South Fulton, Georgia is near where Cam Newton went to high school and he has some family living there, so someone decided it would be a good idea to name a stretch of Scarborough Road in his honor.
As the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports, the decision is not being met with open arms by some local residents. At a public hearing last week, people objected to the costs they would incur switching their records to Cam Newton Drive and also brought up Newton’s collegiate indiscretions as a reason not to have a road named after the Panthers quarterback.
Unfortunately for those of us who would love to tie two different Newton stories together, the anti-Cam Newton Drive faction hasn’t started a petition that people would sign in exchange for money.
South Fulton Commissioner Bill Edwards said that it wasn’t necessary to delve into personal attacks on Newton and his family. Per Edwards, if residents don’t want the name to change, it won’t change and there’s another public hearing Tuesday night on the issue.
Even with Newton hitting the NFL operating at full speed as a rookie, it seems like a bit early to start renaming things after the man. One never knows what twists and turns life is going to take and, as Deadspin points out, these decisions can come back to haunt athletes later in life. Brien Taylor had a street in North Carolina named after him when he was drafted first overall by the Yankees only to wind up living with his parents on the same street after his baseball career disappeared following a shoulder injury.
There’s no reason to think Newton is heading down a similar road, but you might as well wait until he turns 25 before hanging his name on major thoroughfares.