EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE: A Lil’ Dab will do Ya

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Perspective is a giant.  What one person loves another may hate.  Case in point, Cam Newton. A lot of people disagree with Cam Newton’s response to losing the Super Bowl. Heck, people hated him all year for celebrating wins. But we’ve seen countless family photos of those family dabbing on game day and when a kid gets a game ball, their smile lights up the stadium.  These are memories. The entire football season has been a memory making one and also a lesson….if you ask our Extraordinary Person of the Week, Matt Ham.

Cue Carolina Panther game and fans cheering….

Photo: Matt Ham and his kids at Panthers game

“I said, you know what, as a father to 3 little boys watching this guy on tv, what could we learn from him.?”

Tucked away in the top floor of his home, you’ll find Matt Ham writing motivational words.  You know, how to see the good in everyone. Words his children will be proud of when they grow up.

“One of the problems we face right now,” Ham said, “is we always want to point out what’s wrong with everything, what’s wrong with everybody, what’s wrong with every situation. It’s really easy to point a finger at somebody and tell them to look in the mirror, but it’s really challenging to look at our selves in the mirror.”

The article is called ‘Why I let my kids cheer for Cam Newton(and probably why he makes so many people mad)’ Ham didn’t write about what is lacking. He wrote about what is inspiring.

“The first thing that I saw is that this guy celebrates accomplishments.,” Ham said.  “Not only his, but his teammates.”

It’s something he wants he kids to do too.  He’s teaching them to celebrate their accomplishments.

“The 2nd thing is he has a joy of his job,” Ham said. “Listen, we saw on Super Bowl Sunday the bad side of what he deals with everyday. You(players) lose ball games.”

And it was a big loss, but if you ask this girl, pictured after the super bowl, she didn’t exactly see the loss.  She wanted to thank him by giving him her trophy.

“A lot of people criticize the way he responded after a loss,” Ham said, “but that’s a guy who lives with passion. Again, I’m not suggesting everything he does is right, but I want to tell my kids to live with passion and when you live with passion and put your heart out there, it’s gonna get stepped on from time to time, but that’s okay.”

And what about Matt Ham’s third reason he lets his kids cheer for Cam Newton?

“You start to look at what he’s done for the game of football,” Ham said,  “for kids, my kids love Cam Newton because they see these kids on Sunday getting these footballs from him.”

ESPN caught up with a few of those kiddos. One felt like he won the lottery.

Photo: ESPN tweet

“At the very end of the article I said,” Ham said of what he wrote, “Cam Newton is not a god, not someone to put on a pedestal, he’s a 26 year old guy and what I love about him is he celebrates accomplishments, he plays with passion, and he gives back to the community.”

It’s a positive perspective we could all learn from, both on and off the field of life.
And that makes you, Matt Ham, extraordinary.

Click here to read Matt Ham’s article on Cam Newton in its entirety.

Ham also has a motivational radio show.  You can listen to him Monday and Wednesdays from 8-10am on 1180am.

For information on his book and speaking engagements, click here.

Photos of Panthers courtesy of the official Carolina Panthers website.