Tom Talks

Cam Newton made a bad game worse

    I give Cam Newton credit. He got me to watch the Pro Bowl. As much as I like the NFL, I never watch the Pro Bowl. Baseball and basketball have interesting all-star games. Football's is rarely worth watching.

    But I was curious about Cam, so I watched most of the second half. He had moments -- two, I think. He looked like a rookie.

     Newton threw 27 passes, completed nine, and had two touchdowns and three interceptions. He isn't polished enough to get out there and improvise. To improvise, a player has to have the fundamentals down, and on Sunday night, he did not.

      In Newton's defense, he threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith.

       And he did have to play the second half, when players care less about being polite and some try to win. He faced more pressure than the NFC's first-half quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, did.

     Newton probably performed worse than any player on the field.

     But the scenery was lovely, and nobody credible will remember.

Business as usual in Chapel Hill

   North Carolina is a great basketball team when it cares, and on Thursday night it cared. N.C. State came in with a pretty record amassed against mediocre teams and for the first time in a long time the game felt like a rivalry.

     But when the Tar Heels commit, they play tough and entertaining basketball. Their interior defense is exceptional, they get good shots and they have an array of players capable of making them. The lopsided score -- North Carolina by 19 -- had less to do with N.C. State's struggles than with North Carolina's bursts of brilliance.

    I'm pulling for N.C. State. Basketball is better when somebody -- N.C. State, Wake Forest, Stephen Curry -- rises to challenge superpowers North Carolina and Duke.

     N.C. State isn't there, isn't close. But at least the Wolfpack is entitled to believe. And how long has it been since that happened?

   

 

 

 

49ers were abysmal. Terrible, too.

   Temple beat Charlotte 79-57 in Charlotte Wednesday. Terrible performance by the 49ers. Set the cause back. Gave fans no reason to come back, not that many had come to Halton Arena. Charlotte's finest moments -- it had two -- were back-to-back game-ending threes by walk-ons Colby Lewis and Lamar Bradbury.

    Game was not nearly as close as the score implies. Charlotte didn't score its first basket until more than 10 minutes had passed in the first half. 49ers had 1 on the scoreboard for so long it looked like a tattoo.

Charlotte basketball blues

    Charlotte 49ers getting crushed by Temple. Charlotte Bobcats getting crushed by Washington Wizards. And sources tell me Johnson & Wales was crushed, like a cream puff, by Francis Marion. And I'm missing Modern Family. Feels like gist for a blues song. What would Robert Johnson, the real one not the guy that used to own the Bobcats, say?

Here they come

Charlotte scores, and likes scoring, so it scores again. And again. 3 minutes 50 seconds left in first half. Temple 31, Charlotte 9.

Strap in

Charotte 49ers score first basket with about 9:40 remaining in first half. They liked it so much they made another. On fire. With 7:50 to play in first half, Charlotte 7, Temple 23.

Fine day for the Patriots, Giants and NFL

    I'm not a TV guy. I'd rather do than watch others do. But I watched or listened on radio Sunday to every play of both conference championships.

     The first game I watched in New England South; everybody in the house rooted for the Patriots. They either had grown up with the Patriots, hated Baltimore (the Pittsburgh fan) or had picked the Patriots to win (me.) Ok, there was one other guy, andhe pulled for New England because if he had not he'd be asked to leave, the food was pretty good.

     Was cool to be with people who cared so deeply. I care, but I've lost the ability to cheer. Watched Minnesota, my school, play a double-overtime game at Illinois not long after Christmas, and almost cheered. I was on the verge, I really was. I think I pumped my fist. Out of practice, you know?

    The New England fans understood. Sit in this chair and good things happen. Stand here and good things happen. Leave the room when there's an especially important play a good thing will happen -- such as a missed field goal.

     Game was tremendous, especially if you were pulling for the Patriots. I would have watched with Baltimore fans, but I know only two.

     Second game also was outstanding. Compare the method with which the NFL ends the season with the way college football does. College football uses a pageant. NFL plays games.

     I picked the Giants, so I was pulling for them. Went 2-0. But even if I were 0-2, it would have been a great day for football. Not as good, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Petty is still the King, and he always will be

   Richard Petty was not inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Friday. He, of course, made the initial class two years ago. But in many ways, the night was his.

    No matter which room he entered he was the first man you saw. He was the only man at the Hall's Hall of Fame induction festivities who wore a big black hat that featured a feather the size of a toddler. He wore thick, dark sunglasses. And he was never alone.

    Petty, 74 and taller than the people around him, was constantly surrounded. Fans wanted time, a picture, an autograph, a story, another picture. The fans that arrived first stayed, and others joined them. Not once did I hear Petty say no or see him walk away.

     What a fantastic emissary for his sport. Seeing him anywhere makes you feel good that you're there, too. 

 

Johnson & Wales begins winning streak

   I wrote for Thursday's Observer about the men's basketball team on the Johnson & Wales Charlotte campus. The Wildcats have played varsity ball for two seasons. They were 0-28 last season and, going into last night's game against Mid-Atlantic Christian, 0-19 this season.

    They're 1-19 now. The Wildcats beat the visitors 70-59.

    I watched them play twice last week, and almost went last night. I should have.

    Everybody I talked to reporting the story -- players, coaches, administrators, students -- was gracious, nobody said "no comment," and the victory dinner probably was really good.

    Congratulations.