Cam Newton, Sports, America…And “Disrespect”

For the good of the team…let’s disrespect Cam Newton.

Listen to Aaron’s notebook:

 

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has led his team to the Super Bowl. He’s had an incredible year, and he’s probably going to be the MVP. But! He’s still not the NFL’s most popular player.

That, apparently, is Russell Wilson. According to the NFL Players Association, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is #1 on the list of top-selling jerseys. Tom Brady is #2, Peyton Manning is #5. Cam Newton? The MVP? Cam Newton is #22! Right behind Seattle’s tight end, because that makes sense. Cam Newton’s not even the top-ranking player on his own team – that’d be Luke Kuechly at #18.

Talk about disrespect, am I right? Talk about disrespect!

Of course…we don’t have to remind Cam Newton to talk about disrespect. He’s a professional athlete. He feeds off disrespect. This is not a Cam Newton thing. This is every pro athlete. Every time they win a title, it’s the same interview. “Nobody respected us. Nobody believed in us. Everybody hated us. It was us against the universe.”

Remember Muhammad Ali shouting “I shook up the world”? That’s what I’m talking about. Pro athletes, all of them, are constantly living under the impression (right or wrong) that nobody respects them, everybody hates them, everybody’s out to get them.

It’s a pathology! It’s a professional athletic pathology!

Except…for the fact that it’s not. This actually isn’t a pro athlete thing either. This is an America thing. This is all of us. You and me. We all feed off disrespect. We’re all exactly the same way.

Why?

Well – what do Americans believe in, more than anything? Two things: we believe in freedom and we believe in individualism. It’s a really interesting combination. If we believe in Freedom, that means we’ve got to be suspicious of Power. Political power, economic power, physical power, it doesn’t matter: we don’t like power, and we don’t trust people with power because those are the people who can run over the little guy. Those are the people who can threaten our freedom.

(This is why we’re always rooting for the underdog. This is why every Hollywood movie is a plucky little nobody going up against a big powerful behemoth. It’s why Star Wars is plotted out the way it is.)

But we also believe in individualism. We believe in every individual’s right to go out and pursue their own happiness, go after their own interest, work hard, get lucky, try to get big and rich and successful. It’s the American Dream. And if we believe in individualism, that means we also have to believe in ourselves. First and foremost. Love yourself. Look out for number one.

What do these two things mean, put together? If we mistrust power, if we believe in the little guy, and if we believe in ourselves, then we have to believe – all of us have to believe – that we are the little guy. It doesn’t matter how big and rich and powerful and supported and beloved we really are. For the American mentality to work, I have to believe that I am the underdog, I am the plucky little nobody, powerful forces are lining up against me, and it’s me (and my friends) against the world.

This is why (for example) our foreign policy often seems so schizophrenic. We don’t really know how to handle the fact that we’re the most powerful country in the world. But this is also why you find so many straight white men who say they’re the real victims. This is why so many Christian leaders say they feel oppressed, in a country that’s still 85 percent Christian. This is why you, like 90 percent of Americans, probably think of yourself as “middle class,” no matter how rich or poor you really are. (I’m with you on that one.)

And every time your team wins the championship, this is why it always feels like they overcame such incredible adversity. “Everybody hated us. Nobody believed in us. We were the plucky little nobodies. It was us against the world.”

So, here’s my message to Panthers fans: this week, let’s all come together and support our quarterback. Let’s get Cam Newton motivated. Let’s make sure he’s ready to play.

We’ve got a couple days left. Here’s how you do it. Go to Walmart right now, or Target, or the mall, and buy up as many Peyton Manning jerseys as you possibly can. And wear those babies around, loudly and proudly. Take pictures of yourself wearing ’em and tweet them at Cam Newton every day.

You want Cam Newton to win the Super Bowl? Make sure he feels disrespected.

After all…it’s the American way.