Tom Talks

NFL needs to cut a deal with officials now

   When there's a labor impasse I don't automatically blame management, don't automatically blame players and don't automatically contend that both sides are greedy.

     But even though I think Roger Goodell has been a brilliant commissioner, I blame him, and the league, for the impasse with officials.

      The NFL announced Wednesday afternoon that replacement officials would open the season.

       It's like opening the season with replacement players, most from small colleges. Let the junior varsity games begin.

       Some of the replacement officials undoubtedly have NFL talent. But they don't have NFL experience. They're being put in position to fail, and many will. They'll be overmatched by the speed of a regular-season game, and everybody wearing helmets and pads and watching from the bleachers and on TV will know.

       Players and coaches and fans blame accredited officials. So the replacements will be guilty until proven otherwise, and they won't have the opportunity to prove otherwise.

       I attended the first three exhibition games played by the Carolina Panthers and the replacement officials, in their struggles to get everything right, slowed the game down.

       If I'm Goodell, I begin a new quest -- get the officials a contract. Give a little. Give unti it hurts. And despite Wednesday's announcement get the officials on the field by opening day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panthers versus Jets: pregame factual bonanza

    Most telling Carolina Panther-New York Jets pregame development: Louis Murphy will start at wide receiver in place of Steve Smith, who did make the trip to New Jersey. If you were wondering who Carolina's No. 3 receiver will be when Smith returns, assuming he returns, wonder no more.

     Best pregame development: Warming up on the field at Metlife Stadium was Panther linebacker Thomas Davis, who has three times torn the ACL in his right knee and three times returned. Welcome back.

      Best New York twist: On a TV in the press box were Joe Namath and his Jets beating Baltimore in one of the great Super Bowl upsets. It was like Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson, or like me making a road trip to New Jersey without forgetting something, such as my cell phone and binoculars, or both.

      I met Namath a few years ago. Met him in a hotel gym at the Detroit Super Bowl. He was kind of doddering, to be honest with you. Saw him at a party that night. He doddered no more.

       Cool to meet the athletes you support growing up. I've met Namath, Muhammad Ali and Earl the Pearl Monroe. Collect the whole set.

        On the Jets roster, but inactive tonight, is Dexter Jackson, a receiver out of Appalachian State.

        Carolina's defensive line, which I've written several times is their weakest component, was impressive last week against Miami. The line was quick off the ball and tough against the run. I want to see how the line does against Mark Sanchez and the Jets, who ought to be desperate. The Jets scored six points in their exhibition opener against Cincinnati and three last week against the New York Giants.

       Quinton Coples, who played defensive end and tackle for North Carolina, will start tonight at tackle for the Jets. Coples, New York's first-round pick, has a reputation for not playing hard all the time. Imagine, hearing that about a Tar Heel pass rusher.

       But I went to his Pro Day in Chapel Hill and he was outstanding.

        The Jets use a 3-4, so Coples will work against Ryan Kalil and the Panther guards.

       Kickoff is in 10 minutes. Stadium is mostly empty. You can't doubt the passion of New York fans. You can doubt forcing them to buy tickets to two NFL preaseason games. 

        Cut the preseason from four games to two, keep the regular season at 16 games, and we'll all be happier. And have more money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drugs, baseball and apple pie

   A reporter I respect who rarely covers the Panthers went into the locker room one afternoon and said he could tell me which players use steroids.

    I told him he was wrong, and that he was crazy, and on that day he was both.

      But when an athlete in a team sport gets caught using a banned substance the more cynical among us are willing to believe that everybody does.

     I have no idea how common performance enhancing drugs are in football, basketball or Major League Baseball.

    They appear to be more common on Bay Area baseball teams than anywhere else.

    Last week Melky Cabrera of San Francisco, an all-star outfielder whose career appeared to fade years ago, was caught cheating. Now Oakland pitcher Bartolo Colon has been. Colon, 39, didn't play last season because of an injured elbow.

     The problem now is that every veteran who has a good season becomes a suspect.

      Is Derek Jeter enjoying a resurgance because he has one final good year in him or because he's using?

     I vote for the former.

     I might be naive but I refuse to believe that everybody who attains success or enjoys a comeback or is in incredible condition somehow cheated to get there.

     Even if he plays in, or around, San Francisco.

 

 

Augusta National Golf Club admits first women as members

    Augusta National Golf Club formerly introduced itself to 2012 Monday when it announced that it admitted it first women members, Condoleezza Rice of Stanford and Darla Moore of Lake City. S.C.

     The club, which hosts the Masters, was going to do this. It had to. Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National and the Masters Tournament, holds an annual state of the Masters address. Four months ago he decried golf's declining numbers. Fewer people are playing. Payne said the sport needed to grow, and his organization needed to help lead the cause.

     Excluding half the population doesn't help.

     As a private club, Augusta is entitled to conduct business in any fashion it chooses. There's a charm about the way they do it. Almost everybody else capitulates to the prevailing trends. Augusta National moves at its pace, and if you want to spend time there, you will, too.

      Other sports worry about offering the biggest scoreboard, the most wired stadium and the most expensive sandwiches.

     There at the front of Augusta National, for everybody to see, is a huge stately scoreboard operated manually; you see the men on ladders behind it, adding the latest numbers. That's Augusta speed. The rest of us go through life with a cell phone implanted in our ears. Get caught with one at Augusta National and it will be confiscated. You can buy a sandwhich there for about what you'd pay to make it.

     The club is aware, of course, that there is life beyond the azaleas. Women were not put on the planet to be spectators, as the U.S. team's superb work in the London Olympics attests.

      Pushing Augusta National to change undoubtedly set the cause back. Payne and company aren't going to be told what to do. They do not want to capitulate and they do not want to look as if they capitulated.

      Admitting women members had to be their idea.

       It was an idea they had no choice but to make.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When did Scandal become a major at UNC?

    Julius Peppers ought to sue North Carolina for carelessly allowing his transcript to become public. (If, as most of us assume, it is his transcript.)

    But Peppers shouldn't sue the school for failing to provide a college education. He and the Tar Heels cut a deal long before he became a college athlete.

     The deal: You're the best high school athlete in the state. We, North Carolina, would love you, Julius, to represent us on the field and the basketball court. And if you want to be a student, that's fine, too.

     Meanwhile, we'll hide you in African Studies and Afro-American Studies. We're taking orders now. You want A's or B's?

     Most large schools have programs in which they stash athletes, and some small schools do, too.

     It's as foolish to believe that every athlete can cut it academically as it is to believe that every non-athlete can. The difference is that most non-athletes can't get past admissions.

     That other schools do it in no way excuses North Carolina. The sleaze that encompasses the  football program is such that when visitors get home they want to shower twice.

      North Carolina has so many problems it's as if it collects them.When did the scandals begin, and how deep do they go?

      Some fans defend the school, blame the media, contend the transgressions are all minor. Besides, they claim, everybody does it, especially N.C. State. Many of these fans have never been in Chapel Hill.

      I respect the fans who, while passionate about their school's athletics, did not go to North Carolina to watch games.

       I respect the alumni who value their degrees, understand that the ongoing scandal cheapens them and hope to find a reason to again be proud of their school.

Hazing is for fools

    There was a time when the Panthers ended training camp by taping rookies to the goalpost and pouring stuff on them.

      Glad the tradition ended. Rookies have to carry the pads and helmets of veterans when they walk off the field. Probably they have to sing a school fight song or put on a skit. That's enough.

      Maybe, away from the media and fans, veterans do something to the rookies. Hope not. 

       Hazing is dumb. Does it bring factions of a football team closer? Panthers stay in the same dormitories, see each other at breakfast, lunch and dinner. They attend meetings together. They practice together and against each other.

       There are no outside distractions, no chores, errands, crying or smiling babies. They've already bonded, don't you think?      

        Hazing belongs to a different time. Leave it there.

 

Running QBs, good hands and Cam Newton's magazine cover

    Josh Norman, the rookie cornerback out of Coastal Carolina, lined up with the starters Tuesday at Carolina's practice. Captain Munnerlyn, who has been the starter opposite Chris Gamble, moved to the nickel.

      His instincts and cover skills are impressive. He intercepted four passes. After one pick, he ran past the offense, which was standing in a line at midfield, and spun the ball like Steve Smith.

     --- Bovada released its NFL MVP odds.  Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the favorite at 11-2. Tim Tebow is 100-1.

      Cam Newton and two other quarterbacks, Tony Romo and Matt Ryan, are tied for 11th at 22-1.

     --- Who reaches up with one hand and makes a catch without even considering breaking stride? Greg Olsen.

     -- Which quarterback runs with glee and abandon? You got it. Derek Anderson. He scrambles up the middle, cuts left and slides out of bounds before mean defenders can get him. In a high voice he yells, "Ha! Ha! Ha!" And he jogs in a happy little circle.

    -- Offense and defense are officially sick of each other. Louis Murphy beats two defenders to grab a pass before stepping out of bounds and spikes the ball as if he won something.

    -- Restaurants have a catch of the day and so do I.

      Today's winner is Lamont Bryant. Pass goes to left corner of the end zone and Bryant, a 6-5 rookie out of Morgan State, reaches over 5-10 Darius Butler and grabs the ball. Butler emphatically waves his arms, indicating Bryant was out of bounds. Looked good to me. And to Steve Smith. "Nice catch, Lamont," Smith says.

      Cam Newton is on the cover of the GQ Magazine that will be sold in Charlotte. Be interesting to see fans -- for whom dressing up is deciding which Panther jersey or T-shirt to wear -- line up to buy the men's fashion magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loved seeing alternative sports. Will love seeing them again in four years.

   I enjoyed the Olympics. I always do. Once every four years we pay attention to sports we usually ignore, among them swimming, track and field, volleyball, water polo and even boxing.

     One of the reasons we get excited about the Olympics is because the sports are fresh and new. Ah. Haven't seen this since 2008.

    Yet somebody always misconstrues our interest and dares to believe that a sport such as women's soccer can capitalize on Olympic popularity. Hey, let's start a pro league so it will become part of our customary sports landscape.

     They're wrong. Not because soccer is boring or women's soccer is boring; it certainly wasn't in London. But because our sports landscape is full.

     Most of us have regular TV shows -- doubled up on True Blood last week since I missed it the Sunday before -- and can't accommodate anything new without dropping something old. 

      Works that way in sports, too. As much as I enjoyed the Olympics, I'm not going to dump the NFL or NBA or college basketball or boxing or Major League Baseball or college football to make room for it.

      The alternative is to become one of those TV dorks who sits in front of a set all weekend every weekend and during the week, too. Can't go out tonight, honey; need to watch while others live.

      I have my sports, just enough of them.

     And I don't have room for any more.

     Until 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More post-game Carolina Panther gold

    Cam Newton on the contract extension signed by Jonathan Stewart: "As a team you want to keep your key guys and obviously Jonathan is a guy that we feel we have to invest in not only off the field but on the field. You saw the catch that he made tonight. It was high, still caught it and got a first down."

     Stewart on the extension: "I just want to thank the whole organization and Mr. Richardson for giving me the opportunity."

       Stewart on Tennessee rookie Tauren Poole, who rushed for a team high 26 yards, and a touchdown, on three carries: "He's a good back, from day one when he came out. Of course, we like to check out the rookies, especially the running backs, and see what they're made of and everything. He came out and he's been impressive ever since he stepped on the field, in my eyes. He had a good showing tonight."

     Asked the biggest difference between college football and the NFL, Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly said: "Tempo. The tempo of the game. It was weird for me. That was the firs ttime I've had my back to an offensive huddle. In college we were a no-huddle defense. We would get a call from the sideline and set everything. It's a little different having your back to the offense calling a play having to diagnose everything real quick and get lined up. That was one of the things for me that popped out at me that I wasn't used to. Moving forward it's just one of those things you've got to pick up on."

 

Quick quotes after the Carolina-Houston game

    Carolina coach Ron Rivera was disappointed with some of his reserves for their work Saturday against Houston. He was almost upset as he was on the field at Wofford last week.

       "I don't accept that," he says about their play.

       I asked specifically what disappointed him.

       He said some of his young players, not the starters, didn't play the way they needed to. He cited ineffective tackling and failing to finish plays.

       "Guys we're counting on to develop and be part of this football team," Rivera says.

      Rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly, Carolina's top pick in the draft, to Rivera: "Man, it happens fast."

      Rivera on the five-year extension to which the Panthers signed Jonathan Stewart: we "understand what our offense can be with these guys on the field."

        He says Stewart was an integral piece of Carolina's offense last season and the Panthers didn't want to lose him.

        Cam Newton talked about the first-quarter catch Stewart made on an overthrown ball for 13 yards.

        Rivera says that cornerback Nate Ness, who left the game after spending several minutes on the turf, might have sustained a concussion.