Tom Talks

No football. But we got kickball.

    The Pros took on the Joes at Providence high school Saturday in Jordan Gross' kickball game. All the money raised benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

     Jimmy Clausen and Cam Newton were there. Both wore No. 2. Newton also wore shoes and long pants. He didn't get to kick.

      Clausen did and went deep, clearing the fence. Clausen also made some nice plays at shortstop. He looks leaner than he did last season.

      Steve Smith hit at least two home runs, one of them bouncing off Jerrod Kraftchick, the Joes' leftfielder. The ball bounced off Kraftchick and then Kraftchick crashed through the fence.

       Smith and Newton attracted the most cheers. Fans chanted for Newton, and finally Newton was inserted at third base, replacing Travelle Wharton.

     Players signed autographs, told jokes and went deep. It wasn't football. But for now, it's all we have.

 

 

Happy Panther fans. Been awhile.

   Weird to see happy, upbeat, optimistic fans outside Bank of America. Been awhile. September maybe?

    Not everybody wants the team to take Cam Newton. But even if fans don't want Newton, they'll be angry enough to care. Been awhile since fans cared.

     There are lots of kids, lots of laughing. Fans tour the locker rooms, step onto the field and run the same route Ricky Proehl did against Jacksonville when he caught the last-second game-winning touchdown pass from Jake Delhomme.

     General manager Marty Hurney and head coach Ron Rivera will address fans after the Panthers make their pick.

      Weather is ideal. Party is in the parking lot outside the stadium. Nobody, as far as the Panthers can tell, has ever thrown an outdoor party at the stadium on draft night.

       A friend of mine drove by.

      "I was surprised by the enthusiasm," he said.

     Been awhile.

With the first pick in the 2011 NFL draft the Panthers take

    In five hours, the Panthers will make the first pick in the 2011 NFL draft -- unless they trade it.

    If I'm handicapping the pick, it would be"

    Cam Newton -- 85%

    Trade the pick -- 10%

    A.J. Green -- 4 %

     Patrick Peterson -- 1%

     Marcell Dareus -- Among other players not receiving votes

 

 

Put on a sweater vest and you, too, will be scandal proof

    If Jim Tressel coached in the SEC, or Ohio State played in the SEC, how much greater would the criticism of the coach and the school be?

    Twice as much?

     Five times?

     Ten times?

      Tressel is dirty, and Ohio State's response was tepid, soft and weak.

      The key to life might be a sweater vest.

 

     

Woody Durham will be missed

    When I watch North Carolina play football or basketball, I can figure who won and who lost and who played well and who didn't. But the result does not feel official until I hear Woody Durham say it.

     Woody, who has broadcast the Tar Heels for 40 years, is retiring.

     The voice of Tar Heel basketball and football, Woody knows when to talk and when not to. Some announcers -- some people -- talks as if they get paid by the word. Woody never did.

     Woody, 69, was partisan. Of  course he was partisan. Those were his guys out there. The Tar Heels are his school.

       The good ones make a program theirs. They become so entwined that you can't imagine the program without them. Can you imagine Duke basketball without Bob Harris?  Remarkably, he and Woody both come from Albemarle.

       I can't imagine Tar Heel athletics without Woody.

     

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you know Harrison Barnes did the right thing?

    Selfishly, I'm happy to see Harrison Barnes return to North Carolina for his sophomore season. I enjoyed watching him play. And as good as he was, he'll become better. College coaches have much more time to teach than their NBA counterparts do.

     But I tire of people like myself saying that a kid did the right thing by staying. How would I know what's best for a teenage basketball star? When a player leaves North Carolina early, we never say, "He did the right thing" -- unless we cheer for Duke.

     Nobody came to my journalism school and told me that if I leave early they'd pay me lots of money. If a newspaper had, I wonder if I would have said, "No, it's all about education for me, so take your tawdry dollars while I head to class and to the library and to my part-time job on Friday night and Saturday night and to my dive apartment."

     Nobody came after me. Nobody came after you. The NBA would have come after Harrison Barnes.

     I'm glad Barnes is staying. But had he chosen to become a lottery pick, I would have been fine with that, too.

 

 

 

 

Another vote for Cam

    Ran into Chicago Bears safety, and former Carolina Panther, Chris Harris. Asked him what he thought the Panthers would do in the draft. He said what every other Panther and every former Panther I've talked to and heard interviewed has said.

    Cam Newton. 

     Smart guy, Chris Harris.

 

NBA playoffs are fan -- really, really good.

    I kept hearing, and hoping, that the NBA playoffs would be great. So far they are.

    Did you see Shane Battier hit the three-pointer with 23.9 seconds left to lead Memphis over San Antonio? You see the Memphis big men make San Antonio's big men look even older than they are?

     How about Chris Paul? Paul was going to be the NBA's next great point guard. Chicago's Derrick Rose got there first.

      But Paul was perfect against the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday. He scored 33 points, had 14 assists -- some of which made you jump and shout -- and seven rebounds and four steals. The longer the game went, the better he became. The Hornets, who are missing scorer and rebounder David West, beat the Lakers 109-100.

      Along with Paul being perfect, back-ups Jarrett Jack and Aaron Gray also were. Oddly, the player that kept the Lakers in the game was Ron Artest. Artest can be terrible. But he hustled and hit threes and, until Paul absolutely took over, helped Kobe Bryant keep the Lakers in it.

     The New York Knicks had another upset brewing. But Carmelo Anthony took them out of it. Anthony's talent is unquestionable, but he's not a great teammate and he proved it late against Boston. If Anthony passes more, the Knicks win.

      The NBA's regular-season ratings jumped this season, primarily because of the LeBron James-Dwayne Wade-Chris Bosh merger in Miami.

      But if LeBron hooked viewers, quality basketball kept them. It will continue to.

 

 

 

 

Michael Jordan on Charlie Sheen

Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and star of TV commercials, sat down with the Observer for an hour Wednesday.

We talked about basketball. And Charlie Sheen.

It's evident from watching the Hanes commercial Jordan filmed with Charlie Sheen that there is a bond between the stars. It wasn't just acting. Nobody acts that well. There was a connection. Their work, their dialogue, the way Jordan and Sheen played off each other was, I believe, moving.

So, Michael, I asked. Were you surprised by Charlie's outbursts and have you reached out to him?

"I, I, I mean I don't even know how to respond to that one," Jordan says. "I've had a lot of other things on my mind -- winning. So my relationship with Charlie is not one where we communicate that way. I did a commercial with him two years ago, three years ago."

But after filming, weren't there beers, parties, Hollywood hanging out?

"I haven't spent any time with Charlie," Jordan says laughing. "Don't put me there."

Sick and twisted in L.A.

    The idea that you get to attack somebody for wearing another team's jersey is ludicrous. We saw in Los Angeles where it can lead -- critical condition.

    Two fans of the Dodgers attack a fan of the San Francisco Giants for going so far as to wear San Francisco's colors. And suddenly Dodgers-Giants is Bloods-Crips.

     If you want to fight that badly, don't go to the game. Go out for the team. If you're that tough, share your special abilities with the local franchise. Baseball, basketball and football can always use tough guys.

     There are a lot of miserable people out there. I wish they'd contain their misery by staying at home.

      The Dodgers promise to catch the perpetrators.

     Love to hear the excuses the perpetrators offer, preferably as they're led away in cuffs.