Tom Talks

I do have a life - really

Somebody on "The Sopranos" needed to die this week, but I hate that it was Christopher. Christopher was my second favorite character, behind Tony. Even without Chris, the show has again turned brilliant. Wish I could say the same about "Entourage." I still like it, but there's a sameness about it. With Sopranos about to end and Entourage ceasing to be special, I might have to return to network TV. Still have never seen "Lost" or "24." Still don't plan to.

If you're going through Sopranos withdrawal, buy DVDs of the first season, or second or third, and watch them, in order. I've finished the first two. I know, I know, get a life. I have a life that includes a wide range of exciting interests such as Fantasy Baseball. I leave the house, too.

A question: If Sopranos is the greatest show of all time, what's second?

A reader who responded to my last blog said he didn't realize how short I was until he saw me at the Wachovia Championship. I'm 5-9. If I considered myself short, I'd embellish my height, tell people I was, like, 5-10. I'm secure. If I weren't, I would spend more time writing about Nextel Cup. You want to feel tall, hang out with drivers.

Went to Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House Saturday night. It's on Piedmont Row near Brio's and a place I love, The Oceanaire. Del Frisco's was interesting. I'm not being sexist here, I'm being honest. The bartenders and servers -- talking about the women -- dress as if I were allowed to choose their outfits.

Also stunning was the menu: a steak can go for $38, asparagus $11. It was as if the restaurant said, We have the guts to charge this. Do you have the guts to pay it? Hundreds did. We drank wine and watched them.

Yeah, I know David Poole ...

   Information moves faster than Nextel Cup cars, especially the Car of Tomorrow. After leaving the Dale Earnhardt Jr. news conference Thursday, I took off for I-77. Before I reached the freeway, I heard from my race fan brother in Minneapolis. Three people had called him to say that I had asked a question that made Earnhardt laugh. By the end of the day, I had heard from at least 25 people about the question.

   When I ask questions at news conferences, they usually are brief. I'm not terribly outgoing, I don't require mass quantities of attention and I don't perform. I can't perform.

   We were asked to preface our questions by saying who we are and who we work for. I offered my name and, rather than say Charlotte Observer, I said that I work with David Poole. I was going to say for David Poole, but was worried he might develop an ego.

   David, of course, covers NASCAR for us, and is on radio and TV more than the Duke basketball team. When people ask me about famous folks I have met, I always said Muhammad Ali.

   No more. I don't know if David can float like a butterfly, but he can sting.  I say, yes I have met famous folks, among them David Poole.

   And, yeah, Junior laughed. With me rather than at me, I think. It wasn't a great line. Just something to shake things up. I hadn't even considered that the news conference would be televised. If I had, I probably would have screwed up the question.

Panthers mini-camp underway

Carolina's mini-camp is not open to the public. But if it were, I'd love to know how many of you would have joined me there Friday morning.

You have to love the NFL to stand on a hill in the relative cold and watch players you have heard of and players you have not go through drills and run patterns without pads.

And thousands of you do. You'd look at the quick cuts, the nice catches and the dropped passes for the same reason you'd look at a Lamborghini crusing by at 45 mph.

The Panthers might move at half speed, but it's still football. The NFL is how we spend our Sundays in the fall. There are moments Friday when we're reminded why.

Look at 253-pound tight end Jeff King sprint down the middle of the field, lose safety Cam Newton with a quick cut and break free.

"Look at those wheels," a teammate yells as King grabs the long pass and runs halfway up the hill. "Wheels of steel!"

Steve Smith works against Garnell Wilds on the left side. The ball is up and Wilds -- like King a Virginia Tech man -- knocks it down. Wilds shakes his head as if to say, nobody beats Garnell Wilds deep.

A few plays later Kerry Colbert beats Garnell Wilds deep.

Jonathan Beason, Carolina's first-round pick, holds up his helmet after practice like a kid at show and tell.

"You know what," says Beason, a linebacker out of Miami. "You look at this helmet. This is an NFL helmet."

He's thrilled to wear an NFL helmet. He's less thrilled about carrying the helmet of teammate Terrence Melton, a linebacker out of Rice with four years of NFL experience. But this is what rookies do.

Ever hear of Melton?

"I don't know who the guy is," says Beason. "But I've got his helmet."