In the weeks leading up to its national championship win over Oregon, the Auburn football team saw an increase in detest unbeknownst in previous years. Did Cam Newton accept money to play for Auburn? Did Cecil Newton (Cam’s father) shop his son to the highest bidder? Was Nick Fairley’s level of play too dirty for even the rough-and-nasty Southeastern Conference?
One could surmise that a championship contender would take a certain amount of heat. This was the first time that the Tigers and their fan base had been thrown on stage, blinded by an unruly spotlight. The championship was won. The season was over. The vitriol continued.
**
Stanley McClover, handshakes, and lies
Stanley McClover, a former defensive end who was a member of the 2004 undefeated team, came forth on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumble saying he willingly took hundred-dollar handshakes from boosters and received performance bonuses, such as $1,000 per sack for walloping the Alabama quarterback in the Iron Bowl. On the Plains for two years, McClover, dubbed “The Predator,” for his long dreadlocks and menacing play, was only a fan favorite to those Auburn fans with an acquired palette (most thought he was too much of a nuisance). One could assume McClover was convinced (or paid) to say something shedding bad light on Auburn. A member of the show’s production team tried doing this to former four-year Auburn safety Junior Rosegreen , who told the story to AuburnSports.com:
“I called (the HBO producer) and cussed his ass out. He would say, ‘I just want to hear Stanley’s story.’ I said, ‘Stanley’s story is he’s a storyteller. That’s his story.’ He tried so hard to get me to say something bad about Auburn. He would say, ‘Off the record…off the record.’ He said that about 10 times. I said, ‘Fine. You want me to tell you something off the record? Here you go: Stanley is a damn liar.’”
McClover, who many fans (including I) cheered wildly for in the 2005 Iron Bowl as he sacked Alabama’s Brodie Croyle four times, has become something of a tragic figure.
Rosegreen did not hesitate to light into McClover:
“The coaches told him that he didn’t need to leave (college) early. The (NFL) general managers said he needed to stay in college and learn how to play the run, but he didn’t listen. He spent four years in the NFL and is already broke. I was told Stanley got $20,000 (by HBO for the interview), and I know for a fact you don’t get that money until you give them something, until you tell them what they want to hear. That is the only motive he has for telling these lies.”
Regardless of whether or not McClover’s word is true, the court of public opinion – which already seems to despise Auburn following the attempt by both ESPN and The New York Times to sully the Cam Newton Era – has ruled against Auburn. The Tigers are cast as cheats. They are hated. Gene Chizik might as well trot out the Tigers in black jerseys.
**
In addition to HBO punching a solid hole through any reputation that Auburn had left, this happened.
The scuff with the law, more akin to something that you would see at Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, or Florida State, was new territory for Auburn. A fan of the Tigers should chalk it up as an anomaly and note the gumption of Chizik to kick the four arrested players off the team immediately. The swift booting proved that Auburn’s coach had some PR savvy; instead of “Four Auburn players arrested” the typical headline for the incident was “Four Auburn players arrested, kicked off team.”
The fallout of Auburn continues at the professional level, where Cam Newton is under fire for practically everything. ** Cam Newton is a bust before he takes a snap
If at all possible, I am more of a Cam Newton fan than I was while he made it a practice to don an Auburn jersey every Saturday. I hate professional football. I live in Charlotte. And because of the pre-existing admiration for Newton and the seemingly universal hate of the young man, I’m all in like Chizik vs. Clemson. I might actually make the trek to Bank of America Stadium one Sunday.
The pre-draft coverage of Newton was embarrassing. The weight of which Newton cared about football was questioned by NFL.com’s Mike Mayock. His character was outright assassinated in an over-the-top scouting report written by Pro Football Weekly’s Nolan Nawrocki. His bizarre QB Camp interview on ESPN with Jon Gruden was replayed over and over with a ferocity that was intended for the viewing audience to focus on his inability to name a specific play in the Gus Malzahn offense, a cheap shot from a network feeling jilted of a Pulitzer.
Now, Newton is a Carolina Panther, for better or worse. He might be a bust. He might be a superstar. Regardless, it seemed like many were quick to use a JaMarcus Russell comparison, rather than a Michael Vick one.
All of the aforementioned quarterbacks came out of college early and were taken with the top pick in the pro football draft. All were mobile, cannon-armed passers that competed within an easy-to-learn collegiate offense. All were African-American. Vick, despite his troubles with the law, has been a success on the field. Russell is no longer in the league. If all three compare on the surface, how come very little linkage between Vick and Newton has been made? That would result in a positive connotation for the reigning Heisman winner and national championship-winning quarterback. And those two distinctions are exclusive to Newton in this discussion of three college standouts.
And how intricate is professional football, really? When talking with someone who plays football or used to play football and now covers the sport, it is a game beyond the realm of typical human comprehension. As someone who has not played organized football at all, my understanding of the sport is this:
1. The offense is scripted with the intention of moving the ball for positive yardage.
2. The defense, unscripted, reacts to the offense in hopes of stopping the offense from gaining positive yardage.
3. This is a timed contest.
With that, it is my understanding that having a smart coach (from a football-standpoint) that is adept in clock management is crucial. An offense that can adequately carry out a script is required. If by chance the defense causes the offense to go off-script, a quarterback with the acumen/instinct to create a play on the fly for positive yardage is essential.
It is also my understanding, after watching Newton do this for 14 games in a five-month span, that he is capable of fitting what equates to be my template of a good quarterback.
So why is it that this is questioned? What in his previous college experience (he also won a junior college national championship while playing at Blinn Community College in Texas) indicates that he would be incapable of being a quality quarterback?
If his off-the-field decision-making is an issue that “football minds” deem unworthy, then a holier-than-thou, presumptuous approach has been taken in grading Newton’s prospective professional career. It is also a hypocritical outlook.
Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls and has played in a third in the last six seasons as the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, currently making him one of pro football’s most successful quarterbacks. Away from the field, Roethlisberger has crashed a motorcycle while not wearing a helmet. He has also been accused of rape on two occasions: the first, stemming from an incident in 2008, the second in 2010.
The motorcycle crash without wearing a helmet stands on its own merit. The accusations, and that might be all they are, of rape implies that Roethlisberger likely employed some very questionable decision-making. Evidence suggests that Roethlisberger is a stupid individual; however, his ability to win is placed at a premium in the professional football ranks. Newton’s brush with the law was purchasing a stolen laptop. The pay-for-play scandal, if true, was only illegal under the watch of the NCAA. And even that turned out to be a minor offense, despite the continued assurance by ESPN, The New York Times, et al that the claims were real. Newton was also 14-0, playing in the nation’s toughest college football conference.
Common logic suggests that Newton would make for a very successful quarterback at the professional level. The football lifers, who fancy themselves as intelligent and articulate within their industry, have said otherwise, panning the Panthers’ selection.
In the typical workplace, Roethlisberger would be fired and hardpressed to find another job. Newton, might nail the job interview, but uncertainty of his hiring is understood. With Roethlisberger remaining on the Steelers, it is clear that this is not the typical workplace. If football lifers accept Roethlisberger, it is only fair that Newton is allowed into the inner circle, at least by their logic.
Football is not as intricate as some may think. It certainly is not a sport broken down by statistics and flocked to by intelligent minds like basketball, baseball, and soccer (March’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which I attended, was evidence of this). While I appreciate and admire Auburn’s players and coaches as football savants, those that participate in and cover the sport are not likely to be in the nation’s top percentile for intelligence, at least at the professional level, as Malzahn’s methods have been praised by Chuck Klosterman. We do not watch football to revel in awe-inspiring thought from a defensive end.
(You already knew this. You cheered for Stanley McClover’s ability to sack Brodie Croyle four times, not his affinity for acing an exam in the Haley Center).
Football is a simple game played by athletes with incredible strength and skill. It is also a game managed by jock-smart individuals who often fail to use common sense.
Cam Newton is common sense personified. And any reason against the notion is further vitriol surrounding the Auburn program.
**
As fans of our beloved Tigers, we may as well get used to the fact that we are riding with black hats for the foreseeable future. That Auburn’s current team has gone under the radar during spring practice and could be expected to rank in the 16th-22nd range prior to fall camp, should help soothe some of the heavy hate. People are naturally fans of winning. Outside of the Auburn fan base, fans are not winning, so they turn to whining. We knew that a crystal trophy was a result of blood, sweat, and tears. We did not know that a crystal trophy resulted in verbal, mental, and – in the case of the Toomer’s Corner oak trees – physical bruises.
In the crazy world of sports, being the hunted is an enviable position. The hunted is hated and the hated is hunted.
Breathe the double-whammy in easy, Auburn fans. We will get through this together.
The Jungle Cat is an online magazine dedicated to Auburn Tigers Football, written by David Smith.
