Bill Romanowski, former
NFL linebacker and all-around doer of dumb things, had some thoughts on
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s sullen and short-lived post-game
media appearance after Super Bowl 50, and he took them to Twitter, where many
denounced his since-deleted tweet as racist. Newton appeared only briefly after the game
to take questions from a throng of eager reporters, muttering only short
answers before abruptly absconding from the press corps. Newton’s interview, or
lack thereof, did not sit well with Romanowski. “You will never last a minute
in the NFL with that attitude,” Romanowski tweeted. “The world doesn’t revolve
around you, boy!” Newton’s brash style and flamboyant celebrations have made
him a lightning rod for criticism throughout the Panthers’ franchise-best 15-1
regular season. Many have said the harsh words aimed at Newton have been
motivated, at least in part, by his race, an issue Newton addressed in the run-up
to the Super Bowl.
“I’ve said this since
Day One,” he told reporters. “I’m an African American quarterback that scares
people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to.” Beyond
the racist connotations of the word “boy,” Romanowski’s assertion that Newton
“will never last a minute in the NFL” seems odd given that he had just played,
albeit poorly, in the Super Bowl and was named the Most Valuable Player of the
regular season. Romanowski’s comment—which he first attempted to clarify and then apologized for—shouldn’t
really come as a surprise, though. This is the same guy who spit in the face of San Francisco 49ers
receiver J.J. Stokes on national television, who punched his own
teammate in the face—breaking his eye socket and ending his career—during
practice and who has been accused of racism by members of his own team
throughout his career.
In a Feb. 3 video interview
posted by Bleacher Report, Romanowski, who played for the Raiders,
49ers, Eagles and Broncos over the course of his 16-year career, was asked
who’d he rather hit if given the chance, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning or
Newton. “Cam Newton. Are you kidding me?” Romanowski responded. “I’d hit him as
hard as I possibly could and probably at the bottom of the pile, I’d try to get
him by the neck and choke him.” After his retirement in 2003, ESPN named
Romanowski as the fifth “dirtiest player in pro sports team history.”
