Tom Talks

Humpy, author, storyteller and promoter, will talk about his new book tonight

 

   Ever heard Humpy Wheeler speak? The former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway is brilliant, creative and funny. He'll start a story and you'll have no idea where it's going. And then he finishes and the story goes right to your heart.

Humpy just wrote a book, "Growing up NASCAR," and will talk about it from 5-8 p.m. tonight at Dandelion Market, 118 W. Fifth St., in Charlotte. (That's near the corner of Fifth and Church Streets.)

      He'll discuss his work, and his sport, tell you about characters and tracks and drivers and crewmen. He'll take you inside. Even if you're a long-time NASCAR fan, even if you know the sport, Humpy will take you places you haven't been. And make you think and make you laugh along the way.

 

Celebfest at Time Warner Cable Arena

   Have seen celebrities at the Charlotte-Orlando game. They include: Chris Harris, Danny Morrison and Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers; former college and NBA star Sleepy Floyd of Gastonia; Fred Couples of the PGA; and Roy Williams and, I think, Makhtar Ndiaye of the Tar Heels.

   That would be, the Makhtar Heels. I think it was him.

   Fans are loud, Bobcats are hustling and Orlando leads by three going into the final quarter.

Gruden loved the pick

   ESPN's Jon Gruden has not liked every pick and player in the draft. Some of them, he's loved.

   If I declared myself available, and the Carolina Panthers gave up a third-round pick in the 2011 draft to get me, Gruden would praise the Panthers and me.

   Guy wants to be loved, which is different than wanting to be accurate.

Kudos to Carolina

   I don't know how much the Panthers have improved -- perhaps considerably. But they've become much more interesting.

   They drafted a big-time quarterback prospect in Jimmy Clausen, a 6-2 receiver out of Lousiana State named Brandon LaFell who is more steady than explosive, and the legendary Armanti Edwards out of Appalachian State.

   Anybody who watched Edwards at ASU ought to be thrilled. The Panthers didn't draft him as a quarterback. But next time they run the Wildcat, it's going to be a whole lot more interesting. By the end of the 2009 season, the formation felt used up, covered with dust. But Edwards, and Tim Tebow in Denver, could give it life.

   The Panthers, as is their recent custom, traded a high draft pick next season to New England to bring Edwards to Charlotte. They took him with the 25th pick in the third round. But who can complain?

   Edwards is a blast. He is tough and poised and, man, can he move. He'll likely return kicks and punts or kicks and punts, run routes and make the Panthers more entertaining.

   Nobody has ever won a game in April. But the Panthers might have put themselves into position to.

   A comatose fan base ought to enjoy watching them try.

Take Tate

   Waiting to see who the Carolina Panthers draft with pick No. 48. The New York Giants are on the clock now. They're No. 46.

   The Panthers could take a quarterback, Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy. They could take a defensive end such as Everson Griffen out of Southern California. I hope they take Golden Tate, the wide receiver out of Notre Dame.

   Dexter McCluster, the receiver and running back out of Mississippi, had been my guy. I wrote about him Thursday. But Kansas City jumped in and snatched him with the 36th pick. Great move on the part of the Chiefs. That's a sentence I have never written before.

With the 17th pick in the 2010 NFL draft, the Panthers could have taken...

   Last April the Carolina Panthers traded their first-round pick to San Francisco so they could move up and take Florida State defensive end Everette Brown.

    Brown is small but fast. Does his speed offset his stature? I didn't see enough last season to say that.

   The pick the Panthers traded turned out to be the 17th in the first round. There are three positions Carolina has to fill before the 2010 season begins -- a wide receiver, a pass rusher and a quarterback.

    When the 49ers made their pick, two defensive tackles and four defensive ends had been selected.

   Only one quarterback, Sam Bradford, had been taken.

   Nobody had selected a receiver. So Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State, Demaryius Thomas of Georgia Tech, Golden Tate of Notre Dame and Arrelious Benn of Illinois all were available.

    Except for Thomas and Bryant, they still are. Barring a trade, however, 15 teams will make their pick tonight before the Panthers do. They have No. 48. 

    Regardless of the player they select, Brown will be measured, at least this season, against what the Panthers could have had at 17.

   If Bryant or Thomas tear it up, and the receiver Carolina takes in the second, third or fourth round fails to, so will the Panthers. 

   

Keep right and preserve McAlpine Greenway

   The Observer ran a letter to the editor Monday about cyclists riding too fast at McAlpine Greenway, and we ran a counter letter Tuesday about less than alert pedestrians.

    The problem isn't pedestrians or cyclists. It's people that don't understand.

   I know McAlpine. I ride my mountain bike there, run there and walk my dogs there. Last month I came around a corner on my bike and encountered two women, one of whom was walking two small dogs, and they occupied every available space. I skidded, stopped and asked them what they were doing. One of them, the larger one, began to yell.

   Here's the trick: Walk like you drive. Keep to the right. Operate under the theory that only half the space is yours. If you're in a large group, this means you have to split up. So split up. Under no circumstances do you get more than half the path or boardwalk.

   The Greenway is one of the best parts of Charlotte. You can escape without leaving town. Instead of cars, you're among dirt paths and creeks and hills.

   You don't want to be among people with a sense of entitlement. Stay on your half of the path and the problems go away.

   I taught my dogs they have to stay on one side when I walk them.

   Are you smarter than a Boston terrier and greyhound?

   If you are, you can learn the lesson, too.

Give Vince a seventh foul. And an eighth.

   The worst thing that happened to the Charlotte Bobcats Sunday was when Vince Carter fouled out. Carter was once an excellent player, going to the basket, soaring to the basket. Now he is primarily a shooter of jumpshots, and when he picked up his sixth foul, he was four of 19 from the field. He wasn't going to stop shooting or complaining about calls.

    The difference between basketball and playoff basketball is as vast as everybody says. I remember going to Boston to watch the Charlotte Hornets play their first playoff game against the Celtics. I had head about the difference. And then I saw it -- the intensity, the defense, the rough play.

   The Bobcats weren't prepared. On Wednesday, they will be. They might not win. But they won't be surprised. 

Buzz Peterson, temp

   I like Buzz Peterson as a coach. I thought he should have been considered for the Charlotte job. I like him as a man. He's gracious and unpretentious and never acts as if coaching a basketball team sets him apart from the rest of the human race.

   But his loyalty and credibility took a hit Friday when word came out that he was leaving Appalachian State after only one season for UNC-Wilmington.

   Peterson has developed a reputation for changing jobs as frequently as sportswriters change golf shirts.  What did he see in Boone that surprised him -- he coached there four seasons as a young man. Then he worked his way up to Tulsa and Tennessee. When Tennessee released him, he went to Coastal Carolina and the Charlotte Bobcats and then the Mountaineers. 

    Maybe Peterson prefers the beach to the mountains. But unless Appalachian State lied to him, or his ASU paychecks bounced, Peterson will be looked upon by other potential employers as a temp. And he should be.

  

Back to my humble, working-class, roots

   As much as I enjoyed the Masters and Augusta National Golf Club, I am not a country club guy. I'm not anti-country club. I'm anti-country club for me. After seven full days at the Masters, I still don't own anything green.

   I needed to get back to my roots. So on the way out of town, I stopped at a Waffle House and ordered the special, which consisted of four plates of food. I ate three of them. Eggs over medium, hash browns, toast, orange juice, friendly staff that made me feel like a regular -- life was good.

   I added some weight. But I removed all the country club from my system.