Tom Talks

Starting Moore is a mistake

   Strange decision by Carolina Panther coach John Fox to announce Monday that he will start Matt Moore at quarterback Sunday against San Francisco.

    Announce is the wrong term. Director of communications Charlie Dayton read a Fox quote.

    Moore started the first two games and then was benched. Rookie Jimmy Clausen started the last three.

    When Fox elected to start Clausen, there were media reports that Panther owner Jerry Richardson made the call. Do the folks that floated that rumor also believe Richardson made the call to start Moore this weekend?

    Richardson had nothing to do with either decision. He doesn't make personnel decisions. The decision to start Clausen was Fox's exclusively.

   So is the decision to start Moore.

    Because Fox won't be coaching the Panthers next season, he wants to win now. San Francisco, at Bank of America Stadium, offers a better opportunity than he'll have most Sundays.

     But it's a mistake. Clausen will be Carolina's starting quarterback. So why not give him the valuable experience playing provides?

     It's not as if he's getting beaten up out there. He's taken some big hits, but so do Brett Favre and Tony Romo. Clausen certainly is not taking the beating former Panther (and current San Francisco back-up) David Carr did as a rookie.

     The Panthers started over this season. They jettisoned their veterans and filled the roster with young talent.

    It's a mistake not to commit to it.

    

 

 

The worst there's ever been

    Carolina was as bad as it has ever been Sunday. It was dominated by a team without a quarterback. It couldn't move the ball, couldn't stop Chicago from moving the ball and its special teams were abysmal.

    Every Panther first down felt like a reason to celebrate. The Bears ripped off big gains against Carolina early and the Panthers couldn't even pretend as if they would come back.

    You can say that their bye week next Sunday is coming at the right time. But I disagree. The Panthers and their fans will have two weeks to remember Sunday's performance.

Matt Moore?

   Rookie Jimmy Clausen was terrible on Carolina's last drive. Receivers didn't go where he expected them to, the ball didn't go where he expected it to, or both.

    Matt Moore, whom Clausen replaced, began to warm up on the sideline, throwing hard passes to newcomer David Clowney.

    So what happens if Moore comes in and leads the Panthers to a touchdown? What happens is he suddenly is the people's choice. Heck, he wouldn't have to lead them to a touchdown. A first down would suffice.

Plenty of good seats available

   This is terrible football, terrible if you're in Bank of America Stadium, if you're watching on TV, if you're listening on the radio. The Carolina Panthers would be hopelessly out of it if they were playing a good team. They're not. They're playing Chicago.

    With 2:06 left in the third quarter, they trail 17-6.

   

The top 10 sports in Charlotte are....

   We have the NFL in Charlotte today, had South Carolina fans celebrating college football yesterday  and will have NASCAR in town this week. It would be interesting to put the sports in perspective -- what do we, in Charlotte, like best? What's the most popular sport here? I'd love to see somebody rank them.

    I'll volunteer.

    I'm including only Charlotte and the suburbs. To know a city, you have to live there, and I've lived in Charlotte or the suburbs 29 years. I've never lived in, say, Gastonia, so to speak as if I know it would be ludicrous. I'm talking only about Charlotte and the contiguous suburbs.

    I base my rankings on television ratings, attendance, response I get to columns and blogs, what people talk about at the bar, in the restaurant, on the street and in the gym.

    I come into this without bias. If I ranked my favorite sports, boxing would be near the top. Alas, I have to stick it among other sports receiving votes.

    (1) The NFL.

     It's not close. The NFL is the sport of choice in almost every city in the country. Even if the Panthers go winless, it will remain No. 1 in Charlotte. Check the TV ratings.

    (2) College football.

     As much as we like college basketball, there are fans that follow the sport peripherally during the season and save their passion for the NCAA tournament. Find me a college football fan that saves his passion for the Poulan Weedeater Bowl. Everywhere you go Sunday, you hear somebody talk about South Carolina's upset of Alabama.

    (3) College basketball.

    College hoops obviously are huge.  But check the attendance when a team other than North Carolina plays in Charlotte. Plenty of good seats are available.

   (4) Major League Baseball.

    We might not have a team -- and we shouldn't since we couldn't come close to supporting one after the newness expired -- but most of the people I know follow somebody in the playoffs. Even fans of the Boston Red Sox have a rooting interesting; whomever is playing the New York Yankees.

   (5) The NBA.

    The NBA could be No. 4. But there are college basketball fans that disdain the pro game. They cling to myths such as the pros play no defense, or play without passion, or only the final five minutes are worth watching. They're wrong. But they get to be.

       (6) Golf.

      A third of the male population dresses as if a game might break out at any moment. And when the Masters comes on, even the fans that watch on TV talk whisper.

   (7) NASCAR.

    Check the TV ratings. NASCAR is struggling almost everywhere. And even when it was on the way up, rather than clinging desperately to whatever grandeur it had, the sport never had a real hold on Charlotte. At the places I go there's talk about NASCAR only when I bring it up.    

    (8) Hockey.

    (9) Mixed martial arts.

    (10) Ric Flair

   

 

 

 

 

 

Mayor Daley has my vote

   I met Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley at Bank of America Stadium before the Carolina-Chicago game. Daley flew in Sunday. I don't get terribly excited about meeting athletes anymore. But I was pumped about meeting Daley. Think of the stories he can tell.  He didn't tell them before the game.

   He's a small guy, courteous, unpretentious. Wore a  green golf shirt.

    Daley, 6 has m8,y vote. Maybe he already has.