googoodan":thyz375k said:
This is an incredible post, but I must say your reasoning, while well rounded is flawed. Facial expressions and body language are tools for movie producers to convey emotion that is otherwise difficult to translate into a film (the same way a drunk guy in movies always has a 5 o'clock shadow and the girl throwing up is always pregnant) They actually have little bearing in reality.
I understand many people believe that perception is reality. When you see Cam's "scowl" on the sideline, you see pouting. Does that mean the reality is that Cam was pouting?
When Cam has the exact same facial expression at the end of a win, does one still perceive it to be pouting?
To illustrate my point, here are some pictures of Cam Newton on the sidelines. Two of these pictures are during wins. One is during a loss. Surely with his body language and scowl, you could easily determine whether the Panthers won or not. Which one of these were during a loss?
If you google, you lose.
Dude, I would love to accept your challenge, but 2 of the 3 pictures don't show up. Can you track them down in a way that shows here? To be fair, one picture from each is a pretty small sample size to work from, without much context about what was going on in that moment.
If in fact Cam has the same expression and body language, win or lose, then the team would pick it up after a while, and after some comeback wins like last November/December, the team attitude about what outsiders perceive as Cam "sulking" would be more like, "that's just the assassin getting ready, opponents look out!"
If Cam, on the field, leads the team to comeback after comeback, like late last year, all the chatter and BS simply goes away. He instantly becomes "expressive" and an "emotional" leader, and "you can tell by his expression how much he wants this", instead of "pouting" or "sulking".
In the spirit of fun and learning, I'll take the bait with the one that does show.
In this one, it looks to me like Cam is looking at the scoreboard, processing things in his mind about what he's going to do, feeling determined, and envisioning how he's going to make it happen. In short, constructive body language, mostly in the face and the eyes.
After writing that, I recalled some material about visual accessing cues, and looked it up. Cam is right-handed, by all accounts, so these apply to him, as written.
http://www.nlpu.com/Articles/artic14.htm
Eyes Up and Right: Dominant hemisphere visualization - i.e., constructed imagery and visual fantasy (Vc).
http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php
Up and to the Left (from viewer's perspective; but Up and to the Right of subject)
Indicates: Visually Constructed Images (Vc)
If you asked someone to "Imagine a purple buffalo", this would be the direction their eyes moved in while thinking about the question as they "Visually Constructed" a purple buffalo in their mind.
So, in this one photo, Cam is likely constructing and visualizing in his mind what he and the offense are going to do, the plays they're going to make, how they're going to approach this next possession, given the game situation. I would label it as overall, constructive body language. What actually happened on the field after that? I have no idea. Do tell.
EDIT: Now the other 2 pics show up. Getty Images server caching, or whatever.
The first pic, Cam with helmet on, reveals nothing. No facial expression visible. For all we know, Cam is looking at pictures of opponent defensive formations, on a tablet or photo that is on the ground between his feet.
The third pic. Basically I would say the same about this pic as I said for the second one, except that he has his mouth open.
As you pointed out earlier, whether Cam does his part or not, it all becomes irrelevant if the defense allows a score or the kicker fails to convert after Cam leads a drive. So, 2 of these 3 pics convey Cam as focused and ready and scheming about how he'll attack the opponents, and the other pic conveys no meaningful information at all. During the Seahawks-Panthers game, the TV cameras repeatedly showed Cam on the sideline. The best part, as a Hawks fan, is that he was on the sideline, puzzling and scheming, instead of on the field doing damage.
