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A Bad Sport Is Bad Business –Even In Sports

Cam Newton at post game interview. Superbowl 50. Photo: ESPN

After umpteen preseason and Sunday night- Monday night season games, Super Bowl 50 claimed its new ‘champion of champions’ and unfortunately this go round for Cam Newton, it wasn’t Cam Netwon.

The Denver Broncos and veteran QB Peyton Manning claimed the bling by defeating QB Cam Newton,26, and the Carolina Panthers in the most watched rivalry game of the 50th season. After coming up short, Mr. Cam “Superman” Newton ‘was not there’ for the the post game interview. Like, at all. Problem is, it’s part of his job.

After seeing Cam storm out, I can honestly say that as a supporter I was a little disappointed in his lack of composure and overall disrespect for the game- the opportunity. Millions of players would have probably given anything for that kind of opportunity.

Instead, the young Atlanta native let his emotions get the better of him and reacted to the team’s loss by pouting (at times) arms crossed, refusing to answer questions (or at best offering up fizzled out one word “yes” or “no” responses) then ultimately walking out of the interview all together. No final words, no apologies, world still watching–whole nine yards.

Trust, as a highly competitive competitor, I understand his hurt in not winning (not really because he makes gazillions of dollars to do what he does and I don’t)– or at best I can at at least empathize. He WANTED this win, his ego NEEDED this win and with at least 100 million people watching and millions betting, there’s a ton of money on the line. The stakes were extremely high. I get it. All of the pressure aside, losing doesn’t give an excuse for that kind of unprofessionalism. It’s uncool. Besides, I don’t believe in letting ’em’ see you sweat but we’ll blame emotions for now.

Hopefully for his sake and the sake of his pockets, Superman’s people will wheel him back in and remind him of what proper business etiquette means. True, it is football, but it’s certainly business for him. He’s a multi million dollar guy now. Poor sportsmanship etiquette is a quick way to gain a reputation, and plus, it just looks bad. Matter of fact, it’s a horrible look for such a good looking guy. That’s not the look of the new the face.

Based on age and talent, it’s probably a safe bet on “Superman” flying into plenty more Super Bowl stadiums during his NFL career. What happened Sunday can’t happen again, there will never be another chance to recover from that kind of fumble on the play. Too many people are watching.

Hopefully next time- if there is a next- he won’t let the world see him so defeated. The most important thing to remember here is that the kids are watching and they’re little human sponges. They soak up what they see and they follow examples. That was a poor example.

Unfortunately losing is a sour part of everyone’s life, but what really matters in the end is how we react to defeat. Our response to adversity is generally what people remember about us – be it good or bad. Poor sportsmanship is not what champions are made of, nor does it look good and in Cam’s case, it’s bad for his business. Besides, it’s just not sexy, and sexy he is!

Everyday provides a new opportunity to do better. Better luck next time…

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Italian Police Dismantle Female ‘Black Widow’ Mafia Syndicate

Concetta Scalisi, one of the women wh allegedly o ran the Laudini Mafia clan, arrested in 2001. Photo: Sipa Press/SIPA

Via The Guardian– Italian police have arrested dozens of suspected Mafia members in an international operation to dismantle a powerful Sicilian crime group run by women.

Over 500 officers took part in the raid on the Laudani clan in the Sicilian port of Catania, nicknamed “Mussi di ficurinia” (“Prickly pear lips”), in a sting that also involved forces in Germany and the Netherlands, Italian police told AFP.

Three women, known as the three queens of Caltagirone, a town near Catania, had ruled the clan with an iron grip as well as governing all financial matters but were brought down by the heir to the clan who began helping police.

The suspects were all wanted for Mafia association, extortion, drug trafficking and possessing illegal arms.

Of 109 arrest warrants issued on Wednesday, 86 people were detained, 23 were already serving time in prison and six are still “on the run.”

Italian authorities say Giuseppe Laudani was selected to run the clan when he was 17 after his Mafia boss father was killed but he turned to police and told how the three women, Maria Scuderi, 51, Concetta Scalisi, 60 and Paola Torrisi, 52, had raised him.

Known as “the prince”, he described a world of violence and vendettas, with the women building power after his aunt Concetta’s life was saved by his father during an attempted assassination at the end of the 1980s, Italian media reports said.

Torrisi, daughter of a mobster boss who used to manage the clan’s international drug trading, was still young when she began to organise couriers in the area around Mount Etna, the active volcano which dominates Catania.

Laudani also told police about his brother Pippo and half-brother Alberto Caruso, as well as his grandfather Sebastiano Laudini, 90, who had served time between 1986 and 2012 and is now back under house arrest.

According to prosecutor Michelangelo Patane, the clan, which had sought ties with the cocaine-running ’Nrangheta mafia in Calabria, had a huge arsenal of weapons, including two bazookas.

The rocket launchers were intended for use in hits on several Sicilian magistrates but the plan was foiled when another informer told police the weapons were hidden in a garage on the slopes of Mount Etna.

The Laudani are believed to be behind a string of violent attacks in the 1990s, including the murder of a prison warden and a lawyer who had refused to be bought.

Police said they had been hampered in their investigations by local business owners, who either lied about being the victims of attempts to extort money from them or admitted the extortion but refused to help identify those responsible.

The Sicilian Mafia, known as “Cosa Nostra” or “Our Thing”, was Italy’s most powerful organised crime syndicate in the 1980s and 1990s, but has seen its power diminish following years of probes and mass arrests.

It also faces fierce underworld competition from the increasingly powerful Naples-based Camorra and ’Ndrangheta.