Let’s be honest, Ron Rivera’s explanation for benching Cam Newton for the first series of a nationally televised, must-win game against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday for what he called a “travel dress code violation” left everyone perplexed. Not wearing a tie these days has some stiff penalties…or does it?
Many, including myself, thought there was more to the story given the fact that Newton has gone tie-less in the past – including this road trip to Jacksonville last season:
Usually, when something doesn’t add up speculation begins. According to Bar Stool Sports, a visit to the strip club was the real reason for Newton’s benching.
I have it on good authority from someone who has steered me right before that this has nothing to do with a dress code. Unless you count the dress code in the strip club Newton took some teammates to while the Panthers were staying out near San Francisco between games on the West Coast.
Now, I don’t know exactly what went on in the club to warrant Rivera sitting him down for a series. Newton is no stranger to making it pour in nudie bars, but when that made the news for it before, that was in June. Maybe Rivera has a specific rule about supporting single moms during the season. I wouldn’t know.
This sounds more plausible. TMZ released a video Monday saying this is when Rivera confronted Newton about the wardrobe violation:
I’m still not buying it and the picture above is evidence enough that ties aren’t THAT important. Is a visit to the strip club the real reason? We’ll never know. But in the future, if the team wants to keep things in-house they should come up with something a little more believable to sell us or we’ll go searching for the truth.