look to be pretty damn good. Just saying.

[Mr. Scot]

Disagree with the general premise....

I don't give a poo about Tony Romo, Mike Vick or Sam Bradford. I know a lot a about 2 of those 3 or at least what the media wants me to believe to be true. They push stories and info and beliefs about 2 of those 3. Major media knows if they push stuff on Bradford I won't care.

A die hard KC fan knows a lot more about Newton's "leadership" than say a Sam Bradford. It isn't bc he follows Carolina....it is bc nationally Newton is PUSHED as a story

But do they care enough whether what they're reading is accurate or not to look up different sources?

For that matter, do the guys writing the story even do that?

The premise is less what they know about, more what they care about. And I'd wager a Chiefs fan doesn't really give a crap whether Cam Newton's getting a fair shake or not.

[Mr. Scot]

Time will tell.. People are who they are, like it or not.

Well the first rounders the last two years who weren't your choice look to be pretty damn good. Just saying.

Last two tears, yeah. Though just to be clear, I didn't want Gabbert or any other QB in the first round either. I ultimately settled on Marcell Dareus.

Prior to that (specifically Clausen and Everette Brown), not so much.

I'll grant that in the stretch from 2001 to 2008, I was pretty happy with the first rounders. Some of the choices after that though... :(

[CRA]

But do they care enough whether what they're reading is accurate or not to look up different sources?

For that matter, do the guys writing the story even do that?

The premise is less what they know about, more what they care about. And I'd wager a Chiefs fan doesn't really give a crap whether Cam Newton's getting a fair shake or not.

The web rules all now. Columnist now more so than journalist. Web hits more so than being factual.

So....no, I don't think unqualified guys asked to be columnist for major outlets give a poo about being factual. They want drama. Random reader views all not about there team as pretty much fact bc they really don't care....

[Mr. Scot]

The web rules all now. Columnist now more so than journalist. Web hits more so than being factual.

So....no, I don't think unqualified guys asked to be columnist for major outlets give a poo about being factual. They want drama. Random reader views all not about there team as pretty much fact bc they really don't care....

To which I say, "Thank you Jim Rome. You and your kind helped turn sports journalism into mindless crap." :angry:

I don't even know if "sports journalism" really exists much anymore. There's sports talk (and plenty of it) but little to none of that qualifies as journalism.

[Marguide]

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[Marguide]

Go read anything on ESPN, Foxsports, or PFT about Cam Newton, scroll down and read the comments, and tell me you can't feel the hate and vitriol on your skin like its bug spray.

If there really were Huddle end of year awards, I would nominate the above for sentence of the year.

Brilliant. Perfect.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

yeah their are a lot of people in the media that literally make up personal attacks on Cam Newton for absolutely no reason but to give him a bad reupation. Fake smile, arrogant, poor attitude and so on. There is nobody doing that kind of thing to other QBs in the league. There is a legit hatred of Cam for some reason across the media world.

[Avacashay]

Let me start this off with a question...

What kind of a guy is Matt Cassel? Good guy? Jerk? What?

Don't know? How about Sam Bradford? How are his leadership skills? Is he respected by his teammates?

Still nothing? What about Brandon Weeden? Got anything on him?

No? Ryan Fitzpatrick maybe?

Now why is it that people on this board don't seem to know as much about some of these other quarterbacks as they do about ours?

The reason is pretty simple actually. You don't care.

They're not important to your fanhood, so you don't think much about them. And why should you? It's not worth the effort to you really, is it?

Now if, on the other hand, you lived in the Kansas City area, or Buffalo, or Cleveland, or Saint Louis, you'd likely hear plenty about these guys. In fact, they'd be the primary topic of conversation among the fanbase because quarterbacks generally are. And if they were slighted by the national media, you'd probably get in a huff about how they disrespected the quarterback of your team so unfairly.

But of course, since you live here and you're a Panthers fan, you don't worry about those guys. And if you heard some random comment about them from the media, minus a frame of reference, you'd likely be inclined to believe it.

So knowing that, lemme ask you this...

Other than in our team rivals' cities, how much thought do you really think the rest of the country gives Cam Newton?

I'd wager the answer is probably about as much thought as you give Matt Flynn.

This is pure is BS

A Panther fan has no more reason to care about Sam Bradford or Blaine Gabbert than a Ram or Jaguar fans has to care about Cam, but look at the comment section in any Cam article and It would be filled with Rams fans, Jaguar fans and any other NFL team fan. Write a story about Matt Flynn and watch the tumbleweeds blow through. Why is that?

Any Cam story will generate high clicks and high comments. But somehow that equates to people not really caring? Writers don't make a living writing about things nobody cares about and the Panthers fan-base is not big enough for a national writer to cater too. So clearly these story aren't be written just for Panther fans.

You must be living in a bubble if you believe what you just posted.

[footballisasport]

I agree with most of what you're saying but the part about the QBs being media popular because of their SB rings, I disagree. Peyton, Brady, Brews were always media darlings long before they won rings. Eli is the only one who is a little more love because of his SB rings. Romo was a media Pinata at one point and has since become a media darling. What big market are you talking about in regards to The Golden Calf of Bristol? The media was hyping The Golden Calf of Bristol since his college days in Florida. He just entered the NY market this year.

IMO, the media and some fans feelings and view of Cam lies in that Alpha Male Syndrome. If Cam was Luck, no one would care because he looks boring, sounds boring, and fits the mold of 99.9% of the QBs out there who are just as boring as him. He needs the media to help sell his image. Cam doesn't and the media knows it. RG III is quite intelligent and well spoken but has very non-threatening looks and zero sex appeal when he walks into a room. Put him next to Cam and who do you think most of the eyes will automatically follow. And in all honesty, no one cares about the other QBs but their fans because they are simply vanilla. Cam is the young man another man will check out when he walks into the room because without trying, he draws the attention. And those men also know his girlfriends or wives are also checking him out.

When you realize that not only is Cam a natural physical specimen but caring also. You wonder why articles showing that side of him never end up on the three major sites, ESPN, NFLN, PTF. You never hear them talking about Cam the mentor do you? The media had already set out to create an image of Cam that was never who he was but who they want you to believe he is based on your own fears and insecurities of his image. In other words, they are using his image against him like Nolan did. The fact that he was instantly placed into the same molds with other players like Chad, Terrell, Vince and Russel when he was in the draft, lets you know the direction they were going with his image.

There is only three major sports outlets, ESPN, NFLN, and PFT. Everyone else are like bottomfeed in the sports world. The local outlets writers sometimes turn to those bigger outlets for ideas as to how to treat some of these players. The more bigger markets writers have their own egos and don't really need to turn to ESPN for ideas on how to treat their athletes.

IMO, Cam does get quite a bit of attention from those three outlets. But, don't kid yourselves, it's not by accident that you'll read an article on Cam and is like, WTH kind of journalism is this. It's pretty intentional. These media folks now what they are doing and everyone else, especially those follow suit because they are vying for the same attention. I sometimes wish Cam was in a bigger sports market because those sports writers don't always tow the ESPN/NFLN/PFT silly talking points and games as much as the smaller markets do.