Ex-Panther sightings

Five things at 5 p.m.:

1. Former Carolina Panthers were all over the Chicago-Seattle game. Muhsin Muhammad flubbed a pass near the goal line that Seattle intercepted. Ricky Manning Jr. picked off the next pass. Dante Wesley made a foolish penalty on a punt. And Matt Willig, the thespian lineman, appeared in a commercial.

2. I’m two of three against the line this weekend, getting Indianapolis and Seattle and missing New Orleans. But if the Saints and Philadelphia played again, I’d still pick New Orleans to cover.

I’m seven of eight – and I have San Diego in the last of the playoff games – the last four weeks, not that I’m making a big deal out of it. I’d make a big deal out of it only if I had picked eight of eight. If I get San Diego, though, to go eight of nine, I might be coaxed out of my shell.

3. Sunday was so beautiful it almost made me feel guilty about staying in to watch football on TV. This is how winter ought to be. I was in Minneapolis after Christmas, and it was so warm that the park at which we used to play had no ice on the rink. It had slush.

That’s global warming. I am pro global warming. Forty degrees is as low as I’m willing to go. You want cold, go to Lambeau Field. Go to Banff. Go to Nome. If you really want cold, go to a meeting of the Union County board of commissioners and tell them that growth and development ought to be restrained.

4. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who broadcast the Chicago-Seattle game, are excellent. They don’t talk down to you and they don’t talk simply to talk and they don’t talk because they crave attention. The worst announcers are the former players who say things such as, "You see the receiver run down the sideline as fast as he can? In the NFL, we call that a go pattern."

Aikman, a star quarterback with Dallas, never acts as if he were part of a club whose secrets are too complex for an ordinary fan to fathom.

5. The over-under during the Chicago-Seattle game on advertisements for the season premiere of "24" was 12. I wish I were familiar with the show. I tried to watch once, caught only the last half and was hopelessly lost. Speaking of "Lost," I’ve never seen it. And I’ve seen the "CSI" shows only twice.

My favorite network shows are "Prison Break," "House," "My Name is Earl" and "Vegas." But I don’t have to see any of them. I have to see HBO’s "Entourage" and, of course, "The Sopranos."

Comments

[Steve]

Ex-Panthers: I think the Panthers philosophy, of we can cut you and buy two rookies is not working. We saw many ex-Panthers in all the playoff teams at positions we were weak in.