Tom Talks

Can the Panthers afford not to draft Cam Newton?

    To watch Cam Newton at Auburn's Pro Day was to be impressed. Everything was set up for him to look good. He lined up behind his center, threw to his four receivers, worked on his turf, heard cheers from his teammates and Auburn personnel on the side of the field.

     There was no rush, no 6-5 defensive ends swooping in, no blitzing linebackers or cornerbacks.

     There was pressure. Newton had to wait almost four hours after Pro Day began to throw, and he threw for almost an hour.

     He was loose and strong and hit throws short and deep. And he's big. So many athletes are smaller than you expect. Newton is bigger.

     I don't know if the Panthers take him with the first pick in the draft. But they have to consider it.

     The gamble would be the biggest in franchise history.

     It is one they might have to take.

 

 

Panthers keep top pick?

    NFL source says that if a Collective Bargaining Agreement is not reached, Panthers will use their top pick. Are unlikely to trade, or to have the opportunity to trade, down.

Waiting for Cam

    Auburn's Pro Day is orange cones, stopwatches, cameras, notebooks and waiting.

     Spectators speak quietly, as if they're in a library instead of on a football field.

      Cam Newton shows up after the first of his teammates has run the 40. Newton's cell phone is implanted in his left ear. He likely will do nothing today but throw.

     He skipped the sprints and likely will skip the vertical and standing long jump, the three-cone agility drill, the shuttle drill and the bench press.

     Scouts know he is chiseled and fast and strong. Can he throw?

     Unlike at the NFL combine, he'll have his receivers and he'll throw on his turf.

     Newton will work out privately for several teams, among them the Carolina Panthers.

      The Panthers have six representatives at Auburn. The better Newton performs, the better off the Panthers are. The more Newton looks like an NFL quarterback, the more valuable Carolina's No. 1 pick becomes.

     

    

Happy anniversary Ali and Frazier

    Today is the 40th anniversary of Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier I, the first fight in the trilogy. There was no bigger sporting event that year, nothing close. The world paused for a night.

    Ali and Frazier wouldn't be as revered if they didn't have each other, Frazier especially. Before Frazier, Ali had Sonny Liston, a tremendous fighter. After Frazier, Ali had George Foreman, one of the great punchers of all time. He whipped them both.

      I saw Ali-Frazier I on closed circuit. I thought Ali won, but Ali was my guy. When Ali's fights come on, it's like when I randomly encounter Godfather I or II, or Shane or Cool Hand Luke. No matter what else I have planned, I have to watch.

     

You go where the road takes you

   Heading to Auburn this morning for Pro Day. Don't think there's a chance the Carolina Panthers invest the first pick on defensive tackle Nick Fairley. Don't know about Cam Newton. Newton is compelling, the great variable. If the Panthers don't take him, does somebody want him so badly they jump and offer multiple picks for the first pick?

     Hadn't been on a road for awhile. Need it. I usually go alone. But I'm making the trip with Darin Gannt, who covers the Panthers for the Observer. Music is essential, obviously. He likes country a lot more than I do, but he likes Led Zeppelin, too. I think he's what they call a Renaissance Man.

    Darin really likes Johnny Cash. I also like Johnny. A guy that good is good no matter what style he comes out of.

    Never put a CD in on the way down. Listened to satellite radio, mainly Bluesville.

    Needed to wind down after we landed. There's a bar walking distance from the hotel. Turned out to be a Hooters.

    You go where the road takes you.  

    

 

 

   

    

Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs & Chinese food & pain

    The beauty of the road comes when you avoid the chain restaurants and seek the unusual and the new. Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs & Chinese Food in Atlanta is new. I assure you that it's unusual, too.

     Find the restaurant, which is in a former 7-Eleven, park the car, look in the door and, even from behind, you know who the fellow at the long table is. Sitting with his back to the door is The Mad Man of Sudan himself.

     Abdullah, who will be inducted into the World Wrestling Enterntainment Hall of Fame next month in Atlanta before Wrestlemania XXVII, was evil in the ring. Guy stood 6-feet and weighed close to 350 pounds. He'd bloody an opponent and then dig a fork into the wound. What do you expect? He was a Butcher.

     His restaurant is a testament to his work between the ropes. On the wall are 8x10s of himself and his opponents, among them Charlotte's Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat. Jimmy Carter also is up there.

     Joining Abdullah at the table is an old friend and the old friend's wife. They're from Canada. So is Abdullah comes from Canada. The desert part, obviously.

    I ask Abdullah if, after he finishes, Darin Gantt and I, who are on our way to Auburn for today's Pro Day with Cam Newton, can have our picture taken with him.

    He tells us to finish our food and then join him. We're sportswriters. Of course we finish our food -- rib tips.

    Abdullah is menacing in the first picture with me and shakes my hand in the second. He's gracious. Has a nice laugh.

     Abdullah -- friends call him Abe -- is probably 70. I ask him when he retired. He hasn't, he says.

     I tell him I know Ric Flair and he says, "Flair would never fight me. He would never get in the ring with me. Tell him that. Tell him how sad I was when I said it."

     Maybe Ric has an aversion to kitchen utensils. I'll check when I see him next.

    

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you need a reason to run onto the court?

    If North Carolina beats the Virginia-Miami winner in Greensboro Friday, you think fans of the Tar Heels will rush the court?

    Hooray. We put Tony Bennett in his place. We're ever so excited. Say, Muffie, the wood brings out the brown in your eyes.

     North Carolina played a fine game against Duke Saturday. But how odd was it to see fans rush the court? I thought you left your seats to celebrate the unexpected, or a national championship. Although the betting line was even Saturday, it was tough to find a prognosticator who expected the Blue Devils to win.

    You're North Carolina. You have banners. You have high school all-Americans. Last season you had a nice NIT run. Your program is as good as anybody's.

    You've been there before.

     It hasn't been that long, has it?

   

      

 

Shockey a shock, but I like it

    I like the signing of tight end Jeremy Shockey. Now Steve Smith will have somebody to play with.

    Change is required, not just in personnel but in philosophy. We want proof. We want evidence. We want to know that this team will be different. Making Shockey a Panther attests to a change in philosophy.

     Under John Fox, the tight end was primarily a blocker. There would be the occasional foray down the sideline, and Jeff King made some clutch catches over the middle. King has good hands, although he was given limited opportunities to prove it.

      But Shockey was not put on the planet to block. He is a threat, especially near the goal line. His signing makes clear that the offense no longer belongs to Fox, and that it no longer is 2010.

     

 

 

 

Don't count on training camp

    Be great if the owners and players settled on a deal before midnight. I don't see it.

     I think that after tonight negotiations become more tense and angry. I was in a union once. The newspaper for which I work went on strike. People who were friends, who were respected, but who were on the other side, suddenly became the enemy. I didn't it see that way, but many of my cohorts did. They allowed themselves to be swept up in the righteousness and the anger.

    I'll be shocked if the 2011 NFL season is cancelled. I'll be surprised if training camp begins on time. The annual pilgrammage to Spartanburg for Carolina's training camp, which I and thousands of fans anticipate, will be pushed back and perhaps eliminated.

    I don't blame management. I don't blame players. It's easy to blame ego. But this is not about ego. This is about fighting for what you believe. The owners believe they gave away way too much in the last round of negotiations -- and they did.

    The players believe they fought hard for what they attained, that everybody is making money, that TV ratings, the true barometer of interest, are over the top, so why upset the balance? 

    Owners believe they are entitled to healthy return on their investment. Players believe they are entitled to a healthy return on their careers.

     Owners want what's fair, players want what's fair.

     What's fair?

     No matter what either side will tell you, this isn't about fans. This is about reaching an agreement that, they will contend, benefits both parties and the game.

      So dig in. If an agreement is not reached before midnight, there's no reason to expect one in coming weeks, or months.

   A catalyst will be required. Panic is likely to be the catalyst. Panic is unlikely to set in until the season approaches, and there's no football to be played.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to football, Charlotte 49ers continue to get it right

    The Charlotte 49ers introduced Brad Lambert, the long-time Wake Forest assistant coach and defensive coordinator, to the public and the media Tuesday. The 49ers need a coach that sell the program to players, to fans and to Charlotte. Why can't Lambert be that guy?

    He is personable and energetic, and he worked 10 years for Wake Forest's Jim Grobe. If you don't follow Wake Forest or the ACC, you might criticize Grobe's recent slump. But it's only a slump because Grobe won so many games so early. He won an ACC football championship at a school that probably ought to win one conference game a season, against Duke.

    Grobe opened practices to fans. I ask Lambert if he will and he says, of course. The idea is to invite the community, make them part of it.

    The Chuck Amato rumors were bizarre. Amato, the former N.C. State coach, showed up last summer in the office of Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose. He did not have an appointment. They talked. Somebody saw Amato and decided he was going to be Charlotte's first football coach. The rumor took off.

    Amato flamed out in Raleigh after he lost quarterback Phillip Rivers. But there's a segment of Charlotte fans -- the city, not the school -- that demands a celebrity coach.

     If you're the 49ers, you don't hire a celebrity. You hire a coach who becomes one. I have no idea whether Lambert will. He's never been a head coach before.

     But I liked what I heard Tuesday. And I like what I saw.

     Lambert became defensive coordinator at Wake Forest in 2008, and before that coached coached linebackers, defensive backs and special teams. Two of his former linebackers, Aaron Curry (now with the Seattle Seahawks) and Stanley Arnoux (New Orleans Saints) attended Tuesday's news conference.

   So did defensive back Alphonso Smith (a defensive back for the Detroit Lions), So did former Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner. So did Will Witherspoon, whom Lambert coached at Georgia and who played for the Carolina Panthers from 2002-05.

    Curry flew up from Orlando.

     "I wouldn't have missed it for the world," he says.

    Witherspoon flew down from Nashville.

     Skinner, who lives in Charlotte, drove. But he's a quarterback. Lambert has always coached the defense.

     "I'm just thrilled," says Skinner.

     Skinner says that the linebackers were the closest group on the team -- gathering before practice and after practice, in the locker room and at dinner. That, says Skinner, is a testament to Lambert, then the linebackers coach.

      Says Skinner: "He's as real as you get."