Tom Talks

Kentucky-Louisville rivalry is great, but not the best

The Kentucky-Louisville basketball rivalry is the best rivalry in college athletics. I've read that a few times this week. I don't believe it.

It's a great rivalry. I've spent a little time in Louisville and a lot of time in and around Lexington. Kentucky's support can overwhelm you. While Louisville lacks the numbers Kentucky has, it does have a nice urban edge and attracts all the fans that can't stand the Wildcats.

The North Carolina-Duke basketball rivalry obviously is intense, enhanced by proximity Kentucky and Louisville can't match. Kentucky-Louisville supporters will claim their rivalry is greater because they don't have professional sports in their state to interfere.

This season, North Carolina doesn't, either.

I've experienced other great college rivalries -- notably Texas and Oklahoma football and, closer to home, South Carolina and Clemson football.

But the most intense rivalry I've witnessed is Alabama-Auburn football. I've never seen a rivalry as partisan or fans as passionate.

UNC's Barnes, Henson and Marshall will be NBA lottery picks

The odds were that Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes and John Henson would leave school for the NBA, and each of the three underclassmen did. They'll be lottery picks. I don't know why so many think that Marshall will not. A true point guard is tough to come by.

    Three NBA seasons from now Marshall will be the best of them, Henson will be second and Barnes will be third.

    I don't say this based on Barnes' poor performance last weekend in St. Louis. But he was never the player most of us expected. He might have peaked as a high school senior, or perhaps as a college freshman. He'll be good enough. But he won't be more than that.

     They were fun to watch and part of one of the most entertaining teams in college basketball. I wish them well.   

 

Parcells to Saints should not worry any Panthers fan

Do Carolina Panther fans care if Bill Parcells is the next head coach of the New Orleans Saints? And if so, why?

 

   Parcells was great once. But in his last job as head coach the Dallas Cowboys went 9-7.

 

   In his most recent gig, he ran the football operation of the Miami Dolphins. They were bad when he took over and bad when he left.

 

   Most men would have been ripped for such a performance. But Parcells is a celebrity, and the NFL and NFL fans love celebrities and forgives them, too.

 

   When the Panthers needed a coach, there was a clamor for Bill Cowher, a push for John Gruden. If we knew who you were, you were fine with us.

 

    The phenomenon supersedes football. People paid to watch Mike Tyson long after he had been discredited as a boxer. Why? Because everybody knew his name.

 

    Everybody knows the name of Parcells, too. But the qualities that made him special are gone, perhaps on pension, at the beach, sitting beneath an umbrella, wearing dark socks and sandals and listening to a baseball game on a transistor radio.

 

     If the marriage of Parcells and the Saints becomes official, no Panther fan should object.

Panthers don't have to use first pick on a defensive player

     (1) If a potentially great wide receiver is available when the Carolina Panthers make their first pick in the NFL draft, they should take him. I hear from fans who insist that the Panthers have to take a defensive tackle, end or cornerback with the first pick. These probably are the same people who told me a year ago that I was crazy for writing that the Panthers should use the first pick on Cam Newton.

     There are no rules. You take the player that will help you most. If it is a certain receiver from the Southwest, grab him.

    (2)  Jerry Reece, the Charlotte real estate attorney, again is trying to derail an downtown stadium for the Charlotte Knights that might not be built anyway.

     I've never called Reece. But I suspect that the recording on his answering machine says:

"Hi, this is Jerry and I can't come to the phone right now because I'm filing another in a series of frivolous and unnecessary lawsuits to block a minor league stadium because I have a super secret Major League team that only I know about that wants to move to Charlotte and it's not Miami so that must leave somebody else. Please leave a message. Go Tar Heels."

     One more reason not to call Reece.

    (3) Speaking of the Tar Heels, if I were betting I would bet that Kendall Marshall, John Henson and Harrison Barnes will declare for the NBA and James McAdoo will not.

 

Kansas outrebounds North Carolina. Blame the absence of Marshall for that, too?

    North Carolina, with Kendall Marshall at point guard, is a better team than Kansas. But unlike football, college basketball isn't theoretical. Voters don't decide who is better. Players and coaches do. Kansas was better Sunday. In no way was the victory tainted.

      The Tar Heels were outrebounded 41-35. What difference would Marshall have made there?

     Even without Marshall, who is a great college point guard, the Tar Heels could have won. But they needed a star. Somebody had to say, this game is mine. Somebody had to impose himself on the outcome. Somebody had to lead.

      The obvious candidate was North Carolina forward Harrison Barnes, and Barnes failed.

       Barnes has devolved into a jump shooter. He has an array of moves that enable him to get his shot off, but few that enable him to get to the basket.

       Why not at least try? Why not attack? Why not surprise the man (men) guarding him by going to the hoop and at least theoretically drawing a foul?

      Barnes was content to shoot from outside, and except for one first-half flurry, his shot wasn't going in. As fluid as he is, he's frustrating to watch.

      Everybody praises N.C. State for making the Sweet 16 and rips the Tar Heels for failing to make the FInal Four.

     That's because North Carolina has veteran, tested, Final Four talent. 

      All the season North Carolina  seemed destined for the Final Four. But there is no destiny. There is opportunity. The Tar Heels failed to take advantage of theirs.

 

If I were a betting man, those Saints would have been appealing

   One interesting, and not improbable, piece of the bounty story is this: What if gamblers knew?

    The NFL leads the league in betting. I'm not talking about brackets; I'm talking about point spreads. One reason professional soccer has not made it in this country is because a conventional betting line would fail. When the score is 1-0, does the winner cover? Is anybody ever more than a 1/2-goal favorite?

     What if somebody wanted to put down serious money on Sunday afternoon football, and he or she knew about the bounty program New Orleans has made famous?

     If Team B's offense is good was because of its quarterback, and you know that Team A is trying to take that quarterback out of the game, might you be tempted to invest a few bucks on Team A?

     If you were connected, and close to the team, you might even offer to enhance the bounty yourself.

     I'm not saying this happened. But it is feasible.

      What's not feasible is a locker room full of players accustomed to being treated like royalty keeping the story private.

      People talk. Ask the NFL. 

       That's why it's tough to believe that Drew Brees, a gracious man I've spent a little time around, knew nothing about the bounties. While the offense and defense often socialize with their own kind, Brees is a leader, the guy doing the pre-game dance in the middle of the circle. He's everybody's Saint.

      I like him, so I want to believe him.

      In unrelated news, I once believed Lance Armstrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saints get what they deserve

  What if New Orleans had been successful? What if the bounty the Saints put out on opposing quarterbacks had been collected? What if the Saints had knocked Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, Minnesota's Brett Favre, Arizona's Kurt Warner or Carolina's Cam Newton out of the game?

     What if they had knocked Newton out for two games, or five, or the season? How would you feel if your guy, the biggest star the Panthers have ever had, no longer was able to perform because of a deliberate cheap shot?

    The NFL punished New Orleans severely Wednesday for its bounty program. The NFL in effect put a bounty on the Saints.

     The league suspended head coach Sean Payton for a year and suspended defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely. The Saints forfeit two second-round draft picks and lose an assistant coach for the season and the general manager for half a season.

      NFL commissioner Roger Goodell came down hard to the Saints, and he should have.

      Professional football is rough. But to offer a reward to take a player out of the game is stupid and unethical and undermines the credibility of the game. And for coaches to be aware of it, or be part of it, or condone it, or look the other way?

     The Saints offered $1,500 for a knockout and $1,000 for a cart-off. Hurt a player so badly that he has to leave the field and earn cash and, what, frequent cheap shot points?

       There have to be ethics and there have to be rules and the Saints knowingly and willingly violated them.  They got what they deserved.

 

 

 

 

     

       

 

 

 

 

Tim Tebow to Panthers? No.

   No. Stop asking. The Carolina Panthers should not sign Tim Tebow or even try to sign Tim Tebow. They can't afford him and they don't need a special-occasion quarterback. Tebow's role likely will be running a wishbone-like offense. The Panthers don't need help with that.

    Also, the Panthers don't have to draft a defensive player. They need more help on defense than on offense. But if they can get a potentially great offensive player, they should grab him.

     So many fans have rules. When I wrote last year that the Panthers should draft Cam Newton, I violated your rules, and you slayed me,

     When I wrote that the Panthers would draft Cam Newton, you slayed me and the Panthers.

     The rule some of you invoked was: Always draft defense was one of them.

      Here's the only rule: If you can make your team better by taking X, take X. And if he plays offense, that's OK.

   

Boris, I don't get you, but I wish you well

   Although Boris Diaw is perceived, and rightfully so, as the living, breathing and occasionally playing embodiment of wretched NBA excess, he was once the best the Charlotte Bobcats had. When the Bobcats made the playoffs in 2010, he was their most valuable player.

    Diaw made passes others didn't see. He ran the offense and forced other team's big men to chase him.

    Not sure what happened or why; but he's good guy, a smart guy, and I hope he finds what he's looking for.

     I wish he played hard. Diaw could have been something in Charlotte. Ultimately, he chose not to be.

Do Carolina Panthers even need a fullback?

   I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Why would Carolina need a fullback?

    Last season Greg Olsen and Jeremy Shockey occasionally lined up in the backfield as an H-back. The H-back can block or run out for passes or, in the case of Tolbert, take the ball and run with it.

     It's another piece for offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski to play with.

     And he will.