You hit the nail on the head, Natty. This was unfortunate both ways. WaPo was wrong for the headline, but that is nothing new. The kid - yes, disappointing, but how old is he - 15? We’ve all done things we regret when we’re 15. Cam - I do like Cam’s enthusiasm, but the “I’m rich” response, basically stoops to a teenagers level. There were many more appropriate responses, although I’m sure in the heat of the moment, its hard to respond as you would if you had 30 seconds to consider the best way to respond.
What I don’t get is all the support for Cam here, saying 'he handled it much better than “I” would have". Kind of a sad state of affairs if that’s true.
Bottom line, yes the kid was wrong. But there was also no adult in the room. .
Yes because his response was juvenile and in his mind it was “good natured” enough to say. “I’m rich!” But then the response to that, was below the belt. The adult gets negative points in a 50/50 game of trash talk with a teenager. The adult jumps in the game, then decides to jump out when he doesn’t like the game anymore, then decides to have a talk with the teens dad.
Not saying the teen isn’t a douche, he is. I’m just acknowledging that yes, Cam decided to trash talk with the kid, so I put some of the “teachable moment” onus on him. Then all the other pro athletes that talk smack all day with each other a lot harsher than that, are coming out wagging their fingers. C’mon.
I thought Cam handled it fine and it is important to remember , even if cam responded , he shouldn’t be defined in a negative light when imo
Cam has done a lot to pay it forward.
The kid is a kid though and shouldn’t be defined by it
Lol. Why the butthurt??? As a professional he shouldn’t give a flying fuck who says anything to him. His huge ego, lack of effort in the SB and cockiness is what he’ll be remembered by. Oh and his supercam dab stunts. I’m sure cam has been humbled the last couple years and maybe more so now.
What the hell did the shirt phrase have to do with the ‘kid’ calling him a FA? And was it a kid or a teen? Why did the 31 year old say “I’m rich”? That reply deserved a " you’re bout to be poor." Hopefully for Cams sake it doesn’t happen that way but unfortunately it does to many athletes.
Brings me back to something I’ve always believed. Finance classes should be mandatory in high school and college, especially for athletes.
Going off comments here I thought the kid had threatened Cams family or something.
Cam responded with “I’m Rich”, he wasn’t in a 50/50 trash-talking game. Cam responded, the kid wouldn’t let-up, Cam asked where his Dad is at. Cam didn’t didn’t say “you’re poor” or “you’re a midget” or whatever.
This kid was a little-shit, he said in his apology that his parents didn’t teach him to be disrespectful. Well, his parents obviously didn’t teach him that or failed. This kid needs his ass-whooped by his parents. I would be seriously embarrassed if this was my child.
Yeah, 40 years ago, Cam might have slapped the shit out of the kid and the father would have probably thanked him…can’t do that anymore without getting a lawsuit and the kid’s family wanting to score some of Cam’s cash.
Cam knew the kid was obviously dumb and just talking stupid. Anyone knows that just because Cam is a Free Agent doesn’t mean he’s poor or gonna be poor. The dude has made like 110 million in his career, he’s probably in the upper 2% of income for people. Doesn’t mean he can’t become broke, just ask Mike Tyson…but Cam did fine to not engage or stoop to the dumb kids level.
Reality is, kid was being a d!ck. Cam could have just said “whatever” or ignored him, but he didn’t. I think it would have been hard to ignore that punk but it’s not impossible.
But…why go to a camp just to heckle the main attraction? I mean really?
Kid’s a punk. If my kid acted like that I would be ashamed of the job I had done trying to raise him…
These are alpha males … it’s hard to just ignore comments and aggression like that.
Personally I thought cam handled it fairly well. He kept a smile on his face and asked to speak to the kids father.
The kid was routinely taunting Cam saying he was a free agent and about to be poor. Cam then responded but I’m rich. When the kid continued he asked to speak to the young mans father.
Honestly that’s about as well as any of us could handle a situation like this.
Alpha males truly don’t care what people say/think, more often than not…IF they realize they are the alpha. The insecurity is what causes the reaction. The lead energy doesn’t care what the other energies think, in nature…in the wild. Responses are largely from societal programming. Lions, wolves, dogs, etc - the alpha completely ignores, unless the threat is actually real. Someone 1/2 your size is not a real threat, especially in a physical environment, especially when it’s his event. That youngster couldn’t have less power if he were a nat.
I had a kid stand up in the middle of my classroom and say, “Yo! ■■■■ you!” I shrugged my shoulders, told him I was certain he’d make a better decision next time. Told him he basically kicked himself out of school for 3 days, and that I’d be happy to see him, when he came back. Told him I was confident he’d do better next time." Zero reaction. You do this - x happens. You do that - y happens. Your call - your life - build it however you want. I’m here to help you make good choices if you allow the guidance.
Difference between raising Men and raising children. The second you negotiate with a kid in any way, you have deferred 100% of your power. You are now on the exact same level as him. Shrug it off, if you truly stand in your power. Cam gave the kid power by not being the alpha, in this situation. he was alpha-ish.
I think you are being really hard on Cam. The guy has always given lots of his time and money to attempt to make things better for many people.
He probably got sick of the kid heckling him and just said something to shut him up. It’s human nature to defend oneself. Just look at the vitriol that some posters on here throw around if someone didn’t think Stafford was the equal to Tom Brady, etc. and that wasn’t even in regards to them.
We all misrepresent our highest self, at times. This isn’t a stand-alone incident, for him. He’s not a very emotionally intelligent dude. Not a big deal, most people aren’t. We have to seek that sort of education independently, as it really isn’t taught anywhere.
I do tend to be harder on athletes, and just recognized that in myself. I see them as having such an amazing platform to influence. That’s MY issue, not theirs. They’re just people. I see how well some dudes handle themselves (like Stafford), and tend to us that as a barometer. That’s not fair. Everyone is a place to learn. Lesson to learn from others behavior, both aligned and misaligned. I am thankful he provided this example. Somethings he could have done much worse here…and some things he could have done much better.
