Tom Talks

The Eagles ... I never got them

We had a sports department staff meeting Wednesday, and it was mandatory, which means that almost everybody had to go. Attendance was much larger than usual, however, and the attendees were dressed more sporty, I guess is the term, than usual. Oh, I know. The Eagles were playing in Charlotte that night.

The Eagles are one of those bands that almost everybody of a certain age likes. Scott Fowler likes them, and wrote a nice review of their concert in today's CLT section. Mike Persinger likes them, David Poole likes them, Stan Olson likes them and Ron Green Jr. likes them.

I never got them. They always struck me as bland. I think you have to own three or more pair of khaki pants to appreciate them, and I don't.

I met Joe Walsh, the guitarist, when I was in high school. His band, the James Gang, was playing in a big tent with other unknown bands at the Minnesota State Fair. At least four people crowded around them. Walsh and I started talking and he said, "Watch." And a guy would walk past and Walsh would replicate the guy's walk with his guitar. The guy would stop and look and Walsh would stop playing. Then the guy would start walking and Walsh would start playing. Whatever sound the crowd made, he would play.

It was great stuff and I bought everything the James Gang put out. Then Walsh joined the Eagles and the Eagles had no room for a virtuoso. So he buried his gifts. He took one for the team.

See, when I bought my first records, they were R&B. I had to go downtown to find them. So while my friends were buying the Beatles -- and I like the Beatles -- I was buying Joe Tex and James Brown. When I bought my first DVD player, I bought two boxed sets: Led Zeppelin and Otis Redding.

Michael Bolton covered "Dock of the Bay," the brilliant song Redding wrote with Steve Cropper. I was hurt, offended and betrayed by Bolton's preening rendition. Years later I was dating a woman, and she was driving the car in front of mine, and the music was cranked up and her long blonde hair was flying as she shook her head to the beat.

When we reached our destination, I asked her what she was listening to.

Michael Bolton, she said.

Despite her long blonde hair, the relationship ended that night.

I never asked her if she liked the Eagles. But I  suspect that she did.

Poise

   Foolish mistake by Carolina cornerback Richard Marshall. Arizona rookie Early Doucet hit Marshall a little late, hit him as the play was ending. Marshall did what he was supposed to and gave Doucet a shove. And then, after they stood face to face and the play clearly had ended, Marshall blatantly and forcefully shoved Doucet. Instead of a third down, the penalty gave Arizona 15 yards and a first down. Neil Rackers kicked a 49-yard field goal.

   The Panthers are a veteran team that has played with poise all season. This is a new season. Marshall will settle down. The defense's leaders -- Jon Beason, Chris Harris and Julius Peppers -- will insist.

Arizona 14, Carolina 7

   You knew that Arizona would score. It's what the Cardinals do. They have a good to great passing attack and a fair to middling running attack.

   The Panthers have been accommodating. Larry Fitzgerald ran a crossing pattern and picked up 31 yards on Arizona's first drive. On the second Fitzgerald beat Ken Lucas and picked up 41. Had Kurt Warner not underthrown the pass, Fitzgerald easily would have scored. Instead, Arizona scored three plays later.

   Then defensive end Antonio Smith beat Travelle Wharton, knocked the ball out of Jake Delhomme's hand and picked it up at the Carolina 12 and easily scored.

    But this was never going to be Baltimore-Tennessee. Carolina and Arizona have offenses, and aren't afraid to use them. Since I started writing this, the Panthers moved to the Arizona 14.

   I picked Carolina 31-24 before the game. I'll stick with that.

   

Two Hours Before Kickoff

   I hung out with a variety of tailgaters and watched them eat, drink and have fun. I always said I wasn't put on the planet to be a spectator, but tonight I was.

   At each of the parking lots, there was a combination of beer, wine, vodka, burgers, steaks and shrimp. The one quality abundant at each was optimism. Talk was always about next week -- will the Panthers play in New York against the Giants or at home against Philadelphia. Nobody in the parking lots, or on TV, is picking Arizona, at least nobody I heard.

   That scare you?

    It shouldn't. The Panthers don't share the sentiment. They didn't this week, anyway.

   Arizona's buses pulled into the little parking lot behind Bank of America Stadium at 5:20 p.m. The Panthers busses arrived about 25 minutes later.

    Seeing the buses pull in made the game seem real.

    Not sure if the guy on Mint St. was real. He was giving away tickets. He really was. In what section were the tickets? That's tough to say. They were, he said, tickets to heaven.

   I have one.

   Scalping is legal, right?

Non-Panther Blog Alert: Remember Sting?

    There's another sporting event in town this weekend that will offer a lot of big names, a lot of action and a lot of fun. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling will hold its Genesis pay-per-ivew card Sunday at 8 p.m. at Bojangles Coliseum.

    Featured on the card will be Sting, who is heavyweight champion, Booker T., Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, U.S. Olympic Gold medal winner Kurt Angle, Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett.

   We know these guys. We especially know Sting, who used to battle Ric Flair right here in Charlotte. For ticket information, got to

    I talked to Sting. He disappeared for awhile. It wasn't his idea. When WCW was bought out, his contract was not renewed. He moved back to his native California, spent time with his family, bought and sold property, lived a nice life. He let his body heal. He was out five years.

   But he missed the juice. He was Sting, one of the sport's biggest stars, and he had an enormous following in Charlotte, which was once his base, as well as nationally. Hearing the fans, walking to the ring -- real life doesn't offer that.

   "You can't put a price tag on the pandemonium and the excitement and the expectations of the crowd and being in the ring," Sting says by telephone.

   So he decided to come back.

   "I was a little reluctant because I didn't know if the new generation of fans would remember and if the ones that did remember would even care," he says. "I was kind of blown away by the reaction. I really am to this day."

   I ask Sting, 49, what the appeal is of the '80s icons -- him, Flair, Steamboat, all of them.

   "You're almost like a family, you know, especially in the South," Sting says. "You're a family to the other wrestlers and the fans and those fans tend to be pretty loyal. The NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) fans will never die. Every day in some town in the South these fans saw wrestling live and in color, and it was just intimate in those days, I think. It wasn't this world-wide phenomenon then. It was grassroots. And fans appreciated the work ethic of the guys and all the personalities."

   Jeff Jarrett encouraged Sting to come back.

   "One last hurrah," Sting says.

   Rhino, Sting's opponent, will try to prevent it.

   Come out and see if he can.

Less Than Six Hours Until Kickoff

    By now you know where you're watching the game and with whom, what you're going to eat and drink and what time you'll get there. I like the idea of getting downtown -- never uptown -- early. I want to be there by 5 p.m. at the latest. I'll probably be there by 4. I don't like traffic and the traffic patterns around the stadium are unpredictable. I'd rather show up, walk around and let the thing unfold.

    The press box is insulated. There's lots of food, although not as much food as gossip. It's a good group. Nobody in the local media postures. None of us watch ourselves when we walk. Maybe some of the out-of-towners will provide that.

   But I'd rather be with fans. So I'll ditch my laptop early, walk around until I run into somebody I know and, like a saint, refuse their offer of free beer -- unless they're willing to hold it until after midnight. I'll also visit the statue of Sam Mills. I spent a lot of time there this week.

   The Panthers painted the end zones black. One assistant coach told me that was a goal of the team, black end zones. Why?

   The end zones were painted blue for the West Virginia-North Carolina bowl game at Bank of America Stadium. The only opportunity to paint them black was if they hosted a playoff game.

   I get it.

   I thought the team was loose and confident this week. There was the sense that this is their time. I think they win tonight. Carolina's offense is too diverse. If DeAngelo and Stewart don't get you, Steve Smith will. I also think a surprise player will emerge offensively.

   I think Arizona will score early. I think Carolina will score early and late. Getting the injuried defensive tackles back is huge, as are the tackles.

   I've written all season that I thought this team was special. I saw it in training camp, which is why I picked them to go 11-5, and have never lost confidence. They're a neat coming together of veterans and youth. The new players merged seamlessly with the old.

   I don't think they blow Arizona out. I think they win by a touchdown. And then we wait until tomorrow to see if we head north or sit back and wait for Philadelphia to come south.

   

Roll Lester, Roll Tide

   You want to win football games?

   Simply follow the Lester Towns method. Hire Towns as a volunteer assistant coach. His teams are 24-5 this season.

   It's that simple. The Panthers hired towns as a volunteer assisant in training camp. The team had the best camp I've ever seen. Towns, who played for the Panthers from 2000-03, was a big-hitting, move the pile linebacker who started for George Seifert.

   I'd see Towns at camp this summer working one on one with the linebackers.  Towns was always popular with players and coaches, and right away you could tell he had the ability to impart what he knew.

   When camp ended, Towns went to Tuscaloosa to do the same job for Alabama. Towns'  final NFL stint was with the Miami Dolphins, whom Nick Saban coached, in 2005. Saban now coaches the Crimson Tide.

    What kind of impact did Towns have at Alabama? The Tide lost one game this season. They'll play Utah at 8 p.m. tonight in the Sugar Bowl.

   I ran into Towns Dec. 24 at Best Buy, and he and his family were getting ready to make the trip to New Orleans for the game.

   I also ran into Towns after he left football. He had just started a real job. But it didn't feel like him. Coaching does. He has such passion for the work. He also has credibility and class. He's a man you want in your organization no matter who you are.

   I mean, look at his record.