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Rick Reilly Takes Unwarranted Shot At Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers Take Warranted Shot At Rick Reilly

Rick Reilly is the most hated man on the internet. This is a fact. After the Carolina Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, Reilly hoped to redeem his now less than stellar reputation with some real news scooping. Like, say, this:

Cam Newton is really quick, until it’s time to get dressed. Took him 54 minutes last night. Then did media. Team waited on bus for 40 mins.

— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) November 27, 2012

He’s young. He’ll learn. Leaders always think team, not just on the field … MT @updike10 … just shows its all about Cam. #selfish

— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) November 27, 2012

Though it seemed like a veiled attempt to pile on the Cam Newton-is-a-diva train, using a possibly isolated incident to hammer home a larger character flaw, facts are facts. Except Rick Reilly has proven that facts aren’t necessarily facts, but there was no evidence to the contrary.

That is until Steven Drummond, a media relations employee for the Carolina Panthers, stepped in to correct Reilly’s facts.

. @reillyrick report that Cam had team wait 40 minutes on bus is completely false. Cam wasn’t even the last player out of the locker room.

— Steven Drummond (@StevenJuston) November 28, 2012

. @reillyrick Cam also took time to meet with @eagles clubhouse equipment guys after meeting with media. He signed their Wall of Fame.

— Steven Drummond (@StevenJuston) November 28, 2012

Of course it’s difficult to know who’s telling the truth, with the probably-not-objective Reilly on one side and public relations spinmaster Drummond on the other. Still, given Reilly’s track record, we’ll take Drummond’s word for it.

[ProFootballTalk]

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