Tom Talks

I don't believe in NBA lottery conspiracies or aliens from Neptune

   Some people find somebody to blame when they don't get what they want.

    When their team loses, they blame officials, the media and announcers. When they fail to get the promotion, they blame their bosses. When life doesn't go the way it ought to, they blame the government or the corrupt and evil politicians for which their no good neighbors voted. When they stay up late listening to news talk radio, they blame the world's woes on aliens from Neptune, Venus and Mars.

     When the Charlotte Bobcats do not get the top pick in the NBA draft, they blame the league. It's a conspiracy, I tell you.

      George Shinn sold the Hornets to the NBA; the NBA found a buyer but the deal is not yet official; to make the sale more attractive, the league fixed the lottery so that underdog New Orleans, and not favored Charlotte, would get the top pick.

       The only problem with the theory is that there's no chance it is true. Representatives from every team, including the Bobcats, watched the process take place. A

        Also, too many people would have to know about the fix. People from this planet are not good at keeping secrets.

       Lastly, if the NBA did fix the lottery, New Orleans would not have won the pick. New Orleans is a terrible NBA market. Anthony Davis will have an impact there, but not nearly the impact he would on ticket sales in Charlotte or in a major market.

       If the lottery were fixed, New Jersey/Brooklyn would have received the first pick, and a gray and boring team suddenly would become colorful.

        Conspiracies can be fun, I guess. But they're invariably fiction.

        Truth is, it's unlikely that anybody is out to get you -- or your team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a waste of a Wednesday night

   Ever pick up the newspaper the day after an election, and the candidate for which you voted lost, and you realize that no matter what you do the result is official?

    That's how I feel this morning. My candidate, and Charlotte's candidate, and the candidate of the Bobcats, Anthony Davis, won't be coming to N.C. He'll be going to New Orleans and the Hornets.

     Wednesday night was deflating, draining, frustrating and sad. The Bobcats were so close to the top pick in the NBA draft and the opportunity to add their first franchise player.

       It's like having an opportunity to win a car. And instead, you win second prize. Second prize is a set of stainless steel silverware.

       There was no fix. If the NBA had fixed the lottery, the top pick would have gone to New Jersey/Brooklyn. New Orleans is a terrible market for the NBA.

        But it just got better.     

 

 

Very superstitious; fans of the Charlotte Bobcats await tonight's lottery

    The more I write about Anthony Davis, the better he becomes. In Wednesday's column I had him, in three years, as one of the top 10 players in the NBA. A sentence later, I suggested the top five. If I had written another paragraph, I would have had LeBron saying, "I hate playing against Anthony's team because we can't win."

      This time the hype is justified. He is a transcendent player. I'll be shocked if he isn't great.

       That's why tonight's lottery is so important. Be interesting to see what the television ratings are for the 8 p.m. event.

      Be interesting to see what fans of the Charlotte Bobcats do to try to bring luck, and the first pick in the NBA draft, to their team.

     We all have our superstitions. Some are pretty good. Tonight we'll find out if they work.

Camp confidential: Carolina Panthers Thursday OTA.

   Walking to Panther camp Thursday, behind DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, I heard a loud voice singing and talking behind me. It was Cam Newton. Either I forgot how big he was, how tall and broad, or he grew during the off-season.

    Newton saw a photographer atop a hill and posed for him, and then leaned over Stewart, pretended to be a professional news-gatherer and took notes with an imaginary pen and notebook. Assume it was an imaginary pen. Could have been an imaginary pencil.

     Some highlights: Catch of the day was provided by Chris Manno, a 26-year-old receiver out of Hofstra. Manno grabbed a pass along the left sideline with one hand.

      Armanti Edwards grabbed consecutive passes over the middle and on the second achieved instant acceleration and was gone.

      Each quarterback had moments: Newton hit Edwards in stride for the long gain over the middle. Jimmy Clausen hit tight end/fullback Richie Brockel down the left side. Remember that combination.

       Derek Anderson hit Rico Wallace, a rookie out of Shenandoah, deep on the left side.

        Greg Hardy intercepted a Newton pass deflected at the line. He tracked the ball like a 277-pound slot receiver.

        Brandon LeFell grabbed a pass in front of Captain Munnerlyn and Sherrod Martin. There were three and then there was one. Remember, however, that receivers had a huge advantage. Players didn't wear pads and helmets, and they weren't supposed to hit, so defenders were limited in what they could do to discourage a receiver from hanging on.

      David Gettis, out all last season, caught a ball deep along the right sideline.

       Jonathan Stewart caught a pass in company over the middle, and with a nifty stutter step he was free.

      A fullback caught a pass in the backfield, changed directions and took off, his offensive teammates cheering. The fullback was, of course, Lyndon Rowells, a rookie from Humbolt State, in California.

      A helicopter flew above the field, hovered, flew downtown and returned.

      Blame the Democratic National Convention if you must.

      I blame the New Orleans Saints.

 

Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of Dale, makes MMA debut Tuesday night

   Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of Dale Earnhardt, makes his mixed martial arts debut tonight on a Fight Lab card at Coyote Joe's, 4621 Wilkinson Blvd.

      Doors open at 6 p.m., and the fights start at 7. General admission is $35 and reserved seats are $60.

      Earnhardt will go against Chris Faison, a veteran of four fights, in the amateur bout.

      Pay per view also is available for $20 at www.FightLabPros.com.

NBA playoffs are great, but not sure San Antonio is

   I can't remember the last time I heard a network commentator pick anybody but San Antonio to win the NBA playoffs. Ignored all season while Miami and Oklahoma City collected all the attention, the Spurs suddenly are beloved.

    In the TV, website and newspaper business we like to champion the teams and athletes nobody else does. It's the reason several writers have collectively decided that NASCAR's Kurt Busch is all right. Problem with the Spurs is that everybody has decided they're all right.

     I like the unselfishness with which they play and the talent they have collected, and that includes former Charlotte Bobcat Boris Diaw. But in the NBA a team usually goes the way its stars do. The Spurs don't have anybody as good as OKC's Kevin Durant. Some nights they won't have anybody as good as James Harden and, when he's on, Russell Westbrook.

     Duncan has been great but San Antonio's path has been easy. When Duncan is challenged and has to play a lot he easily could wear down. If he does, Tony Parker will have to carry the Spurs.

     Regardless of who your team is, the playoffs have been compelling. If Durant isn't doing it out West LeBron James is doing it in the Midwest. The OKC-Los Angeles Lakers series is basketball at it's most intense. If you care who wins -- I'm a professional sportswriter and thus objective but go OKC -- you're drained by the end.

     Sports, at their best, are supposed to provide a viewing experience that will wear you out because you invest so much emotion and because you're mesmerized by the twists and surprises and big plays.

     The NBA playoffs are sports at their best.

 

 

OKC makes it look easy. It was easy.

   Loved seeing Oklahoma City -- although nobody calls the team Oklahoma City or the Thunder -- destroy the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night. The Metta World Peace episode, the elbow and the lack of class and contrition, is enough to sour even a Lakers' fan on the Lakers.

     The Magic Johnson Showtime Lakers are the best team I've ever seen, and my favorite of all time. But the class and style with which they played has not endured. The Lakers are the team of World Peace and Andrew Bynum. Kobe has evolved as he has aged -- he will now intentionally pass -- but they're a team built to win big games, not a series against a good team.

     James Harden is one of my favorite players, and not because of the cheap-shot elbow he took from World Peace. Kevin Durant is a scorer and so is point guard Russell Westbrook. Harden is the conscience every successful team requires. He'll pass, rebound and score all within the context of what OKC does.  When was the last time you saw him take a bad shot?

     As talented and as entertaining as OKC is, I don't trust Westbrook. He's the most athletic point guard in the league but sometimes, instead of giving the ball up to a cutting, running teammate, he'll go one against the world. He can be a great scorer. If he also was a consistently good passer, his team would be as good as anybody.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice day for a Carolina Panther rookie camp

   Watching players walk to the practice field next to Bank of America Stadium Friday was like watching kids on their first day of school. Some were loose, some stoic, and almost nobody made noise. Most didn't get to Charlotte until Thursday and they don't know each other.

     They also didn't know what to expect. After stretching, they went to work. Quarterbacks Dalton Bell (West Texas A&M) and Jarrett Brown (West Virgina) threw in and then out patterns to a variety of receivers. Nobody wanted to stand out by dropping a ball, so nobody did.

     Then Jared Green (Southern) failed to hang on and then Rico Wallace (Shenandoah) did.

     Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski walked over and even if the newcomers didn't know who he was, they knew he was important.

      Some schools had two representatives, among them UCLA, Oklahoma, Stephen F. Austin and Charlotte Latin. 

      Brenton Bersin, a receiver from Wofford, and Ben Jorden, a fullback from Appalachian State, are Latin graduates.

      The humidity was such that players might have thought they were in San Diego.

       Those who are invited back after the three-day camp will learn.

 

 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is brilliant

   Roger Goodell will go down as one of the great commissioners, in any sport, of all time. His detractors complain that old-time tough-guy football players will shake their heads at Goodell's heavy justice.

    What will the heads of the old-time tough-guy football players feel like when they finish shaking them? And how many of them have enjoined the law suit that contends the NFL didn't do enough to prevent head injuries?

     We know much more about head trauma and concussions than we did even five years ago, and the more we learn the more we shudder -- at least those of us who see football players as human beings, not as human projectiles on our TV screen.

     Knowledge works only when its applied, and Goodell is applying it. His tactics might appear heavy handed, but he had a culture to change, and to do it he was willing to be the bad guy. Players know now that even if their instincts tell them to lead with their head, they have to control those instincts.

     I've stuck up for co-workers simply because they're co-workers, and I didn't like people from the outside criticizing them. Football players stick up for football players even if they put a bounty on other football player, pledging money to take them out of a game.

     There are rules, and if you treat them as if they don't exist Goodell will make you pay. Goodell suspended New Orleans' middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who was an unofficial player rep for the bounty culture, for a season, and also suspended three other players as much as half a season.

     These were other players the Saints were going after.

     Instead of going after Goodell, the Union ought to thank him.

     He'll make football a safer sport for them without eliminating the thrills that make it so wildly popular.