Cam Newton's Controversial Response to a Female Reporter's Question

[DonRocks]

I make the following statement knowing full-well that half of our readers are female, and that I run the risk of controversy - that is not my intent *at all*, and I apologize in advance if this is inappropriate.

Several days ago, Cam Newton, the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, was asked the following question by a female reporter:

Cam, I know you take a lot of pride in seeing your receivers play well. Devin Funchess has seemed to really embrace the physicality of his routes and getting those extra yards. Does that give you a little bit of enjoyment to see him kind of truck-sticking people out there?

To which Newton replied, with what most people are saying was a smirk (but looked to me like a smile):

“It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes, like…” Newton said. “It’s funny.”

My question is this: Is it possible that this was the very first time Newton has ever been asked a somewhat technical question by a female reporter in his life? 

Newton grew up in Atlanta, probably playing football since he was a pre-teen. I feel pretty safe in saying he spent his pre-teen and teen years never having heard *any* questions by female journalists.

Then, he went to college at Auburn, in Auburn Alabama - probably not the most progressive of towns - and I suspect he played his entire collegiate career without much exposure to female journalists.

Now, he's in Charlotte - another southern town. This is his seventh year in the NFL, and it seems *very* unlikely after seven years that he hadn't heard a technical question by a female journalist. However, I would like to at least know if this was the first time it ever happened to him - can anyone find any example of a female reporter asking him a question using football jargon?

The only reason I bring this up is because his reply reminded me of the way I would laugh at my son Matt. When Matt was about four years old (no, I'm not comparing female journalists to four-year-old children, I assure you), he would walk through an entire parking lot, and name every single car: while he pointed to them "Toyota, BMW, Mazda, Honda, Chevrolet, Toyota, Ford," etc. It was *hilarious*, and we all started cracking up because none of us had ever heard a child that young show so much knowledge about such a non-traditional subject. There was no malevolence behind our laughter; it was just shocking to hear a child rattling off all of these automobile brands, just from looking at the logos.

If - and I acknowledge this is a *big* if - this was Newton's first time ever being asked a technical question by a female reporter, then I don't think his response was sexist; he had simply never been exposed to it before. Given that he has been a star in the league for so long, this scenario seems very unlikely, but it's not impossible. 

I guess I'm a little surprised at the consistent, widespread fury by the female population. If I became an expert in a subject that's traditionally not something a male excels in - I don't know, pick one: needlepoint, sewing, nursing, food writing, or whatever - I don't think I'd be *this* offended by women being taken off-guard by my knowledge, and calling it "cute." Then again, males haven't been held under a glass ceiling, so I guess that's where this analogy breaks down.

Anyway, I'm just posing a very unlikely possibility that isn't completely impossible (honestly, I have absolutely no clue how many NFL reporters are female - I haven't watched professional football in many, many years, and I know almost nothing about Cam Newton). If you're a female and are offended by this, then please believe me that you're reading it in the wrong spirit - I'm simply trying to find *some* scenario where Newton doesn't come across as sexist, because he is universally being raked over the coals. 

Can we at least agree that it wasn't *this* bad?