Quote:I think the whole press conference thing is a lot of hullabaloo over not much at all.

 

If he smiled and laughed like he normally does, he would be lambasted for not caring.

 

It is not a stretch to suggest (that failure to go for that fumble notwithstanding) that he is a competitor and wants to win.

 

He has probably dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl his entire life.

 

Not only did his team lose the game, but he probably had the worst game of his season in the process while his offense was getting their collective butts handed to them.

 

Though he is young, he has no guarantee of ever getting back to the Super Bowl (see Marino, Dan).

 

Yes, he is going to be upset.  No, he's not going to want to talk to the media after the loss.  When he did, his unhappiness was evident.

 

Was it the ideal way of conducting a post championship press conference?

 

No.

 

But we say we want "genuine" athletes, then we get bent out of shape when he displays genuine disappointment and emotion after a tough loss.

 

I don't think anyone here is saying that he should have been in a good mood during the press conference.  I think what people are saying is that he should have sat there for a solid 3 minutes and answered the questions to the media.  Why didn't he go after the fumble?  How does he feel?  Etc....the one word answers came off as sulking.  Something an 8 year old does after a loss, not a grown man.  If you are willing to dab on 'em, do the superman thing, and be happy all year during the good times you also have to be willing to accept defeat with a tad bit of humility.  That wasn't shown last night.

 

I think he will learn a ton from this.  I think he will look back on how he handled himself and do better in the future.  He's still a young guy.  Ron Rivera stood at the podium and you would have thought he lost a regular season game in the middle of the season.  He's a good guy to have around to show Cam the ropes.

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