Tom Talks

Today's NFL picks.

  Picks today: New England by 8 over Detroit, New Orleans by 2 over Dallas and New York Jets 16 over Cincinnati. The Jets, a 9-point favorite, were my Lock of the Week on John Boy & Billy. Need a Sunday Lock for the Observer.

    Went 13-3 last week and got my Lock (Jacksonville covered) and Upset (Tampa Bay beat San Francisco, which for some reason was favored).

   Have a great Thanksgiving.

 

Nice day for football. However....

    There was a moment. It was Brian St. Pierre's 88-yard touchdown pass to David Gettis. But that was it.

    Baltimore beat Carolina 37-13. Score was closer than I expected.

    Panthers now have the worst record in football.  They played as if they were the worst team.

Ravens cling to 17-3 halftime lead

    What we're seeing is what we expected to see. The Panthers weren't going to beat Baltimore, but when John Fox started Brian St. Pierre, a 10-day Carolina veteran, he stripped away even the possibility of a victory.

    It's not St. Pierre's fault. You can't learn an offense in 10 days.

    The Ravens lead 17-3 at the half, and if they hadn't lost two fumbles, they could be up by 24. The only times they failed to score in the first half was when they fumbled.

     The weather is nice, however.  

 

The most interesting man in the world

   Ed Reed is in town. And Ray Lewis. Jon Beason and Steve Smith also will be on the field.

    Yet the most anticipated player in today's Carolina-Baltimore game will be Panther quarterback Brian St. Pierre.

    Not once in his eight-season career has that happened. Yet here he is, a Panther for 10 days, starting his first game.

     I find the story absolutely compelling. I've written three straight columns about St. Pierre, so I must.

     I hope he tears it up.

    Then I can write a fourth.

 

 

If you have HBO, you have access to a big time fight tonight

   Good fight on HBO tonight. Paul Williams, out of Aiken, S.C., will fight Sergio Martinez for the WBC middleweight title. Williams beat Martinez by majority decision in a thrilling bout last year.

    Williams is intriguing. He'd rather fight as a welterweight, but almost nobody will fight him. He wants Manny Pacquiao. Not sure Manny is interested. Williams is tall, 6-2, and has a freakish wingspan. He also wants Floyd Mayweather Jr., but if Floyd fights these days he fights only opponents he knows he can beat.

    His style is frantic. I've never seen a fighter that throws as many punches as Williams. He can be hit because, instead of thinking about stopping his opponent's punch, he's thinking about hitting him again.

    Against Kermit Cintron last May, however, Williams looked human. He kept throwing, but he wasn't as effective as usual, and he got hit.

    A respected boxing trainer who was in Charlotte recently said that, had Cintron not fallen out of the ring and been unable to continue, he would have beaten Williams.

    When I told him how impressive I thought Williams was, the trainer told me that boxing had figured out Williams.

     I think he's wrong, and I think Williams proves it tonight.   

 

 

 

Panthers will get a higher TV rating in Charlotte than the NASCAR finale

   Two predictions.

    Jimmie Johnson wins the NASCAR points championship.

    The Carolina-Baltimore game has a higher television rating in Charlotte than the NASCAR finale in south Florida. NASCAR finally got the drama it wanted. But viewers don't care.

    They'll care Sunday. But, in Charlotte, they'll care more about a 1-8 team playing the Ravens.

 

I'm not ABC but....

    Sportswriters claim to be objective, but we're not. Sometimes I pull for a team, sometimes I pull against  a team, and I always pull for what will make the best story. And if I'm on deadline, I pull against overtime.

     But because I don't cheer in the press box -- it's one of those rules that make sense -- I'm not accustomed to making much noise when I watch a game. I might clap for a great play, but that's as demonstrative as I get.

    On Friday night, though, we were having a drink, waiting for takeout and watching the North Carolina-Minnesota basketball game. Some guys at the other end of the bar were loudly cheering for the Tar Heels, and without meaning to I began to cheer for the Gophers.

    I'm not ABC, not pro UNC. UNC had nothing to do with it.

    I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, of course you cheered for the Gophers, Tom. They are the rare institution that emphases academics over athletics, as their record in men's basketball and in football attests.

    Good point. But that's not it. I went to school there.

    I kept waiting for the Gophers to blow it, but Tubby Smith is too good a coach to allow that to happen.

    It was kind of fun, being a fan for a night.

    But on Sunday, I must return to real life at Bank of America Stadium, and quietly cheer for the best potential story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beware the Dolphins

    Need to get my pick in. Not a bad game for a Thursday. I like Miami by 2.

Panthers entrust St. Pierre to lead them to massive upset

    We saw the beauty of a 1-8 season today. The Panthers will start Brian St. Pierre against Ray Lewis and the fellows Sunday at quarterback. If the Panthers are 4-5, this doesn't happen. But the more a team loses, the more adventures it has.

    Players around the league ought to cheer for St. Pierre. The guy has been a Panther for one week. If he can lead the team to a victory, how can coaches make a case for training camp?

   

Jimmie Johnson is going to win it all again

    I still think Jimmie Johnson wins the Chase. The trash talk coming out of Denny Hamlin's camp is unfortunate. If you're going to talk, put something behind it. It's annoying, nothing more. Neither Johnson nor Chad Knaus will be affected. Doubt they'll be amused.

    Tough loss for the Bobcats Saturday. But they did win twice on the road this week.

     The problem with Sunday morning is that when I go out to eat I eat about three times as much as I usually do. Then I go home and beach up on the sofa. I remember the old days when I wanted nothing more on Sunday morning than a good cup of coffee, the newspaper and a five-to-seven mile run.

    My plan is to watch football all day. But I won't. I'll head out after the Panther game. I can't spend a pretty day in the house, not even during football season. 

     Congratulations, Gamecocks. You won in style.

     Wonder how South Carolina would do against Virginia Tech?

     Minnesota won a football game Saturday. That's not a sentence I expect to write.