One of the laziest things we do while watching and covering sports these days is to take stories and make them black and white. A team is either awesome or awful. A player is either a good guy or a bad dude. We leave no room for subtleties or open-minded discussions.

On the one-year anniversary of Cam Newton's car accident in the shadow of Bank of America Stadium, a national media outlet spent Wednesday digging into the obvious narrative: The Carolina Panthers' quarterback was once the immature, mopey guy who didn't win. Now he's the favorite to win the NFL's MVP award after leading the Panthers to a 12-0 start. Boy, he's matured since crawling out of his pickup truck 365 days ago.

Or, that's how the story's supposed to go.

READ THE ENTIRE POST AT CHARLOTTE MAGAZINE