There is much talk going around about Cam Newton and his position in the NFL. Now a lot of this has to do with his great play and team this season. It also has to do with race. Both issues are a sore subject to some, myself included.
Now I will not be one to take anything away from Newton. He has had an exceptional year in his young career and has lived up expectations so far. He is the MVP of the season and rightly so and this does appear to be his year. Granted.
There is a small problem with all of this clamor and excitement to crown the next Manning before the real one retires and the flop out so far in Indy is injured. What has Russell Wilson done to be treated in this manner? The success and character of Wilson is exemplary to the morals of the NFL brass. He is one of THE most solid role models out there in the league. What did Wilson do to deserve this lack of respect from the NFL all the way down to the press boxes around the country?
The records that he has set should have been enough to ignite any career off to stellar acclaim and deserved respect. That didn't happen for Wilson, quickly labeled a game manager a title meaning less than QB. There was also the constant vigil for anything he did wrong overlooking the things done right. The inferred upcoming injury to the small one talked about between the lines and even drooled over by some. You see Wilson will never be given his rightful respect and it is too late to start trying. The NFL and the press stole away much of a lifelong dream because they could not see past the smaller man and see the giant that was awakening.
Now as a fan of his and of my hometown team I am going to see slights worse than others. I do see some of the points made by sports writers and pundits. I also see the almost blatant attempts to diminish the positives. It seems to me that they are still savoring a time when they can say "I told you so!" about the 3rd round draft pick that was too short to be a QB in their eyes.
I know a thing or two about people, I also know about compensating for deficiencies. I am getting old now, I have to know about those things. So I have learned to compensate for my bad vision by wearing glasses. I have learned to compensate for my slow reflexes by being more steady in my approaches. The very same kind of thing that Wilson has learned in his lifetime. You want to know a secret? Sometimes the way we compensate for our downsides, works better.
So the press and sports writers and the NFL all want to be able to say I told you so, to save their pathetic egos. They all want to be able to look back and say he was just so so and my predictions were right. He was who we thought he was. Wilson is not who anyone has seen yet and his growth rate is unprecedented, he will make sure every pundit and writer knows where he is going to put himself. He has always had an uphill road and it is time he starts looking below him at the press and people who ever doubted him. I have no idea if this goes to Carroll and Goodell, or the behind closed doors stuff of the NFL. Wilson does not deserve this, he never has, the prognosticators got it wrong, the man is a QB. He is more than the sum of his parts, a giant among the very small who would steal the stuff of dreams.
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