Before Cam Newton even entered the NFL, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson told him to avoid tattoos and keep his hair short. Compared to what Patriots radio announcer and ex-QB Scott Zolak said about Newton on Thursday, Richardson was downright modern and welcoming.
“I’d turn off the rap music first of all because I think it’s distracting for Cam here. In between every throw he’s dancing,” Zolak said of totally standard behavior for athletes. “He makes a throw, and then the music is still cranking ...
“He can’t help himself to the point where, Mac [Jones] looks like he came to work again ... everything is attention to detail.”
His co-host, Marc Betrand, tried to deter Zolak, saying that “none of this sounds atypical,” but Zolak could not be stopped.
“He came out, still jacking around,” Zolak said of Newton’s return after five days away from the team, calling for the Patriots to go with Jones, the rookie out of Alabama. It is barely worth pointing out that Newton has said he’s impressed by Jones’ “knowingness of hip-hop”; Zolak’s screeching exists in a realm beyond debunking.
It wasn’t the first time Zolak melted down over Newton. He called him “absolutely putrid” and openly called for his benching during a game broadcast last year.
Zolak was a backup quarterback for the Patriots and Dolphins from 1992-99 and has been a Boston radio fixture since retiring, hosting an eponymous sports talk show and working as the Patriots’ radio color announcer since 2012. He did not appear on “Zolak & Bertrand” on Friday.
