The Joy Of Cam Newton

His play has irked traditionalists, invigorated a city and reshaped the game. And when he takes on the Broncos in Super Bowl 50 on Feb 7, you can bet not even his haters will be able to look away.

- Tim Keown

His son had a tendency to speak a bit too much in class. The  boy liked attention, which caused a problem for his teachers and by extension—his parents. So one day, Cecil Newton had an idea. He told his son, “Cam, since you want people to notice you, you can dress up on Fridays. That way, everybody will notice you.”

Starting the next Friday, Cam Newton left the house for middle  school wearing a long-sleeve button-down, slacks and dress shoes.  He did it without complaint, almost cheerfully, and before long the practice wasn’t restricted to Fridays. “He’s enjoying this,” Cecil told his wife, Jackie.

CAM NEWTON IS enjoying this NFL season in a way that makes some people proud and others lose their minds. He is nearly a caricature of happiness, smiling when we have been conditioned to expect aggression, laughing when we expect seriousness. The default response to success in a game of rage and combat is belligerence: an angry pose or a violent firing of the ball into the turf. And yet here is the rarest of men: one who can throw his body into a snarling pile of large humans—all gunning for him with malicious intent—and emerge on the other side with a radioactive grin and a first down.

So at this point maybe you’re wondering whether there’s anything that hasn’t been said about Cam Newton. Fair point.