Jim Szoke's Sports Blog

Moore or Less

First it was 44-year-old Vinny Testaverde exciting the Panthers fans when he arrived in time to lead Carolina to a win at Arizona.  Now, it is 23-year-old rookie Matt Moore that has rekindled a spark to an offense that has struggled all season.  The difference of course is that Moore provides hope for the future.  His stats in the win over Seattle were not overwhelming, but the arm and poise that he displayed shows promise of better things to come.  Despite the team being (6-8), there is real excitement to see what he can do for an encore over the final two games.  Suddenly, next season falling  on the rehabbed elbow of Jake Delhomme does not look as dicey if Moore turns out to be the real thing.  It's already a foregone conclusion that Testaverde and David Carr will not be here next year. 

Count ESPN draft guru, Mel Kiper, among those surprised last April when Moore went undrafted.  Kiper has told me on several occassions on our Panthers Stadium Show, that he thought Moore deserved to be a second-day draft pick after playing well at Oregon State in the pass-happy PAC-10.  As much time that is spent evaluating young talent, it is ironic to see an undrafted rookie out-perform a former number-one overall pick on the Panthers quarterback roster.

Any chance the Panthers can arrange for Jessica Simpson to get a skybox seat for Saturday's game?  Of course, that would be a good idea on many levels, but in a football sense, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo did seem a little distracted in Dallas' loss to Philadelphia.  He only completed 13 of 36 passes with three interceptions as the Cowboys lost for just the second time this season.  Tough decision looming for Tony... continue dating Jessica, or lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl.  Your call, no pressure.

Wow, former Falcons coach Bobby Petrino managed to take dog killer, Michael Vick and carpet-bagger Nick Saban off the hot seat in just one day.  Saban was known as the posterchild for coaches that will leave at a moment's notice to the highest bidder.  But Petrino showed he has no loyalties by bailing on his Falcons players a day after Vick was sentenced to federal prison and losing on Monday Night Football takes the cake.  Classy move by Petrino telling his players the news in a letter and calling your owner on the phone hours before a press conference at Arkansas.

The Mitchell report on drug doping in baseball was sketchy.  Physical evidence was often not a factor as they relied on such reliable sources as clubhouse lackeys and Jose Canseco's book to build a case.  Yes, baseball needs to clean up the sport, but listing 86 players implies they were the only ones.  What of the others who have not been named, or those like Andy Pettitte who claims he only used HGH to recover from injury and prior to it being on the banned list.  MLB needs to take the biggest blame for turning the other cheek while McGwire, Sosa and others were hammering home runs at a ridiculous pace.    

Dog Gone Shame

No, it's not a comic book story, but real life in an artist's rendering of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick being sentenced to 23 months in federal prison.  Vick was the posterchild of how not to handle yourself while awaiting sentencing.  First of all, U.S. District Judge, Henry Hudson has a reputation of being a tough sentencer, who also happens to be a big dog fan.  So, lying about killing the dogs and smoking marijuana in the interim only helped to lengthen Vick's sentence.  You know it's going to be a tough defense when your lawyer Billy Martin is reduced to defending Vick's illegal drug use as "self-medication."  Vick will likely miss at least three full NFL seasons, but when he's released in 2009 at age 29, he may get to resume his career in some place not called Atlanta if NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell lifts his suspension. 

Falcons owner Arthur Blank says having to use four quarterbacks this season has destroyed the team's chances to compete, now at (3-10).  Hmmm, sound familiar Panthers fans?  Wonder how much of a genius Bill Belichick would be if he had Joey Harrington instead of Tom Brady at the controls.

Good to see former Panthers punter, Todd Sauerbrun, is straightening out his life in Denver.  Sauerbrun faces an assault charge for an incident outside a Denver restaurant, which could bring more discipline from the NFL.  After having a previous league suspension for using a banned substance, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan brought him back to the team for a second time asking one thing, "just stay clean, just stay out of trouble."  Seriously, you're the punter.

Looking for more positive football news, you can latch on to the Appalachian State bandwagon.  The Moutaineers play for their third consecutive I-AA title versus Delaware.  How did all of the bigger schools miss on quarterback Armanti Edwards who accounted for 495 yards and seven touchdowns in their semi-final win over Richmond last week?

Nice move by East Carolina and their fans to buy tickets to the Pirates December 23 bowl game in Hawaii.  Most of them are not buying for themselves, but as a donation to military personnel throughout the islands.  One fan donated 25 tickets at $40 a pop.      

If you're depressed over the Panthers having lost six of their last seven games, take in a Bobcats game.  They've only lost eight of their last nine games at this writing.  Or if you really, really want to cheer yourself up, check out the held-over Body Works display featuring dead people with lung disease, etc. at Discovery Place.   I see a theme developing uptown.

There is no "C" in "BCS"

One-loss Ohio State will meet two-loss LSU for the national championship in college football.  That means more than ever this year, we will never know for sure who is the best team.  That of course is because there is no playoff system that determines the champion.  The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) merely ranks the teams based on a complicated computer system based largely on voting polls.  You could argue cases for Oklahoma, Georgia, Virginia Tech and others being in the top two.  But old boy money and allegances involving the major bowls dictates that we will likely never see a college football playoff format for division 1-A.      

How about Les Miles having to hold a press conference two hours before the SEC Championship game to refute ESPN's report that he was taking the Michigan job?  Miles says he will be back at LSU next season and Michigan says the same.  I'm going to assume he won't pull a Nick Saban and change course after all this emotion.  But if he does go to Michigan, I hope no parents will send their kid to play for him.  Too many coaches make promises to young recruits, then run off to the highest bidder when another job opens.

Last week when the Panthers were sporting a (4-7) record, I asked a couple of the Panthers beat writers what they thought the team's record would be if Jake Delhomme had played all season.  The answer came back as (7-4).  I agree with that projection, and to me, makes the case that blowing up the organization and starting over with a new coach and GM is not the way to go.  Yes, the organization collectively whiffed on thinking David Carr was the answer as back-up quarterback, but I don't think that's enough to abandon ship.

Couple of thoughts following the win over San Francisco...DeAngelo Williams needs to be the starting running back, with Deshaun Foster the second back as he was in the days of Stephen Davis.  Williams is clipping off five yards per carry this season and is much more shifty than Foster.  On defense, the Panthers have some terrific young building blocks in Jon Beason and Richard Marshall. Marshall also deserves to be in the starting line-up.  Rookie Ryne Robinson is a liability on special teams returns.  He looks tentative nearly every time he fields a kick, and the ball is coming out of his hands way too much.    

The Washington Redskins defense took the field with 10 players instead of 11 for their opening play versus Buffalo.  They were honoring the late Sean Taylor by having his spirit join them on the field for one last play.  Head coach Joe Gibbs did not know his defense had devised the idea.  Despite the fact that the Bills broke off a 22-yard run, that stands as one of the most moving tributes in sports history.