Letters: Did Cam Newton not understand the gravity of the Super Bowl?

Cam Newton entered the Super Bowl as MVP and left as MCP — most criticized player. He earned both.

Sol Bialeck

Van Nuys

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Nobody likes to lose, especially on the grandest stage of them all. But how you accept losing is equally important. As in life, we don’t get everything we want. It is how we overcome adversity that defines us. Everybody gets hit in the mouth sometime.

Perhaps Cam Newton will learn this lesson. His lack of class at the postgame news conference made him look like a 10-year-old child who didn’t get an iPhone for Christmas. What kind of role model does that make him look like? He may not like that role, but it comes with the job. You can’t just have the baby and not the labor pains.

A little “dab” of humility might make him see this in the future.

Craig London

Encino

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Poor Cam, his team lost a ballgame. Poor Cam, with his head bowed in dejected defeat. Poor Cam, walking from a postgame session so resoundingly disappointed. Poor Cam, with his NFL-amassed wealth while millions of Americans, including children, go hungry on a nightly basis. Poor Cam, as millions of senior citizens scramble on a monthly basis just to make ends meet! Poor Cam, as our babies fight for their lives against the evil scourge of early onset childhood cancers.

Well, at least there’s one great thing from poor Cam’s haunting grief — no goofy end-zone histrionics on his part.

Earl Beal

Terre Haute, Ind.

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Nine other quarterbacks have won the NFL regular season MVP award and lost the Super Bowl following the regular season. Peyton Manning twice. It appears we have seen something like Cam Newton before.

Roland G. Simpson

Los Angeles

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What made watching Super Bowl 50 a disappointing mess? Was it the 15 punts, or 18 penalties? Nah. Was it the seven fumbles and 33 incomplete passes? Nope. It was the overbearing, nonstop talking about Peyton blah, blah Manning blah, blah, blah that bothered me even more than all his annoying TV commercials.

James Regan

Carlsbad

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Peyton Manning’s shameless plugging of his favorite beer (in blatant violation of league rules banning players from endorsing booze) in post-Super Bowl interviews further disgraces a comically over-commercialized event ($10,000 tickets anyone? $15 popcorn? $5 million commercial spot?) and sends a disturbing message to America’s youth — crassly connecting alcohol consumption with the celebration of athletic success.

Brad Kearns

Auburn, Calif.

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Is Carolina still trying to run up the middle?

Kevin H. Park

Woodland Hills

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I had a dream after watching the Denver defense dismantle Carolina in the Super Bowl that USC had rehired Clancy Pendergast as defensive coordinator to implement his attacking, blitzing, man-to-man coverage defense.

Eddie Dawes

Hacienda Heights

Blake’s mistake

If Blake Griffin had beaten up a fellow employee in any other business, he would have been fired. A four-game suspension is a slap on the wrist of his good hand.

Vaughn Hardenberg

Westwood

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With Blake Griffin’s salary from the five-game penalty going to charities for disadvantaged youth in L.A., can we expect some of that near $900,000 to spruce up locker rooms and parquet floors like Paul Pierce generously provided his Inglewood alma mater for merely $32k?

Henry Rosenfeld

Santa Monica

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The picture on the front page of Wednesday’s sports section says it all. Blake’s arrogant nose-in-the-air attitude.

Ed Freeman

Moorpark

The farewell tour

I find it ironic that Kobe Bryant has become the Lakers’ not-so-secret weapon in their dive to the top draft choice . If there was any doubt, Byron Scott’s comment after Bryant’s six-of-25 shooting in Indiana should erase it. “Sometimes you live and die with it. I’m willing to do that with him.”

In other words, in a two-point loss, somebody else probably would have won it for us.

Bert Bergen

La Cañada

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Nine for 27. Six for 25. Bad shot selection. Exactly what is Kobe teaching the young Lakers?

Richard Raffalow

Valley Glen

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I’m sure Kobe has a lot more pride than to want a “gimme” as All-Star MVP, and it’s embarrassing to even suggest it.

Martin Wauson

Westminster

The rivalry goes on

We UCLA fans would like to help reader Sophie Perry figure out whether USC is a football school or a basketball school. It’s quite simple, really, when you answer this question:

How many NCAA championships has USC won in men’s basketball (zero), and how many has UCLA won (11)?

Lou Prentice

Ventura

Last week reader Sophie Perry asked if USC is a football or a basketball school. Sadly, the answer is neither. Beating UCLA once in four years in football and going to a second-tier bowl game won’t do it. And having a better basketball team than a rebuilding UCLA team for the first time in forever won’t do it either. Your dusty old football trophies can remind you of football greatness. As for basketball, I really don’t know what to say.

Alan Abajian

Alta Loma

Tribute to Pat

I guess as an avid UCLA fan I should be pleased that Pat Haden is retiring as USC athletic director, but I’m not. Pat Haden is the class of college sports. Not only did he clean up the incredible mess he inherited, Haden brought the football program back to national prominence. His critics complained when he exhibited compassion toward a coach who allegedly suffered from alcoholism, but Haden was able to move strongly when it became apparent that a change was immediately needed.

Oh, by the way, have his critics noticed how Haden resurrected the basketball program through the prescient hiring of Andy Enfield? College athletics is losing a brilliant administrator and decent human being.

Stu Bernstein

Santa Monica

The price we pay

I read David Lazarus’ Feb. 9 article in the Business section, “Plugged into pay TV in Canada,” and he mentioned that Time Warner Cable was raising its broadcast TV and sports programming monthly charge from $5.50 to $8.75, a 60% increase. Dennis Johnson, a TWC spokesman said it was due, among other things, to the rising costs of cable sports programming.

Translation: Because no resolution appears to be in sight, we need to gouge our subscribers further to make up the lost revenues due to the horrendous TV deal we made with the Dodgers.

Jeff Hershow

Woodland Hills

It’s everywhere

Eric Sondheimer [Feb. 12] is 100% correct about the need for athletes to stop their atrocious behavior on and off the field, whether manifested in taunting, showboating, excessive physical contact or disrespect toward coaches and others. While Mr. Sondheimer directs his column to high school athletes, the problem is much more widespread, and is worse in college and professional sports.

Prep athletes see college and pro athletes behaving badly, then emulate those whose footsteps they hope to follow. Not only do high school coaches need to take control, college and pro coaches need to do the same. League officials at every level need to take strong measures to punish this type of behavior, which would go a long way in deterring it from happening. Let’s not forget parents have a role to play also.

Steven J. Barkin

Studio City

Not right angle

Let me give Derek Fisher a geometry lesson. A triangle is a triangle when two of it sides are named Michael and Scottie, or Shaq and Kobe.

If one of the sides is named Carmelo, it will never be a triangle,

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

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