Tom Talks

Everybody loves Raymond, but not Cam

   I wrote a column about Cam Newton for Wednesday's Charlotte Observer.

    The reaction was interesting.

     Readers love Newton and believe he'll be a terrific quarterback. Or they think he'll be terrible and they can't stand him and they can't stand the Panthers for (according to me) considering him.

    The venim readers can generate by 9 a.m. on a Wednesday is remarkable.

    It usually takes me until noon.

 

With the first pick in the 2011 draft the Carolina Panthers...

     The Carolina Panthers will select Cam Newton with the first pick in the NFL draft or are working hard to convince the football world they plan to.

       If a team craves Newton and offers the appropriate picks the Panthers could trade down, but not too far down, and take Patrick Peterson, the fine cornerback from Louisiana State, or A.J. Green, the tremendous Georgia receiver.

     Without a Collective Bargaining Agreement, however, draft day trades become more difficult since only picks, and not players, can be exchanged.

     I was at Newton’s Pro Day at Auburn last week and the Panthers sent six representatives. The Panthers will return to Auburn for a private workout with Newton today. One group of Panthers was scheduled to have dinner with Newton and his family Tuesday and another group is scheduled to have dinner with him tonight.

      Newton is good for Auburn tourism.

      For years fans of the Panthers have watched franchise quarterbacks run onto the field at Bank of America Stadium. They line up behind the other team’s center.

      Jake Delhomme was good for the Panthers. Before Jake, Steve Beuerlein was good. Before Beuerlein,  Kerry Collins occasionally was good. Kerry was young and brash and could throw the ball all the way to South Blvd.

       But the Panthers have never had a quarterback who was the best player in their huddle. They’ve never had a strong-armed athlete who could escape the rush and run for a first down or, with the defense in disarray, throw for it.

       If you watched Super Bowl quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger you know the value of a quarterback that can extend a play.

      Newton is hugely controversial. One Charlotte man plans to print anti-Newton T-shirts before the draft. Many of the fans that wear them will contend that Cam is a candidate only because Philadelphia’s Michael Vick had an outstanding 2010.

      But watch. Newton will play more like Roethlisberger than he does Vick or Vince Young, the running quarterback that washed out at Tennessee.

      It's true that even if mini-camps are held and training camp begins on time – no certainly, obviously, because of the labor impasse – Newton probably won’t be ready to start opening day.

     This will anger fans who want what they want when they want it.

     But if Newton becomes a star, he will be a star for a long time. The Panthers can sign a veteran to lead them until Newton is ready.

     The Panthers took Jimmy Clausen in the second round last April. Can they invest their top pick on a quarterback in consecutive drafts?

     If quarterback Andrew Luck had left Stanford, what do think they'd do and who would criticize them for it?

    The 2011 draft is intriguing. Peterson and Green will start and star immediately, looking good and running well.

     But wait. What’s that speeding past them? Is it a Lamborghini? Is it a Ferrari?

      Oh. It’s Newton.

      Of course, if Newton flops, he might compel the Panthers to join AAA.

     Peterson and Green don’t play quarterback. When was the last time an NFL team made a playoff run without a superior quarterback?

    If the Panthers had a decent quarterback last season they wouldn’t have the No. 1 pick. They'd have won too many games.

     No matter whom you are or what you do there comes a time when you disdain the safe and the predictable and you try to be great.

      If you’re the Panthers the time is April 28, the place is Radio City Music Hall and the pick is Cam Newton.

How Lowe can you go? Sidney was in over his head.

    After N.C. State ran off Herb Sendek, it hired the anti-Sendek. Sidney Lowe was part of N.C. State basketball lore and legend. He wore N.C. State red. He knew how important the rivalry with North Carolina and Duke were.

    But he still couldn't beat the Tar Heels or Blue Devils.

    Lowe's rotations were always a mystery. Now you see them. Now - they're at the end of the bench.

    He had passion, but so do cheerleaders.

    Nothing he did indicated he was capable of competing in the ACC.

    If N.C. State fans are anything like Charlotte fans, they'll push for somebody famous to replace Lowe. Instead of finding the next great coach, they'll push for somebody that already has achieved some success.

    If I'm the Wolfpack, I do what they did last time - make a run at big-time A-list coaches. So what if they were turned down more than a sportswriter at last call. At least they tried.

    One name to consider is Gregg Marshall, the former Winthrop coach now at Wichita State.

    He's not famous - yet.

  

 

With the first pick in the 2011 NFL draft, the Carolina Panthers select...

    Been reading various mock drafts. Some seem to be a testament to shock value. The writer wants to be noticed. Look how daring I am.

     My NFL mock draft goes only one player deep. And it's Cam Newton. Either the Carolina Panthers, who have the first pick, will take Newton or they want the rest of the league to think they will.

    I believe the former. I'll have a column about it in Wednesday's Observer.

 

Brackets are beautiful, and Bobcats were pretty good, too

    I filled out my bracket before Dick Vitale finished talking, before Colorado was declared a martyr, before Virginia Commonwealth and Alabama-Birmingham were officially shunned.

    I keep the bracket next to the computer and, I must say, it looks good. I love a pristine bracket. I did cross out one winner; I originally had St. John's beating Gonzaga, but changed my mind. I have the Zags beating St. John's and Wofford.

    Whether it's hamburgers (Helen Schwab), rock bands (Colin Cowherd) or basketball teams, I love the concept of brackets, and so does America. My NCAA bracket was printed in Monday's Observer. I don't think PItt is the best team in college basketball and had no idea I'd pick the Panthers to win the NCAA men's tournament.

     But there they were, in the Final Four with Ohio State, San Diego State and Notre Dame. I almost picked Kentucky to upset the Buckeyes. But the Kentucky is so young.

     In unrelated basketball news, I went to the Charlotte Bobcats-Portland Trail Blazers game Friday. It was  the kind of game that makes you want to return to Time Warner Cable Arena when the Bobcats play next.

    As much as I criticized the Bobcats for giving away Gerald Wallace, the team offered Wallace a nice little video tribute introduced him before the game. The moment was moving. Everybody cheered. Even the media cheered. Every player I saw on both teams paused to clap for Gerald.

    Enjoy the basketball, regardless of the level at which it is played.

 

The colors are different, but Gerald Wallace hasn't changed

    Gerald Wallace sits in a chair in the visitors' locker room Friday before Portland plays Charlotte.

    "The chairs aren't as comfortable," Wallace says. "The lockers are a lot smaller. It's not the same atmosphere."

     The Bobcats traded Wallace to the Trail Blazers Feb. 24. He is back, in Time Warner Cable Arena, for a night.

     "The city was great to us," he says. "The city and the fans. It seems like we've been here our whole lives."

     It was seven seasons. Until the trade, he was in town as long as long as the Bobcats were.

    Somebody asks Wallace if he and his family will stay in Charlotte after he retires.

     "We're just trying to get through the season," he says.

     Wallace invokes emotion. He talks about the emotion of the evening. A team employee approaches Wallace when he enters the building and tries to talk but begins to cry.

     "He is the nicest guy," she says.

     I ask him if he'll feel emotional when he's introduced, and when the crowd cheers.

     "Yeah," he says. "I ain't even going to lie. Yeah. It will."

     Fans, Wallace says, "helped me get where I'm at today. They've helped me become the player I am. They've always been 100% behind me in everything I've done. I owe them a lot of respect for what they've done for me the last seven years."

     Wallace is greeted by cries of "Gerald! Gerald!" when he jogs onto the court to warm up. He hits his first two jumpers form 18 feet, and shoots his familiar pattern of jumpers. When he leaves the court, he stops in the tunnel next to the court and signs autographs for five, 10, almost 15 minutes. A little kid drops his Gerald Wallace jersey onto the ground and Wallace picks it up, signs it and walks five feet up the ramp to hand it to the child.

     The uniform is different. But the man is the same.   

Could be a great day for sports

    Be a great day for sports if, along with round-the-clock college basketball and the return to Charlotte of Gerald Wallace, the NFL attains labor peace.

    Be especially good  for Carolina. Would give the Panthers a better chance to trade the No. 1 pick in next month's draft. Without a CBA, Panthers could trade for draft picks only. With a CBA, they could trade for players as well.

     If the Panthers keep the pick, I think they use it on Cam Newton.

     I also think that what's true now won't necessarily be true on draft day.

 

 

    

Gerald Wallace says Charlotte Bobcats stabbed him in the back

    Gerald Wallace says that when he finally removed his Charlotte Bobcat uniform, he thought it would be to retire.

    But on Feb. 24, the Bobcats gave him to Portland. They didn't really give him to Portland. They donated him. Like most of us, Wallace is not a proponent of the trade.

    He says he felt as if he was "stabbed in the back."

    "It's taken a lot of joy away," Wallace says Thursday. "My heart and soul was here and its always been here."

    He says he felt as if he was "not wanted anymore."

    It was "like a slap in the face," he adds.

    Wallace  talks  Thursday afternoon at Time Warner Cable Arena. Portland has just finished practice. Portland plays Charlotte in the arena Friday.

     Wallace says that head coach Paul Silas told him at practice Feb. 24, the last day NBA teams could trade, that he was "OK, that I didnt have anything to worry about."

    Silas didn't lie. Silas didn't know about the trade.

     Says Wallace: "I got home and man."

    That's when the call came. That's when he knew.

    General manager Rod Higgins told the media the next day that the trade came together at the last minute.

    Asked about this, Wallace says, "I dont even want to comment on that guy."

     Wallace says he likes Portland's attitude, which is "Win, win, win."

     I ask him if Charlotte shares that attitude.

      "Yeah, when I was here," Wallace says.

 

Remember the underdogs

   We say we like underdogs. But do we?

    Every season I hear more officials and more commentators offer evidence that the ninth-place team in the major conference (which lost more conference games than it won) should go to the NCAA basketball tournament while the smaller school that dominated the regular-season but lost in the small-conference tournament should go to the NIT.

    But is the NCAA basketball tournament a reward for being good? Or is it a reward for having a superior season? If a school can't win half its conference games, how good is it and how good a season did it have?

     My favorite moments in the tournament are provided by the small schools. It is Davidson beating Georgetown and Wisconsin and almost beating Kansas. It is Gonzaga making another run. It is Winthrop finally winning a first-round game. It is Wofford, which is coached so well, being poised to.

     So I'm pulling for Wake Forest in the ACC tournament today. My NBA friends tell me that Jeff Bzdelik can coach. He had little talent with which to work this season. But maybe he'll find some today and the Deacons will upset Boston College in Greensboro. Maybe Wofford will win in the first round next week.

     Somebody somewhere is going to win a game today or this week or next week that will entice all of us to bag work and run to the laptop or TV. Remember that.

    Let's hope the selection committee remembers Sunday night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Thanks, Auburn

    Readers tell me the Panthers ought to trade their No. 1 pick for Cincinnati's pick plus Carson Palmer. Or they offer a different trade scenario. Panthers can't. Unless there's a CBA, players can't be traded. Without a CBA, the Panthers can trade only draft choices. They could trade their No. 1 for a lesser No. 1 and a No. 2 or No. 3, say.

     I found Cam Newton compelling. If I were the Panthers, and could get one excellent choice and one good one for No. 1, I'd probably take the deal. And yet...

    I also found Auburn compelling. Hadn't been there in 15 years. Pretty little town, had the requisite cheap restaurant with really good food and coffee shop with really good, and really necessary, coffee.

     Everybody I asked for directions not only offered them but offered them with total recall. Go left one mile and right one-third of a mile and left for one block and right for 71 yards and then turn at 45 degree angle.

     Thank you, Auburn.

     Saw the trees that were poisoned. Bet you $50 that the guy that did it posts on message boards. I think fresh air would cure a lot of these guys. But they'd have to leave the house.

     Pro Day ran so long we didn't make it back to Charlotte. We made it only as far as Newnan, on the Alabama side of Atlanta. Will avoid Atlanta on the way back if possible. Doubt Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs & Chinese Food offers breakfast, anyway.