Sports

Samantha Ponder Has By Far The Best Take On The Cam Newton Situation

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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ESPN’s Samantha Ponder might have the best take on Cam Newton laughing at a female reporter’s question.

“You know what’s not going to solve that problem? Forced apologies and public shame. Shame alone makes people hide, not change. And what’s our goal anyways? The goal isn’t to shout people down, and make them lose money or make them shut up. The goal is to open up minds and change hearts. That comes from relationship, exposure over time and conversation. Not reducing human beings to heroes and villains, and holding trails where we are both judge and jury in the coliseum like court of social media,” Ponder said in part Sunday when discussing sexism towards women in the sports world in relation to Newton’s actions.

Ponder seems to have the clearest and best take on the whole situation. Has anybody changed because the Twitter mob came for their head? I don’t think so.

Newton should be smart enough to know what he did was going to upset people. That doesn’t mean he’s the worst person walking the planet because he didn’t act maturely during a press conference. ESPN might be heading down the drain and selling out to the fringe elements of the left as fast as the company can, but it’s still nice to see they employ somebody who is willing to analyze a situation before speaking on it.

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