Charlotte Observer
Traina Thoughts: ESPN's Paul Finebaum Wrongly Says Cam Newton Has 'Never Cared About Anybody but Cam Newton'
1. Paul Finebaum should probably stick to current SEC football.
The ESPN host appeared on Wednesday's edition of Get Up and lauched into a bizarre personal attack on Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. According to Finebaum, Newton, who has been hampered by several injuries over the past couple of seasons, including this year, doesn't deserve any sympathy from people because, "Cam Newton has never cared about anyone but Cam Newton."
Obviously, people can have their issues with Newton over things he's done in the past, and you may not like the dabbing or the Superman celebrations, but to say he's never cared about anyone but himself is just flat-out wrong and anyone who covers sports should be aware that the Carolina star has been extremely charitable throughout his career.
In addition to starting The Cam Newton Foundation, we have seen Newton surprise sick children in the hospital.
We've seen him do amazing work for Make-A-Wish.
We've seen him go out of his way to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. And give them his jersey.
We've seen him play Santa and give away thousands of dollars in presents to at-need children.
And there's this story about a kid who mistakenly thought Newton had sent him a jersey for Christmas. When the kid's aunt took to Twitter to see if Newton could actually sign her nephew's jersey, he came through.
In addition, there have been stories about Newton giving touchdown balls to a 6-year-old boy who lost his father, and making birthday wishes come true and just last week, he called over a young fan to chat with him on the field before Carolina's game against Tampa Bay.
Listen, I'd expect this kind of a nonsense take from someone who is on an FS1 daytime show, but Paul Finebaum should really know better.
Yes, Paul, this is definitely someone who is clearly a selfish monster.
2. A new SI Media Podcast came out today and it features an interview with Troy Aikman. FOX's No. 1 analyst had a lot to say about the NFL's officiating problem (he said it's "nauseating"), he talked about calling two games a week for FOX with the addition of Thursday Night Football and he explained what happened with FOX higher ups after his viral tweet ripping colleague Doug Gottieb and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
3. The Jets-Patriots line has gone from New England -22.5 Tuesday to New England -23 today on 5Dimes. Where will it be by kickoff Sunday.
4. Jets quarterback Sam Darnold would like you to know that this woman did NOT give him mono.
5. Former New York Giants offensive lineman David Diehl went on Mike Francesa's show Tuesday to talk about Eli Manning getting benched for Daniel Jones. The only problem was that Diehl called Mike "Frank" when he got on the line and the radio host was not pleased.
6. The WWE has called on Brock Lesnar to generate buzz for SmackDown Live's Oct. 4 debut on FOX. It was announced Tuesday night that Lesnar would face champion Kofi Kingston on the show. The possibility of WWE having Lesnar just destroy Kingston makes me nervous here because that would be very bad and very boring. If WWE and FOX really wanted to get this relationship started with a bang, they'd have Kingston pin Lesnar.
7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: This was a big deal on Twitter on Tuesday:
The obvious answer to this question is easy: 1) Tony Soprano; 2) Tony Soprano and 3) Tony Soprano.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
IN CLOSING: I watched the full Comedy Central Roast of Alec Baldwin on Tuesday night and Blake Griffin was legit one of the top three or four roasters.
