Tom Talks

The troubling case of Michael Vick

 

It's troubling to think about Michael Vick being released from jail, leaving Leavenworth in late May to finish his 23-month prison term under house arrest.

   His crimes were more than troubling. They were heinous and they were sick. A good way to determine what a man is worth is to watch him treat those who can't fight back. The dogs at BadNewz Kennels were great at ripping up each other but they couldn't defend themselves against Vick, and they paid.

    As repugnant as Vick's crimes are, however, he has been punished. He was sentenced in December of 2007. He declared bankruptcy. His endorsements dried up. His former team found a new star quarterback. Since the Atlanta Falcons can't trade Vick -- who would assume that contract? -- they'll cut him. 

   Even if he is cleared to play in 2009, the team that acquires him will have to deal with a rusty quarterback that might never play the position again, at least not as anything more than a gimmick. They'll also have to deal with PETA and dog-lovers everywhere, although PETA's heavy-handed tactics could create sympathy for Vick.

   What Vick did is contemptible, and you don't have to love or understand dogs to appreciate that. But if there is any worth to our criminal justice system, you have to believe that a man can come out with different beliefs than those he brought in.

   Once Vick has fulfilled his obligations, he's entitled to another chance.

Hey, did you hear about Tiger?

   Tiger Woods is back. Not sure if you heard. I think newspapers wrote about his return from a knee injury and I believe I saw something about Tiger on TV.

   There's not an athlete in this country, and maybe the world, that dominates his sport the way Tiger dominates his. Tom Brady goes down the first week of the NFL season, and the NFL keeps ticking without him, albeit with a few layoffs. But Tiger goes down and golf goes with him.

   Tiger has the power of life and death. If he shows up at a tournament, it lives. Attendance goes up, ratings go up, coverage goes up, the smiles of sponsors go up and the weather tends to be better. If Tiger fails to show up, the final rounds get lower ratings than Atlantic 10 basketball in the New South. 

   The problem with ceding so much power to a single athlete is that the people in charge of his sport must work very hard to make him happy.

   I'm not saying the PGA Tour, which has now experienced life without Tiger, will do this.

   But if I see Phil Mickelson with Tiger's bag slung over his shoulder, I'll know why.

Who's in Ric Flair's cell phone?

 Ric Flair has an interesting cell phone.

  "Who should I call?" he asks Tuesday night. "Spurrier or Bob Stoops?"

   Spurrier.

   Flair checks his phone's address book and realizes he doesn't have a number for Spurrier. So he calls Jamie Speronis, South Carolina's director of football operations, and he also calls Stoops, the football coach at Oklahoma.

   How do you know Stoops?

   "I met him when he was Spurrier's defensive coordinator at Florida," says Flair.

   Flair leaves messages for Speronis and Stoops. "This is Natch," he says. "I'm here with Tom Sorensen. Give me a call."

   It is concievable that Stoops has no idea who I am, I tell Flair. Likely, even. Speronis, too.

   Flair calls Charles Barkley, gets his voicemail and hands the phone to me. Barkley's voice is unmistakable, but the recording is a surprise. It is devoid of humor. It's goes something like, "This is Charles, sorry I can't take your call, please leave a message."

   Flair went to the premiere of "The Wrestler" and hung out with Mickey Rourke. Do you have a number for him?

   Before Flair can answer, the phone rings. It's Speronis. Flair talks briefly and hands the phone to me. Nice guy, Speronis. I believe that he believes the Gamecocks will have a fine season.

   I hand the phone back to Flair and ask him again about Rourke. Again the phone rings.

   "Hi, Bob," Flair says, then hands the phone to me. 

   It's Stoops. He's upbeat and in the mood to talk. So we do. I hand the phone back to the Nature Boy.

   "Forget Rourke," I tell him. "What about Joe Namath?"

   I met Namath a few years ago at a hotel gym before the Super Bowl in Detroit. My older kid was in the gym with me and he wasn't excited about Namath, whom Flair knows. He was excited because Jenna Jameson, the, ah, actress, had signed her name on the gym sign-up sheet. Don't know what's wrong with that kid, not being mesmerized by Namath.

   Do you have a number for Namath?

   "I have one for Jenna Jameson, too," Flair says.

Excerpt from Tuesday's chat with Tom

Excerpts from Tuesday’s live online chat with Observer sports columnist Tom Sorensen. If you'd like to replay the chat in its entirety, you can do so at at http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sportstalk:

Tim: What is the latest on trade prospects for Julius Peppers?

Tom Sorensen: Last week was an absolute blast. Rumors flying, everybody working their sources, everybody competing for the biggest story, by far, in the city and all of Pantherland. This week, nobody is talking.

Guest: I see no way for Peppers to play for the Panthers next season after all he has said. I know people are now saying he is likely to stay here. Is that just talk?

TS: If the Panthers can’t improve the team by trading him, they wont trade him. They’ll take the cap hit. They will try to trade him. but he could very well play here. Teammates will accept him. And after his first sack, fans will, too.

KJ: Any chance the Panthers draft a multi-talented player like Pat White out of West Virginia to compete not only as back-up QB but at wide receiver and kick returner?

TS: Love to see White line up and take a direct snap and see what he can do.

Larry: Didn’t see “The Wrestler,” but did see “Slumdog Millionaire” and loved it. Which is better?

TS: “Slumdog” was superb. “Wrestler” was better. Stayed with me in a way few movies have. Not one false note. Not one.

MRK: Right now who are your No. 1 seeds for the NCAAs. Who wins?

TS: North Carolina, Memphis, Pittsburgh and Kansas/Texas/Oklahoma. Who wins? I have yet to see the team that says, it’s me.

KJ: If Pat White is still available in the 4th round the Panthers would be crazy not to draft him.

TS: Can he play quarterback in the NFL? I think he can. Depends, however, who else is available and what else the Panthers need. If they are convinced Matt Moore is Jake (Delhomme)’s heir, I don’t think they can spend a fourth-round pick on White.

Rob: How about Tom Knotts for head coach of Niner Nation when the time comes? Do you see our coach coming from a local guy looking for a step up?

TS: I have heard from not one, not two, but three former Panthers who want to be head coach. Also, I love the work Knotts does. I think he’d be a great first coach.

Truefan: Who do the Panthers select with the 59th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft?

TS: Pat White.

Marvin Harrison to Carolina? Nah

   Steve Smith has told me at least twice that he thought Marvin Harrison was the best receiver in football.

   You don't have to play the game like Smith to appreciate the work of Harrison. Along the sidelines and over the middle, all smooth speed and a seeming lack of effort, Harrison is one of the best of all time. He is to Peyton Manning what Jerry Rice was to Joe Montana and Steve Young.

   But the relationship has ended. The Colts asked Harrison to take a pay cut, a reasonable request, and he refused. So, at 36, he's free.

   Harrison came out in the 1996 NFL draft, a draft known for receivers such as Keyshawn Johnson, Terry Glenn, Eddie Kennison, Eric Moulds, Bobby Engram, Terrell Owens, Amani Toomer, Joe Horn and -- Muhsin Muhammad.

   I love Harrison's work, and it's interesting to think of him on one side and Smith on the other. But the Panthers have a great secret: wide receiver is one of their deeper positions and not one of their greatest needs. Harrison would be more valuable to Carolina if he could rush the passer.

   When Muhammad returned to training camp last season, it was as if the younger players -- and that would be everybody but John Kasay -- rolled out a red carpet, opened doors and dropped to one knee. Muhammad's leadership was essential, his blocking still superb. And the man runs a nice, precise route.

   Behind Muhammad the Panthers have the emerging Dwayne Jarrett and two receivers who were impressive in camp before sustaining season-ending injuries -- Ryne Robinson and Jason Carter. Almost every day in Spartanburg No. 11 would make a catch that would make you say, "Who was that?" After a week we would say, without consulting the roster, "Jason Carter."

   Jarrett, Robinson and Carter are not Harrison. But each has a chance to emerge as a very good pro. Each is on his way up. And not one of them has been asked to take a pay cut.  

Oscars ignored The Wrestler, but I won't

I can't offer a fair and objective assessment of the Academy Award nominess since I saw only three movies (in a theater) all year: Pineapple Express, The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire.

   And I liked all three. Pineapple was predictably hilarious, Wrestler and Slumdog moving.

   The Slumdog story was ingenious and extremely well told.

   But Wrestler stayed with me longer. I saw it the first Friday it hit town with Lodi, a wrestler who lived the story, and saw it again two days later. There are scenes I still think about. It was gritty, powerful and small, and Mickey Rourke filled the role as if he had lived it, which he kind of has.

   Slumdog won about 30 Oscars and I don't remember Wrestler winning any. Rourke didn't even win for Best Performance by a Guy Who Walks the Red Carpet Wearing a White Suit and Black Boots.   

   How do you compare what he did with what the other nominees did? It's like comparing the basketball teams from North Carolina and Memphis. Until the tournament begins, we're just guessing.

   My guess is that Rourke is all the way back. Wonder what he'll do next. 

Welcome back Jordan Gross

   The last two days have moved like the dragsters at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It seemed as if everybody in my business was scrambling to report what Julius Peppers was doing or allegedly doing, how the Carolina Panthers were responding or allegedly responding, and what Jordan Gross was thinking or allegedly thinking.

   Somebody told me that Jordan said hi. I told the guy to tell Jordan that he made a great moving hiring Larry Brown, and that the better the Charlotte Bobcats play, the less offensive his selection of Adam Morrison becomes.

   Of course, there was only one Jordan in Charlotte this week, and that was Gross, not Michael. That's who he was talking about.

   Peppers has attracted so much attention that we have treated Gross as if he's nothing more than a conduit. That is, sign the guy so the Panthers can move on to what really matters.

   I can imagine the Panthers withouth Peppers, however. I can't imagine them without Gross.

   After the 2007 season, the Panthers were single-minded. Their goal was to fix the offensive line and they did. Through the draft, and through excellent free-agent acquisitions such as Keydrick Vincent, they turned a line that had been all right into the team's strongest component. This was a line you can build an offense around, and they did.

   The best of those linemen was Gross. If I'm ranking the top five offensive linemen in the league, Gross is not among them. But he's good, he's healthy, he's dependable and his teammates believe in him. He started in the Pro Bowl and he was first-team All-Pro. He's been a starter since he arrived and, at 28, he is in his prime.

   As much as the Panthers paid for him -- six years and almost $60 million -- they'll get their money's worth.

   There are a few players that you really don't appreciate until they're gone.

   Gross would have been one of them.

   Welcome back.

I'll be shocked if Peppers plays for the Panthers again

   I think Julius Peppers is gone. The Panthers can tie him up and lock him down. But I don't expect them to.

   Some team, perhaps one of the Final Four a source told me Wednesday that Peppers was willing to play for, will be intrigued by his potential. And they'll cut a long-term deal with him and cut a deal with the Panthers.

   The rules say that a team has to give the Panthers two first-round draft picks. The rules lie. The Minnesota Vikings gave Kansas City one first-round pick and two-third round picks before the 2008 season for their star franchise pass rusher, Jared Allen. Both Peppers and Allen had 14 1/2 sacks last season.

   If the Panthers, who are coming off two strong drafts, can get three picks, one in the first round, for Peppers, they should jump. I'd jump.

   Some of you want to see the Panthers play hardball, and grind Peppers down and show him who runs the show and you're so angry that you'll never wear your No. 90 jersey again. You're the same fans who vowed to boycott Major League Baseball after the strike and vowed to boycott Carolina middle linebacker Jon Beason after his holdout in '07.  But there you were at the ballgame with a hot dog and a beer, and there you were cheering for Beason, who was Carolina's most valuable defensive player last season.

   The Panthers will take the best deal they can get. There are some intriguing combinations. My source wouldn't identify the four teams when I broke the story Wednesday ( I know that's pretentious, "broke the story," but I hear other writers use the phrase all the time whether it's true or not and I wanted to try it out). 

   He would say only that one of the teams was Dallas, that one was in the AFC and two were teams to which the Panthers would not want to trade Peppers.

   The latter indicates that the teams are on Carolina's schedule next season. 

    The AFC team? I'd guess Miami, Houston or New England.

    The Peppers issue has become polarizing, everybody is taking sides, and few are taking his.

    The issue is much more interesting than Carolina's playoff game. By halftime, we knew how that one would turn out. 

   Where Peppers will go, and for what?

   I have no idea. 

   

   

Slow day so far in Franchiseland

   What an odd story this is, the Julius Peppers/Jordan Gross/Carolina Panthers triangle. The deadline for the Panthers to apply the franchise tag to Peppers or Gross is 4.p.m. today. If the player hasn't signed a contract, and hasn't been franchised by then, he walks.

   I've written the phrase "applying the franchise tag" so many times this week that it feels like a wrestling hold. Applying the franchise tag is like applying the figure-four leglock -- you know who I'm talking to Ric Flair -- and just as binding.

   I don't know what happens today. I suspect, as I have for months, that the Panthers sign Gross and franchise Peppers. But I don't know what will happen.

   I wonder if the Panthers do?

  

      

Peppers update

   There are four teams to which Julius Peppers is willing to be traded, a source says. Three are in the NFC, and one is the Dallas Cowboys.

   Can you imagine DeMarcus Ware, who led the NFC with 20 sacks last season, and Peppers, who had 14 1/2 sacks, on the same defense? 

   Can you imagine the Cowboys cutting a deal with Carolina if Carolina applies the franchise tag to Peppers?

   The Cowboys don't have a first-round draft pick. They traded it, as part of a package, to Detroit for receiver Roy Williams. The Panthers are the only other team without a first-round pick.

   The source says that two of the teams for which Peppers wants to play are teams the Panthers won't want to trade with.

   That does not mean, he adds, that both teams play in the NFC South.