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.

 

Comments

[zach]

I hope that Mac and Marshall stay.. I think they can play at a high level still without henson and barnes considering they didn't show up for the tournament

[Rick]

LOL, love the dig at Jerry Reece.

[Frank]

Jerry Reece is a major tool bag.

Gotta love that one freak's obsession ruins it for everyone else that has NO desire to see MLB here, but would love the affordability of minor league ball in uptown.

[Go Baseball]

Agreed. People who don't live on an attorneys salary would really appreciate the affordability of minor league baseball for family outings.

[CarolinaCheshireCats]

I agree "No" defensive player in the first round because...we should trade our 9th and RB Stewart to Cleveland for their 1st and 2nd round pick this year! Caroline takes OL Kalil and we take two defensive players in the second! Cleveland still will have two first round pics and a stud RB.

[DT]

CCC, that would make too much sense for the Panther's to actually try that.
Reese is an idiot if he thinks MLB could work here for at least the next 20 years. You're not in a large market to be able to compete with the Bostons, NY's, or LA's revenue wise. Who wants to go see the Royals play every night?

[Dennis Easterling]

I would like to see Melvin Ingram, S C defensive end, get signed by the Panthers

[Gret]

The Browns would never go for that, take out their 2nd and add at the very least our 5th and maybe we're talking.

[charlottean]

Nobody is going to minor league baseball uptown. Thats a poor use of the land and a backwards move for the city. Better use of the money is light rail to fort mill/existing ballpark.

Schedule some knights games at bofa stadium or memorial stadium if do'able first to see if there's even remotely a demand. But to put up public money for construction and public money for the land swap, it doesnt make sense economically. We're trying to be atlanta or d.c. not greenville or durham. And we aren't far off with all the big moves the city has been making.

AAA baseball is awesome. Its not an economic windfall that deserves public push. Limited low level seasonal jobs. Low paid players living seasonal. Low attendance in most cases.

For major league sporting events people drive hours to go to games. Nobody does that for AAA baseball. Its the out of towners coming to town that help the economy locally, not the in towners spending their money at a different place. For every new restaraunt or bar that opens in 3rd ward, another suffers in another area. For it to help the economy it has to be jobs or tourism. This is neither.

Light rail to fort mill has plenty of benefits. Helps fort mill, helps 77 helps charlotte, helps companies, commuters, the knights, baseball fans.

Knights uptown helps the knights and a few thousand baseball fans who are too impatient to wait for the city to grow another 5 years to have the yankees and red sox coming to town multiple times every summer. And it hurts eeeeeeverybody else.

[joe cool]

all Heels are staying! they walked into Uncle Roy's office and told him as a group! If it's not pro baseball don't bother building a stadium!

[tom]

charlottean... where to begin? for one it would cost MUCH more to build rail to ft mill than it would to build a stadium downtown. hell, you could build dozens of ball parks for the cost of, "light rail" to ft mill.

you can't play baseball at bofa... it's not made for baseball. it's not a hybrid park like candlestick, or joe robbie; it's a football stadium... and a place to listen to billy graham babble incoherently.

how does moving the team to charlotte hurt anybody other than possibly people in ft mill? who, if you're not aware, are not in charlotte, not in NC, and don't pay taxes to support OUR infrastructure.

[Ross]

Tom,
C'mon, really?
I love your column and am a fan but this is so lame. A cryptic reference to Blackmon falling to #9 and if that happens you think we should take him.
Really? That's your revelating insight?
If this top 5 guy goes to 9, your column sounds like the "fan's" say take D, and genius you say "no, if a certain receiver is there, he should be picked."
Tell us something we don't know.

[John]

I, for one, would go to Knights games downtown... and I neither work, nor live there. As for MLB, I agree it's probably too early for Charlotte but then keep in mind that logic doesn't always equal results... as demonstrated when the Marlins won TWO World Championships at a fraction of the salary of the teams they beat... including the famously overfunded Yankees!

Sorry Tom, I really think defense is the greater need for the Panthers in the draft... and I supported Newton as the #1 pick last year, so THAT assumption is off the mark as well!

No, baseball at BofA is a bad... no, scratch that, TERRIBLE idea! Bad for baseball and even more so, bad for a team with a great running QB! You really want to risk losing Cam Newton to the transition from grass to the infield? Just plain dumb!

[CarolinaCheshireCats]

I'm not from Charlotte but why not put a baseball team in BOA stadium and build the Panthers a new one!! Come on Jerry Richardson and Micheal Jordan! They could sell the PSL a second time and give the Bob cats name to the baseball team and rename the Basketball team the cougars! Man that solves everything thats wrong with Charlotte!

[Monster Beats By dr. dre]

I hope Parcells does coach, it would keep our division interesting and give Aints fans less of an excuse to keep whining about their well-deserved punishment when they start losing games.

I'd also like to see the Panthers have two more shots at Parcells, and avenge that 35-14 loss in 2006 on Sunday Night Football at BofA, in Parcells' last coaching season (and Tony Romo's first-ever start). Easily one of the more humiliating defeats we've ever had; we led 14-10 early in the 4th quarter before they dropped 25 unanswered on us. Can't believe that was over 5 years ago, man I'm getting old.
If the marriage of Parcells and the Saints becomes official, no Panther fan should object.

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