Tom Talks

Bring back Sunday

   I looked at the TV Sunday afternoon and saw that my options included the Winter Olympics, the NASCAR Cup race and a good NBA game. I debated for a few minutes what to do. But I knew what I would do.

   I went outside. Whether you ran or rode a bike or walked or walked dogs, hit a tennis ball or golf ball, threw a baseball, football or Frisbee, tried to catch a fish or even just sat there, the call was easy. Beautiful weather this time of year is a gift, as this morning's rain attests.

   If the people who spend their weekends writing angry diatribes on message boards stepped away from the computer, turned off the TV, walked upstairs to the main floor of the house and went outside, they'd be less angry.

Xavier handles Charlotte in the first half

   Xavier leads Charlotte 31-22 at the half. Xavier gets good shots, goes relentlessly to the basket and runs.

   The 49ers shoot from the outside. Thus, they have taken only one free throw in the first half, and they didnt take it until only 1:48 remained.

   Xavier sophomore guard Jordan Crawford, a transfer from Indiana, is big time. He finished the half with 13 points and three assists.

   Before the game, two  college basketball games were shown on the press room television sets. Boston College-North Carolina was not among them.

  

Another bogey for Tiger

    If there's one thing I've learned, one thing I know absolutely, it's that you have to acknowledge your mistakes. I have to, you have to, we all have to. If George Shinn had apologized for his misdeeds, we would have forgiven him and he, and not Bob Johnson, would own Charlotte's NBA team.   

   Say what you want about Shinn, but he cared for this city, invested a lot of time and money in helping us become a better place, and is by far the best NBA owner we've ever had. I don't even know who is second.

   Fans are more than willing to forgive sports figures. They want to forgive them. Once the athlete, or team owner, humbles himself and admits guilt, fans will accept it, and life will move on. We forgave Steve Smith for the cheap-shot punch he threw at teammate Ken Lucas in training camp because (a) Smith immediately apologized (b) the Panthers quickly suspended him and (c) Lucas graciously forgave him.

   The apology, however, has to be real. There's nothing real about the apology Tiger Woods plans to offer Friday. He's going invite selected members of the media but he's not going to take questions from them. In other words, they won't be reporters. They'll be props. Under the circumstances, why should they even show up?

   Tiger no longer is king of the world.  To read, after all this time, from a statement while looking contrite and sad (and probably not wearing a red shirt) is merely a start. If he's accountable, he'll put down the paper with the statement, a statement he probably didn't write, and take questions. 

   If all he does is read, there's one question we're all going to have.

   Tiger, buddy, what are you trying to hide?  

A hole lotta love

   The Daytona 500 was supposed to be a showcase. This is the season that NASCAR was going to win back fans and combat declining televison ratings and attendance. It was going to start today, in the sunshine, in the first Cup race of the year.

   But what we have is a hole at the bottom of the track in turn 2 that can not be fixed. The hole has now delayed the 500 more than an hour. Call it Holegate, Divotgate, How-to-ruin-a-race-gate.

   Don't say there has not been action, however. I saw a drunk guy in the infield tip over. I also saw an EMT trip over a guy hauling a cart full of tires. I saw two seagulls fought over a pizza crust.

   I saw thousands of fans leave the race track.

A blog without a reference to Danica would be like a...

   Here's how you can tell a car is cool. It looks fast when it's parked. The Mustang GT pace car that Richard Petty drove at the Daytona 500 Sunday looks fast when it's parked. Blue with a white stripe down the middle, the speedometer posts a top speed of 160 mph. The car has a 412-horsepower V-8 engine. I'm surprised the King didn't stay out on the track.

   There was a Danica sighting. She was in the back of a golf cart behind the Goodyear Building in the infield. She offered a small wave and a smile. In the 10 minutes she spent in the cart neither her posture nor her expression changed. She might have been a cardboard cutout.

   Spotted in the gift shop: Harry Connick Jr., who sang the anthem Sunday. He shopped without interruption. Nobody appeared to recognize him.

   Finally there was sunshine, shorts and seagulls. Daytona Beach finally felt as if it was part of Florida.

Danica part 37

    Media and fans surrounded Danica Patrick's car long before she arrived. The group was orderly for awhile. And then security began checking credentials, and fans, many of whom held their picture-taking cell phones high, were sent to the back. When they attempted to return -- and many did -- a scrum ensued.

    Patrick arrived and fans began to shout her name.She faced her car, removed the band from her hair and her ponytail fell. She checked her watch and took a sip from a bottle of water.

   Michael Waltrip, who stood behind her, called her name and she went to him. He bent down and said, "This is awesome." They talked awhile, the scrum behind them growing.

   Then she put the band back in her hair, climbed in the car and went to work.

Rolls-Royce not always a symbol of class

    -- Walked out of the hotel Saturday morning and saw a Rolls-Royce parked in a handicapped parking space. Nothing on the car indicated the driver had the right to park there. If the driver is worred about his (or her) car getting scratched, he ought to drive a Yugo. If I ran the world, or Florida, I would fine any able-bodied driver who parks in a handicapped space $1,000 for a first offense, $5,000 if you drive a Rolls. The second offense would be $10,000 no matter what you drive. If you're too lazy to walk a few yards, stay home.

   -- Saw Jim Belushi and Bruce Jenner in the media center at Daytona International Speedway. Belushi had that look that said, "I used to be famous." Jenner looked like you'd think he would, if you thought about him.

   -- Danica Patrick walked into the 10 a.m. Nationwide Series meeting at 9:59. She talked to Brad Keselowski for several meetings and then walked across the room and sat between Tony Eury Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Figured you'd want to know.

   -- Coolest person I saw Saturday morning was Junior Johnson. Never makes a big deal out of himself. He doesn't have to.

So maybe I am a good old boy

   I've been called many things in my life, some complimentary, some dramatically less so. A reader who didn't like the Danica Patrick column I wrote in this morning's Charlotte Observer called me something I have never before been called. He called me a good old boy.

   Man, I am thrilled. I'm not worthy. But I am thrilled. I would love to be a good old boy.

   There I am on the twisting mountain road with Junior Johnson, running from the revenuers. He asks me to drive..

   There I am catching fish and cleaning them and liking it. There I am building an addition to the house, putting a new engine in the car, calling a woman "ma'am" and meaning it.

   There is hope. I'm not big on country music, but I kept hearing a song on the drive to Daytona Beach about a woman who wants to call a guy at about 1 a.m. because she misses him so badly. It was kind of country, and I could listen to practically the whole thing without changing the station. And I respect Waylon and I respect Willie and grew up with Fords and I wear jeans almost every day.

   So maybe I am a good old boy. When I received the good old boy email, however, I had my right hand wrapped around a non-fat latte. So maybe I'm not.

   But, ma'am, I can dream.

See you, Julius. Still.

  Chris McClain of WFNZ's "The Mac Attack" interviewed the quiet man, Julius Peppers, Monday, and the network ran the interview Tuesday morning. Several of us have tried to get Peppers to talk. Mac did.

   The interview could be construed as a long goodbye. Nothing Peppers said would make you think he expects to return to the Carolina Panthers, the only NFL team for which he has played.

   I've been writing since the end of the season that Peppers was gone, so maybe I'll get one right. I picked Indianapolis to beat New Orleans Sunday in the Super Bowl. Based on my e-mail, some of you read the column.

   I like Peppers. Although he rarely talks to the local media, at least he is consistent. He doesn't suddenly become an extrovert when Sports Illustrated or ESPN come to town. He is as guarded as any athlete, and maybe any person, I've been around.

   He seems uncomfortable with adulation. But he's comfortable with quiet. He's not standoffish, however. His teammates like him. None of them say, "All right, Julius is here, now the party can start!" But they joke with him in the locker room, after practice and at training camp.

   I think Julius is a decent guy, an extraordinary athlete and a very good football player.

   But I disagree with one statement he made in the interview with Mac. After the 2007 season, in which he had 2 1/2 sacks, the Panthers offered to make him the highest paid defensive player in NFL history. Yet he didn't sign.

   "Somebody might say that's not a smart business or career decision," Peppers said in the interview. "But for me personally I'm not deserving of that. Why would I accept an offer for that amount of money when my performance is nowhere close to that level?"

   The statement is honorable. But Peppers never even acknowledged the contract. He didn't ask for more. He didn't say he was overpaid and ask for less.

   My interpretation then was that he was putting himself in position to leave the Panthers. He still is. 

   Peppers has fulfilled his contractual obligations to the Panthers, and the Panthers have fulfilled their obligations to him.

   Cars wear out. Furniture wears out. I believe the relationship between Peppes and the Panthers also has.

Charlotte goes to New York

  

    The Charlotte 49ers play Fordham at Fordham Saturday. Although there are two major stories coming up the next two weeks -- the Super Bowl this Sunday and Daytona 500 festivities this week and next -- the 49ers are becoming a good story.

   I loved watching their last two games, close victories against Temple and George Washington, at Halton Arena. In the former it was the virtuoso Derrio Green lifting Charlotte. In the latter it was junior forward Shamari Spears.

   I've heard Spears invoke Charles Barkley. But his game reminded me of Larry Johnson. He doesn't have Johnson's quickness; few big men do. He's powerful, though. And his spin moves inside work against opponents six inches taller. He also hit fadeaways and added two three-pointers. And when a skinny George Washington forward tried to throw him off his game with a cheap shot, Spears ignored him.

   DiJuan Harris runs the show, Phil Jones hits clutch shots and Charles Dewhurst apparently is the world's best rebounding guard. 

   I don't yet know, in the grand scheme, how good the 49ers are. But they look good to me. I like their poise and their bravado, and, man, they are fun to watch.