Tom Talks

Dallas wins, snow falls and everybody is happy

   Merry Christmas and happy holidays and enjoy the snow. Snowed six inches in Minneapolis last night. Rented a great car, so I'm slipping and sliding in style.

    My pick today is Dallas. I'm on a roll. After a disasterous week 15, I picked Pittsburgh to beat Carolina Thursday. NostraThomas, right?

     Have fun with the white stuff.

It's up to the quarterback

   Here's what happens tonight. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who play the run tougher than any team in the NFL, will do what they did in their loss Sunday to the New York Jets. They'll pack the line, commit to stopping the run and dare Jimmy Clausen to throw forward passes. The style the Steelers play will yield opportunities. Steve Smith will get enough single coverage to make an impact. Be interesting to see if Clausen has time to get him the ball.

    Clausen needs to open up. He throws so many short passes that defensive backs don't feel as if they have to stop the long ones. Go deep, young man, go deep.

Ice, Ice baby

   When the Carolina-Pittsburgh game ends, Pittsburgh will have six days to prepare Heinz Field for the Winter Classic, the New Year's Day hockey game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. The rink will be a standard sized 200-by-85 foot piece of ice, stretching from one 20 yard line to the other. If everything goes right, ice will be attained by Christmas night. Wouldn't you love to play touch football on that stuff?

Larry Brown gone. His idea? Doubt it.

   I didn't get any inclination at the Charlotte-Oklahoma City game Tuesday night that Larry Brown was about to quit.

   Brown obviously was terribly frustrated with his team.

   I  know he misses Raymond Felton, and the Bobcats got nothing for Tyson Chandler. But what did Brown gain by incessantly ripping his team? Do players respond to constant public criticism?

    This might be some new leadership model. Or it might be a veteran coach who is tired of leading a losing team.

    Brown talked Tuesday night about his family -- his wife and younger children -- being in town from Philadelphia to visit. He seemed happy about that.

    Does a man about to walk out say such a thing? I'll be shocked if Brown knew his resignation was coming. So either he suddenly decided to quit, or somebody told him to.

Good city for football, good weather for football, and maybe even a good game

    The NFL Network gets what it wants: the hot Panthers against the slumping Steelers. Carolina has won one in a row and Pittsburgh has lost one in a row.

     If the Panthers can run, the Panthers can compete. I want to see what Jimmy Clausen, who played well last week at home against lowly Arizona, does against this defense on the road.

     I like Pittsburgh, the city. I like the way it looks, the way it reinvented itself. I like the way it comes together for a football game. I brought my older son here when he was young and he sat by himself, surrounded by Steeler fans. He wore Panther colors and cheered for Carolina. A big old Pittsburgh fan said, "Son, you might not want to do that here."

    So my son adapted and the fans adapted and when I went to check on him at the end of the first-quarter it was as if he had 50 new babysitters.

     Pittsburgh is real. You feel as if, when you check into the hotel, you ought to stop in the bar and order and beer and a shot.

     Heinz Field will be loud, the evening will be brisk and there could be snow in the air. We'll have football weather. And I think, at least for a half, we'll get a football game.

     Pittsburgh 24, Carolina 13 

 

 

UConn women will win again and if I don't care can I still be a good person?

    The Connecticut women will win their 89th straight basketball game tonight, surpassing the record 88 John Wooden's UCLA men won in the early to mid-1970s. But newspapers and TV and radio and the Internet have not noticed.  UConn coach Gino Auriemma ripped the lack of attention the streak has attracted.

    Auriemma is  entitled to be indignant. I'm entitled not to get worked up about another UConn victory.

    Although I commend the sustained excellence that was required, I don't follow women's basketball. Does that make me sexist? Is it really that simple?

    I also don't follow men's or women's golf, men's or women's track, men's or women's soccer and men's or women's tennis. I don't follow field hockey or hockey or lacrosse or amateur or professional wrestling. While we're at it, I don't follow men's or women's softball, tractor pulls, skating, skiing or Monster truck shows.

    Is anybody obligated to follow a sport? If It were my job to cover all sports, I'd cover all sports. But as a columnist, I have the flexibility to write about the sports, people and issues that interest readers most.

    There are ways to find out. TV ratings are the most accurate barometer of interest. Attendance is good. And, while subjective, buzz is essential.  What are people talking about? What do they ask me about when I run into them, or when they call or email? What do they talk about to each other in the gym, the bar, the coffee shop?

    ESPN2 will televise the Connecticut-Florida State game tonight. Because of the pending record, the numbers, perhaps, will be phenomenal.  Whatever they are, they won't lie.

    Auriemma says the reason everybody is "having a heart attack" is because women are threatening to break a men's record.

    I'm not threatened. I'm not having a heart attack. I'm not offended by the UConn women's good work.

    I'm not terribly interested, and I don't feel any obligation to pretend.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great work, Orlando, see ya, Vince

    Great move by the Orlando Magic. They kept the players they have to have and added talent around them. They also got rid of Vince Carter. Some players become smarter as they age. Kobe Bryant, for example, is better than he has ever been, and I was never a Kobe fan.

   Kobe realized that if he got his teammates good shots, they'd play harder. They'd go to the basket with more authority. They'd make the Los Angeles Lakers tougher to guard. Kobe is as unselfish as he had been, and the record reflects it.

    Carter was simply a jump shooter. He could jump high and hoist shots. He chose not to work to become anything else.  Put it this way: Carter would not start for the Charlotte Bobcats.

    The Magic knew they were not elite. So they tore up the roster to put themselves in position to get there.

 

Stop me if you haven't heard this before -- Panthers look good

    Third and 12 on the Arizona 14 and the Panthers run and nobody is fooled so they kick another field goal to lead 6-0. That said, Carolina's offensive line looks outstanding, as does quarterback Jimmy Clausen and running back Jonathan Stewart. So far -- first quarter is about to end -- Panthers look like an NFL team.

This is going to be good

    I feel a gem coming on today. I'm talking about Carolina-Arizona. Seriously. Maybe it was seeing Brian St. Pierre run onto the field for the coin toss. I don't know. But you have to go with your instincts. So I am. Here we go. Buckle up.

Chargers win

   Need to get my pick in. San Diego over San Francisco by 7.