I hated Cam Newton. With a passion.

Seeing him saunter onto collegiate football fields around the America, clad in Auburn Blue and White made me sick to my stomach.

I hated his braggadocious personality and his cocky smile. I hated the fact his obvious recruitment violations were put on the back burner. And I definitely hated the way he, in two games against my beloved Gamecocks, jump started his Heisman campaign in the beginning of the season and solidified it at the end of the year by running us out of the Georgia Dome. I genuinely wished he would fail every time he stepped on the field for the Auburn Tigers in 2010 (they didn’t lose a game)

Maybe this speaks to a fundamental flaw in my character, but the guy just never lost and it bothered me. How could someone be so incredible? After leaving the University of Florida he won a junior college national championship, became the only five star recruit in the country (high school or junior college), went to Auburn, went undefeated while playing in the toughest division of the toughest conference in America, won the Heisman, won the National Championship, got selected as the number one overall pick, and then won Rookie of the Year. Not to mention he is a freak of a physical specimen at 6 ft 5 in and 245 pounds.

This season my feelings towards Cam have changed.

First of all, I’m not a big American professional sports fan. It’s hard for me to keep up with the NBA because the season is so long and there are games just about every night of the week and the NFL kind of bored me, it wasn’t as exciting as college football. I only partially support some teams like the Washington Redskins and the Portland Trailblazers because I have family in those cities. Growing up in the south professional sports were never a priority, it was all about supporting your college team. So the fact I started religiously watching the NFL, a league I only traditionally watched come January/February, and the Carolina Panthers, a time I never really cared about before…at all, is a bit weird. However, as I watched the Panthers play each week something began to happen; I fell victim to the Cam Newton Effect. As I watched his MVP campaign unfold I began to fall in love with him as a player. All of the things I hated about him before began to change; I began viewing the braggadocious personality he used to exude in college as justified confidence, the cocky smile that use to make my stomach turn when he donned Auburn garb began looking like the smile of a guy that just thoroughly enjoyed his craft, and the anger I felt when he ran up the score on his collegiate opponents turned to amusement as he annihilated his NFL foes.

After years of not caring about the NFL or the Carolina Panthers was I becoming a fan of both the league and the team?

Perhaps, but more importantly I was becoming a fan of Cam Newton.

So with that being said, thank you Cam. Thank you for bringing me to the NFL, thank you for bringing me to the Carolina Panthers and thank you for showing the world what a man enjoying his craft truly looks like. Keep pounding and most importantly, keep dabbin’ on them folks.