Oops!
Cam Newton delivers the most unintentionally hilarious speech in Heisman history
Cam Newton ruled another college football night — but his Heisman speech wasn'twithout controversy.
The Heisman Trophy has never been an award for saints.
The usually staid Heisman Trophy ceremonies have given us some real goofball moments in recent years. Chief among them is former winner Billy Sims ruining the announcement of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford as the 2008 winner by repeatedly (and we mean repeatedly) screaming out "Boomer! Boomer!" from the stage, trying to recreate the Sooners drunken gameday cheer in a black-tie setting.
But on a night when Cam Newton won the Heisman in a landslide, he may have even topped Billy.
What does Newton do almost as soon as he has his hands on the iconic trophy? He says, "My parents do a lot of things behind the scenes that go unnoticed."
No, actually Cam some of your parents' best behind the scenes work is extremely noticed. That $180,000 your father Cecil demanded from Mississippi State to let you become a Bulldog — which the NCAA concluded happened — for example. The reason your dad decided not to even show his face in public on one of the greatest nights of your life? Remember that little thing that has even many college football insiders wondering how you're still eligible to play?
A few people noticed it.
With his speech, Newton proved that he's either one of the shrewdest athletes in history or one of the least prepared.
It'd be great if it was the former. It would be fascinating to believe that Newton intentionally took a veiled potshot at the rampant two-faced hypocrisy that runs through college football with his behind the scenes comment. If you think Newton and Reggie Bush before him are the only two Heisman winners who've had family members seek or receive significant money for their college play, you probably still think Charlie Sheen would be great husband material as well. It happens in major and minor programs in every nook of the country — and has been happening for decades and decades.
Cecil Newton was in many ways being a good dad by negotiating for his son (whether Cam really knew about it or not). By taking out of his son's hands, Cecil Newton also kept Auburn's lifeline quarterback eligible. In many ways, it's the perfect end-around on the NCAA rule enforcers.
The university and the son can't be forced to pay for the "sins" of the father.
Of course, thinking that Newton was trying to make a statement with the behind-the-scenes comment in his Heisman speech is farfetched. It came across as just another case when the supremely talented player simply didn't prepare all that well for something and simply reacted in the moment.
On the football field, Newton's spur-of-the-moment reactions often result in game-changing plays in favor of the Tigers. Off the field, they've resulted in some questionable calls (flinging a stolen laptop out of the window of his dorm room at Florida when the cops showed up for example).
On the big Heisman stage, it just resulted in an unintentionally hilarious gaffe.
