Bleacher Report - Articles by Ron Wagner

10 Questions For Julius Peppers (Assuming He'd Answer)

Ron Wagner — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:28:38 -0400

Julius Peppers isn't known as the most loquacious guy. He's gotten better with the media, but he tends to give off the vibe that, all things being equal, he'd just as soon be watching Conway Twitty concert videos in an endless loop with toothpicks holding his eyelids open as talking to you people.

Nevertheless, if there were any way to make him actually answer 10 questions these are what I would ask:

You were a big part of the North Carolina basketball team (literally). Seriously, which sport do you like better: Basketball or football?
Could you take Tony Gonzalez one-on-one?
Is there anybody in the NBA who could move you off the block?
You were a tremendously accomplished high school running back, despite your size. Do you ever wish you'd stayed at that position?
You've long been known as a freakishly talented player. Do you think there's something you can do athletically that is actually underrated?
Has it been good or bad to play your entire career, from high school on, in the Tar Heel state?
What has been your favorite memory as an athlete? Least favorite?
Fans in Charlotte have criticized your effort over the years. What would you like to say to those fans?
Do you think you've lived up to your potential as a Panther?
Now a lot of those same fans are upset because you appear to be quitting on the franchise. Why do you REALLY want to leave Carolina?

Then, I'd probably ask if I could be his friend, because Julius is hands down the largest human I've ever stood next to.

Carolina Panthers Fans Hope the Change We Need Is on Defense

Ron Wagner — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:46:11 -0400

Following a 12-4 season in which Carolina won the NFC South, forgive Panther fans for viewing the word "change" with suspicion.

Nevertheless, if Carolina doesn't have a good defense in 2009—which would be a change indeed from the one stumbled around during the second half of 2008—the Panthers will again be pretenders instead of contenders.

That's a modification that should be embraced, and it's one that has been assigned to new coordinator Ron Meeks.

Head coach John Fox is often criticized for what is perceived to be an overly conservative approach to the game, but in this case it makes pretty good sense that he clung to the status quo as closely as possible in the offseason—at least on the field.

With the exception of cornerback Ken Lucas, virtually every meaningful contributor from 2008 is back in the fold; assuming, of course, that Julius Peppers signs his one-year mega-deal.

But clearly the Panthers weren't good enough to reach the top of the hill last season, and the problem wasn't on the offensive side of the ball.

Carolina scored plenty, ranking seventh in the league in points with 26 per game. Even better from the Panthers' perspective, they did it with a pair of young, explosive running backs who now take the heat off of the most explosive wide receiver in the league.

As long as DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and Steve Smith are around, this will be an offense to be feared even with the erratic Jake Delhomme under center, and there won't be many bells and whistles required to make the engine hum.

No, the issue was a defense that gave up 30 points an outing down the stretch. Meeks replacing Mike Trgovac is easily the biggest modification to the team in the offseason, and his job is a deceptively simple one: Make Carolina better.

But how? He'll have the same players, and odds are as long as Fox, who built his reputation as a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants, is around he'll have to also do it with pretty much the same scheme Carolina has been running since 2002.

Many fans are pushing for a switch to the 3-4, but there's a big problem with that idea: Meeks didn't run it in Indianapolis (he was a Cover 2 guy), and Fox has never run it. The odds of Fox making such a drastic change to his bread-and-butter are slim.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, yet it appears that's exactly where the Panthers are with Meeks. So what will he really be able to change? How can he create wine out of a unit that has been decidedly watery for the past two seasons?

The answer could be deceptively simple: Less scheming and more attacking. The one thing Meeks will try to do above everything else is make Carolina's sack-and-interception-challenged defense more aggressive.

By the end of last season, Carolina looked equally apathetic against both the pass and run. The defense gave up chunks of yardage as the secondary sat in soft zones and the front four generated little pass rush.

The Panthers looked timid and confused, and players like Derrick Ward, Larry Fitzgerald and Drew Brees had field days as a result.

Enter Meeks. A big reason guys like Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis were pass-rush monsters in Indy is he let them use their speed in one-on-one matchups. This negated their supposed "lack of size" by not bogging them down with Xs-and-Os assignments.

Meanwhile, safety Bob Sanders was all over the rest of the field. He and and his teammates took advantage of the chaos caused by the pressure for 52 interceptions over the past three seasons (compared to Carolina 's 40).

"Guys flying around to the ball—that was (Meeks') main thing," Panther safety Chris Harris said after an early meeting with his new coach. "We're going to make mistakes; we're putting in a new defense. But if you make a mistake, do it full speed. That's one thing he's beat home."

Offensive tackle Jordan Gross also indicated that Meeks has been stressing reaction and simplicity.

"Right now it's making our lives easy (on offense) because they are running pretty simple stuff," Gross said recently. "In the past our defense ran everything you could think of and that made it tough.

"But it's letting the players play and we have some great athletes on defense and some hard-nosed players and I think it's going to let them do what they do and make plays on their own without out-tricking anybody. I know we have a lot to see from defense yet but I know the defensive guys are excited about (the new system)."

In Harris, Peppers, linebackers Jon Beason and Thomas Harris, ends Charles Johnson and rookie Everette Brown and cornerback Chris Gamble, the Panthers have guys who, on paper, should be able to excel with their athleticism.

Then again, that's what they were supposed to be doing last year when Trgovac "simplified' things in the offseason, and the end result was disappointing to say the least.

Perhaps it was injuries (Carolina began to slide after Beason and tackles Maake Kemoeatu and Damione Lewis were hurt late). Perhaps it was lack of leadership (for all of his talent, Peppers has never been known as much of a leader yet he's become one of Carolina's most veteran players).

Meeks will find out soon. But all he can do is make the most of what he has, and seven years in Indianapolis shows he'll have guys getting to the quarterback and he'll have the secondary going after the ball when it's in the air.

Sounds simple, but the Panthers have been stumped by the problem nonetheless. No matter who they voted for, Carolina fans agree: That's the change we need.

Carolina Panthers' Coaches Have One Thing In Common: Winning

Ron Wagner — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:30:16 -0400

Members of the coaching staff assembled by John Fox at Carolina come from all corners of the country.

They range in experience from a handful of seasons to decades. They've played at BCS programs and at schools so small you didn't know there was a division for that level of competition.

But there's one thing this diverse group does have in common: Winning.

Say what you want about Fox and his conservative ways—and many Panther fans have and do—what's inarguable is that since he arrived at Carolina in 2002 the franchise has become a legit NFL power.

The team is 56-47 under his tenure, the ninth-most victories in the league over that time, and has twice gone to the playoffs.

And Fox has made sure to surround himself the entire time with coaches who are good at not losing.

Assistant head and running backs coach Jim Skipper coached with Fox for four years in New York when both were part of a staff that led the Giants to an NFC Championship game and a Super Bowl.

Offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson, about to start his third season with the Panthers, earned three Super Bowls rings in eight seasons as a coach for the New England Patriots.

Defensive coordinator Ron Meeks, hired earlier this year, won a Super Bowl in Indianapolis, and five times in seven years his Colts were among the top seven defenses in the NFL.

Defensive line coach Brian Baker? He won a national championship as a linebackers coach at Georgia Tech. Offensive line coach Dave Magazu? He was was one of the coaches responsible for the best team in Colorado State history and earned status an offensive line guru while churning out NFL players at Boston College.

The list goes on. But Fox is also about performance, and as conservative as he's perceived to be with on-field philosophy he's nothing of not proactive off it when the Panthers start to slide.

For instance, Fox had never had an offense rank better than 13th in the league under then-coordinator Dan Henning, and Henning was shown the door after a 2006 season that saw Carolina ranked 24th in total offense and 27th in scoring largely because they couldn't run the ball—an unforgivable sin to Fox's pound-it-out-philosophy.

Enter Davidson, who last season guided the Panthers to easily their best offensive performance since Fox arrived - fueled by the NFL's best ground attack. It probably saved Fox's job.

Since 2006, Carolina's passing attempts have gone from 539 to 505 to 414 (even with Jake Delhomme returning from injury) while the Panthers have run the ball 423, 451 and 504 times as their total offensive ranking has jumped from 29th to 10th—proving that Fox's run-first approach can and does work with the right people.

Is it any surprise Davidson was a former NFL offensive lineman?

Defense was the same story, or at least the same result. Defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac was supposedly not fired after seven seasons, but whatever the reasons for his departure the fact is that Carolina has slipped badly on that side of the ball over the last two years.

Trogovac's units ranked in the top 10 in three of this first four seasons, but in '07 the Panthers fell to 16th and then 18th in '08 largely because they could not generate a consistent pass rush or force turnovers (especially interceptions).

Enter Meeks, a former defensive back whose Indianapolis team ranked second in interceptions in 2007.

His expected shift to a 3-4—used by the Panthers back in '95 when Kevin Greene was terrorizing quarterbacks—would take better advantage of Carolina's athletic linebackers -Jon Beason and Thomas Davis in particular—and give relatively undersized defensive ends Charles Johnson and rookie Everette Brown more room to use their speed.

While Fox obviously prefers the 4-3 based on his past teams, he prefers ranking second in total defense—as Carolina did in 2002—even more. He wouldn't have hired Meeks if he didn't plan to let him deliver.

Another interesting similarity between members of Fox's staff is a decidedly workmanlike history and his determination to hire the best people no matter where they're from. Indeed, the group is a veritable who's who of "where is that school again?"

Fox attended San Diego State. Skipper, Whittier College; Meeks, Arkansas State; and tight ends coach Geep Chryst is a product of Princeton.

Secondary coach Mike Gillhamer went to Humboldt State; Magazu Springfield (Mass.), while Sam Mills III, responsible for defensive quality control, played at Montclair State.

Special teams assistant Jeff Rodgers is out of North Texas. Quarterbacks coach Rip Sherer graduated from William & Mary.

Only Davidson (Ohio State) and wide receivers coach Richard Williamson (Alabama) came from major college powers.

The coaches have also paid their football dues and know what it's like to work and play hard for reasons other than fame and glory—traits not surprising to find in hires of the son of a Navy SEAL.

Fox began his career in 1978 and had 12 jobs in 17 years before landing with the Giants, including jobs in the USFL and at United States International University. Skipper coached in the USFL AND the XFL.

Meeks played on the wide, lonely fields of the CFL because he never got a shot in the NFL. Special teams coach Danny Crossman toiled for the London Monarchs.

Fox would think there was no higher compliment than for someone to say his team knows how to handle adversity and isn't afraid to get dirty while going after what it wants - and he and his coaches can preach the message because they've walked the walk.

Criticize Fox if you like, but he is true to his beliefs and he's determined to succeed that way.

If you're a Carolina fan, you'd better get on board. As long as Fox is here, this is the way it's going to be. And so far, so good.

Why It's Time the Braves Gave Up on the Jeff Francoeur Experiment

Ron Wagner — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:44:09 -0400

Reading ajc.com this morning, I ran across David O'Brien's Wednesday blog on Jeff Francoeur. Frenchy's having a bad year. Again.

I've always been one to say I told you so, so allow me to say I told you so. Here's something I wrote for my own amusement late last September:

Frenchy vs. Andruw

As promised, here's more on Jeff Francoeur's disturbing downward statistical trend.

We all remember Andruw Jones, right? It's hard to think that a player could be more loved by Braves fans, which also shows just how bad he had to get before we were ready for him to be patrolling somebody else's center field.

His strikeouts and poor plate discipline just became too much to overcome his prodigious home run totals. Well, guess what? Frenchy is Andruw Jones, without the power.

And if you're still looking toward a bright future for Francoeur, you may want to stop looking. If Andruw is any indication, the Frenchy you see now is the Frenchy you're probably going to get from here on out.

And that, my friends, means we need a new right fielder.

Here are Frenchy's and Andruw's stats for their first four seasons (Jones first, Francoeur second):

Games: 505-549
At-bats: 1,679-2,149
Runs: 257-278
Hits: 436-577
Doubles: 93-117
Triples: 15-10
Homers: 80-73
RBI: 257-324
Strikeouts: 368-430
K/AB: 1/4.6-1/5.0
Walks: 179-115
Stolen bases: 74-9
On-base percentage (by season): .265-.336, .329-.293, .321-.338, .365-.294
Slugging percentage (by season): .443-.549. .416-.449, .515-.444, .483-.359
Batting average (by season): .217-300, .231-260, .271-.293 ,.275-.239

As you can see, Frenchy comes out ahead in the categories that are dependent primarily on him playing in more games and notching quite a few more at bats. But there are some clear trends, few of which make him look like he'll even approach Andruw Jones' league.

Despite nearly 500 fewer at bats, Jones out homers Francoeur 80-73. But Frenchy makes up for it with average, right? Uhhh, no. Francoeur owns a middling .267-.260 edge.

On-base percentage? Uhhh, no again. Jones' lousy on-base percentage became a running joke in Atlanta, but the .365 he notched in his fourth year is 27 points better than Frenchy's 2007 career-best mark (by comparison, Chipper Jones has never had an OBP lower than .353- and that came in his rookie year).

Yet that hasn't translated to fewer strikeouts for Francoeur. Jones earned a reputation as a whiff machine in Atlanta, and his K every 4.6 at-bats over his first four seasons proved it was more than a hunch. Yet Frenchy is only slightly better, 5.0-1, and here's a real shocker: Andruw more than makes up for it a dominant edge in walks (179-115).

That's right, Andruw Jones is a MORE disciplined hitter than Jeff Francoeur. Let that sink in for a few minutes.

So we've established that Francoeur is just plain bad, even my Andruw Jones standards. But we already knew that, right? The question is, is he going to get better?

My money is on absolutely not.

Take Jones. His strikeout ratio never improved at all, actually dropping to 4.5-1 for his career. Neither did his OBP, as he's yet to do better .366 in a season.

Average? Well, Andruw did hit .303 in his fifth season—but never better than .277 again. The only thing that did get better was power, as he six times hit more home runs than his best over his first four seasons and five times matched or bettered his top slugging percentage from those early campaigns.

In other words, except for home runs, Andruw Jones was as good as he was ever going to get after three seasons in a Braves uniform. Is he an anomaly? Well, Chipper Jones set almost every single-season mark of his career in his fifth season—as did Andruw.

Both were good to great for several years after that, but they were never better than they were in that fifth season, and that fifth season was merely an extension of what they had shown over their first four. Frenchy's best has barely been good.

Sure, those are only two examples, but I'd be willing to bet that most good players who aren't freebasing horse steroids show the same trend.

That means that the most we could ever expect from Frenchy, in our wildest dreams, would be next season, and judging from his first four we're looking at, what?, a .295 average? 35 homers? 115 RBI? With a TON of strikeouts and pretty much no production at all outside of the round-trippers?

History shows it's possible, but even if it happens that's it. Then you're stuck with a slightly above-average power hitter who is simply a bad offensive player in every other respect—and who is only going to get worse with each passing summer.

Frenchy will not help you by advancing runners or working pitchers or getting on base in other ways. If he's not hitting the ball out of the park, he's basically like having another pitcher in the lineup.

Hey, I like Francoeur. He hustles. He cares. He's just not very good, and he's never going to be. It's time for the Braves to cut their losses.

Back to present day

As O'Brien illustrates, it's looking like the Braves won't even get that five-year peak from Frenchy. He started strong but has rapidly slid right back to just this side of useless.

It looked early like he'd figured something out before reality set in, but it hasn't been for lack of opportunity. Despite his brutal offensive production, Francoeur remains the Braves' Cal Ripken, playing every, single day a year after leading the team in games (155) and at bats (599).

He used all that playing time to hit a whopping 11 home runs and post a .294 on-base percentage that makes Jones look like Wade Boggs.

That was the second worst OBP in the National League, and though I guess you could see positives in him raising his average to .239 after months spent in the two-teens and actually not leading the team in strikeouts (thanks to Kelly Johnson), he still had 111 whiffs and posted by far the worst strikeout-to-walk ratio on the squad compliments of a mere 39 free passes.

His .359 slugging percentage was also far and away the worst among Braves regulars and sixth-worst in the NL. In fact, you can make a strong case that there was no less-productive hitter in baseball last year.

This season? His .277 OBP is 172nd out of 182 eligible players. His .361 slugging percentage is 146th, giving him an OPS of .638. All are well below already poor career averages.

Oh yeah, Francoeur also 20 strikeouts against five walks, also a worse ratio than his already awful career ratio.

There aren't a lot of things you can count on in baseball, but guys with poor plate discipline not cutting it is right up there. If you still don't know how to swing at strikes by your fifth year in the big leagues, you're never going to know.

How much more evidence do the Braves need? It's time to end the Francoeur experiment.

I Couldn't Deny It Anymore: I Liked the NFL Because Carolina Was My Team

Ron Wagner — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:55:25 -0400

Why am I a Carolina Panthers fan? The answer is obvious, right?

I live in Carolina (North, for the record). The Carolina Panthers are in the NFL. This is America. The NFL is king in America. What else is there to think about?

Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I never really liked the NFL that much. I still wouldn't say it's my favorite sport. When Charlotte landed the team, I had forgotten the city was trying to get a team.

Sorry. Was that out loud?

I got a job at a daily newspaper right of college in '94, and while the rest of the sports staff was fighting over who would get the honor of standing in the sweltering sun to cover training camp I was angling to take over preps.

But it was impossible to ignore the increasing hype as Carolina's inaugural season approached, and with Clemson, SC, being less than an hour and a half from my home I decided to go to my first NFL game in the autumn of 1995.

Clemson's massive Memorial Stadium was not sold out that day against the 49ers, and in case you don't know I wouldn't recommend its upper deck for anything outside of confronting your fear of heights.

I was intrigued, but I still wasn't on the black-and-blue bandwagon. Cue Dom Capers, Sam Mills, Kevin Greene, Steve Beuerlein, Wesley Walls, Moose Muhammad—the first time (dude, he's old)—and the rest of a gang that came out of nowhere to advance to the NFC championship game in just the franchise's second year.

It was fun. It was uniting. It was exactly what the Panthers needed to hook a fan base that could maybe include me.

A couple of years later I took over as sports editor, and covering every Carolina home game for six years allowed me to know the product like never before. I like sports because I appreciate athletic achievement, and until you've been on the sideline during an NFL game you really can't understand the astonishing talent of these particular athletes.

I know I didn't.

It's like standing in the batter's box against a 96-mph fastball (I've done that, too), your overwhelmed senses jarring you with the true limits of what the human body can achieve. The size and speed of pro football players produce collisions so violent you wonder how they can survive one, much less a whole game.

I know I wouldn't last three plays.

But when the helmet's off in the locker room you discover that as much they appear to be machines while competing they're still people. Gigantic, absurdly muscled people covered with veins, scars and ice packs, but people nonetheless.

There's joy to be envied when they win and pain to be pitied when they lose.

Strangely, I really got into the team during the dark days after '96, wincing through six straight losing seasons, lowlighted by '98's 4-12 and 2001's ghastly 1-15, not to mention Kerry Collins' drinking, Rae Carruth's horrific hit on his pregnant girlfriend and the almost-as-unbelievable murder of Fred Lane by his scumbag wife.

The next thing I knew, the Carolina Panthers, all their highs and lows, roster turnover and losing, had become part of my life.

The Super Bowl run of 2003 was a delicious reward for perseverance, made all the more sweet because nobody thought it would happen as late as Dec. 7, when the Panthers lost their third straight game to fall to 8-5.

But a can-you-believe-they-won-that-game momentum built all season for people who saw them every week, fueled by guys nobody had ever heard of. Where did Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith come from? Carolina fans didn't even know, and it was great.

Stephen Davis and Mike Rucker had the seasons of their careers, and the Panthers needed it all and more to win four overtime games on their way to the Super Bowl, where they were one bad John Kasay kickoff away from taking down the New England Patriots.

After Carolina finally succumbed, the Super Bowl party at my house went silent. I was hoarse from screaming, and I concluded I probably hadn't needed those last, say, six beers.

I also wondered if anyone else noticed Justin Timberlake pulling Janet Jackson's top off, but that's another story (which reminds me, I don't remember that naked guy up there at all).

But in the days that followed I realized that was the most fun I've had watching sports since the Atlanta Braves rose to prominence in '91, and it was no use pretending I still wasn't an NFL fan. The Panthers had officially joined that select group I call "My Teams."

Once you're in that club, there's no going back.

Carolina's Time Is Now

Ron Wagner — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:10:16 -0400

The year after a good year hasn't historically been kind to the Carolina Panthers.

The franchise had three winning seasons before last year, and all three were followed by big dives. A 12-4 record in 1996 became 7-9 in 1997; 11-5 in 2003 dropped to 7-9 in '04; 11-5 in '05 slipped to 8-8 a year later.

Carolina has an all-time record of 115-119, which is the very definition of mediocrity.

So in that light, what should we expect from the Panthers in 2009, a year removed from a 12-4 performance that was their fourth winning season ever? A slide back to average (or worse)? More wins? The same? A South championship repeat? A second consecutive trip to the playoffs?

Here's a hint: The time is now for Carolina. Let's take a closer look:

Question 1: Can Carolina post two winning seasons in a row for the first time in franchise history?

Answer: If John Fox, Jake Delhomme and the rest of the gang can't do it this season, there won't be any excuses. Every single starter from '08 is back (assuming Julius Peppers stops holding his breath and suits up for what would be his final go-round in Charlotte), so at the very least Carolina should reach 9-7 and that unprecedented milestone.

Question 2: Can Carolina set another franchise record with 13 wins in 2009?

Answer: Everybody back or not, that one's going to be tougher. A lot tougher. Make that a whole lot tougher.

With 12 wins comes a more daunting schedule outside of your division, and compounding the challenge is that the South also looks like it will be at least as good as last year when it was the toughest division in football. It's impossible to overstate how difficult the Panthers' slate is this year.

Dates with the likes of Detroit, Oakland and Kansas City certainly didn't hurt the cause in '08, but in 2009 that comedy show, which combined for seven victories, will be replaced with a political thriller, rated R for violence and adult situations.

The Panthers play Miami, the defending AFC East champion, as well as New England, which didn't make the playoffs despite going 11-5 without Tom Brady (he's back), and the New York Giants, the NFC's top seed with a 12-4 mark in '08. Only Miami is at home.

Carolina also travels to Dallas and the New York Jets—both of which were 9-7 and are expected to be better. And we're not done.

Also on tap is Minnesota, which beat Carolina handily last year on its way to a 10-6 record and the NFC North title. To open the season, the Panthers host Philadelphia, the NFC runnerup in 2008, and travel to Arizona to take on the Super Bowl runner-up Cardinals.

And don't forget 11-5 Atlanta twice, 9-7 Tampa Bay twice and 8-8 New Orleans twice. That would be an injury-riddled 8-8 New Orleans that boasts the best offense in the NFL.

Only 7-9 Buffalo and 8-8 Washington, both at home, could remotely be described as breathers for Carolina, and the hard truth is the Panthers could be better than last year and not win 10 times. Thirteen is out of the question.

Question 3: Can Carolina repeat in the South, and, if not, will the Panthers at least make the playoffs?

Answer: When it's all said and done, this is all that matters. The short answer is Carolina has as good a chance as anybody to win the South, and with the Panthers' returning talent, anything short of that will have to be called a failure (even though Atlanta is probably just as good, and New Orleans and Tampa aren't far behind).

Helping Carolina's cause is that Atlanta and New Orleans play many of the same tough out-of-division opponents thanks to the NFL's rotating schedule, though the Falcons get the 7-9 49ers and the Saints open the season with the 0-16 Lions at home and travel to 2-14 St. Louis later in the year.

Whoever wins the South will have to go at least 4-2 against the rest of the division, and while the Eagles made the playoffs with nine wins a year ago a team would be foolish to think it can get in without at least 10.

Can the Panthers pull those two feats off? On paper, yes.

But the difficult schedule and a division that offers no relief mean Carolina has almost no margin for error.

Delhomme can't get hurt (even Jake haters can't deny what happened in '07 without him). Peppers must sign and remember he's playing for his rapidly shortening NFL future. And new defensive coordinator Ron Meeks has to shore up a depth-challenged unit that was gutted several times last season.

Still, all things considered, a team coming off of a 12-4 season couldn't ask to have more going for it a year later. The offense is legit and was unstoppable by the end of the season. The defense suffered from lack of depth and poor coaching—both of which have been addressed.

Barring a catastrophic run of injuries—which is always possible in the NFL—Carolina is one of a handful of teams to beat. Those seasons don't come around often. The Panthers had better make the most of it.

Just In: To Spite Face, ACC Cuts Off Nose

Ron Wagner — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:44:00 -0400

Lord knows I love the ACC. Always have, always will. But these recent delusions of gradeur are getting on my nerves.

First, the nation's best conference basketball schedule was ruined by the additions of Boston College and Virgina Tech. Then, the ACC hopelessly decided that it was a football conference and planted its championship game in Jacksonville, FL, to the surprise of the locals and the disdain of fans, neither of whom bothered to put their rears in most of that cavernous stadium's seats.

That prompted a move to Tampa, which was even less of a draw and even more of an embarrassment on live TV. In between, the ACC haughtily announced that Charlotte could no longer host its basketball tournament because 19,000-seat Bobcats arena just wasn't big enough for this world-class event, so now we're blessed with 28,000 fans (maybe) in 70,000-seat football domes every March.

Great call.

But just when I thought I understood commissioner John Swofford's motives—feeding his nest of greedy, chirping baby chicks otherwise known as the 12 school presidents—he goes and makes a bizarre decision that seems to have nothing to do with money but everything to do with the rest of the ACC keeping Clemson in its place.

How else can you possibly explain Greenville, SC, not getting the ACC baseball tournament in favor of Myrtle Beach, SC? Here's a hint: You can't.

The ACC baseball tournament is not exactly must-see TV. It excites the masses almost as much as an adult softball double-elimination bracket, so long as the bracket is being played out at Disney World.

But years of paltry attendance and sagging interest can be traced almost totally to the league's decision to keep moving the competition to as many backwoods locales as possible; the only common denominator being nobody who cared lived anywhere near the field, nobody knew where that field would be the next season, and Greenville was never in the running.

Since 1996, the ACC baseball tournament has been in Durham, NC Also, St. Petersburg, FL. And Durham. Durham again. Fort Mill, SC. Back to St. Petersburg. Don't forget about Salem, VA.

What did all of these places have in common (besides Waffle House being the only place to eat)? None of them approached what the league drew for baseball during its nine years in Greenville from 1987 to 1995 (with the exception of St. Petersburg the first time). But none of them were close to Clemson, either. That apparently was more important.

This year was supposed to be Fenway Park in Boston, which sounds awesome until you realize the only reason anyone would go to the games would be to throw things at those hillbilly colleges roughing up the sacred Sox turf (Maryland, at nearly eight hours, is BY FAR the closest team to Boston besides Boston College).

But a "scheduling conflict" (told you the ACC has no sway in Boston) forced a move to Durham, and now "travel concerns" have canned Fenway in 2010 for Greensboro, NC. OK. Travel concerns are what matter now. Only, that still doesn't make Myrtle Beach make sense.

Myrtle Beach is closer than Greenville for SOME schools—namely the only ones that seem to matter: North Carolina, N.C. State and Duke. Because Myrtle Beach is not significantly closer to, well, any of the rest and is much farther for many.

Maryland (50 miles), Boston College (75) and Miami (30) join UNC, State and Duke in being closer to Myrtle Beach if you drive, but when you start getting into thousand-mile trips that kind of distance really doesn't matter—especially since anyone who can afford to go that far will be flying anyway.

Of the schools that are within reasonable driving distance, Myrtle Beach is actually much more of a pain in the rear to get to. Wake is closer to Greenville. So is Georgia Tech. And Virginia. And Virginia Tech. And Florida State. And, of course, Clemson.

So whose "travel concerns" are really being addressed by the move to Myrtle Beach? Almost nobody's, as far as I can tell. But Clemson won't be able to get there easily, either. Again, that seems to be the biggest—and only—strike against Greenville.

Let me explain. I was at Furman when the ACC tournament was held at the G-Braves old stadium south of I-85, and that was also around the time that the tournament became relevant—thanks almost solely to Clemson fans, the best baseball fans in the ACC.

Before 1987, the ACC's record attendance at its baseball tournament was 22,638, the year before in Durham. Greenville never drew less than 30,000 and four times cracked 40 as raucous masses of orange clogged the exit ramps off of 85 and the stands at Memorial Stadium.

Tickets were tough. The atmosphere was often electric. But if you listened hard enough between people having fun you could hear the whines about Clemson's unfair "home-field advantage."

Nevermind that this advantage doesn't seem to bother the ACC when every single basketball tournament ever has not been held in the states of South Carolina or Virginia and nearly every one has been in the cozy confines of Charlotte and Greensboro—about as big a home-field advantage and the Big Four could ask for outside playing on their own campuses.

But against all logic, the ACC yanked the tourney in 1996 for Durham's crumbling old park and promptly saw attendance plummet to 22,000. By the time it reached Salem in 2003, the numbers were down to 18,000 and whatever momentum the event had gained was lost.

A three-year run in Jacksonville marked a resurgence of sorts, and on paper it looks like that was a better home than even Greenville.

But while the league claims attendance numbers of 66, 73 and 59,000 from 2005-07 (you could have fooled me by what I saw on TV), a comparison with Greenville's heyday is apples and oranges because the move to a round-robin format keeps teams from going home (and fans spending money).

At the G-Braves old park, a double-elimination bracket was constantly culling the fan base, and ACC also hasn't been held at Greenville's magnificent new Fluor Field, right in the heart of one of the most underrated downtowns in America.

Come on, ACC. This is getting ridiculous. Why do you keep trying to reinvent the wheel? Greenville is big enough. It's interested. It has a history of success with your tournament nowhere else can match. And, believe it or not, South Carolina is ACC country, even though you've been ignoring that for the better part of 60 years.

Greenville is where your tournament belongs. Tell Carolina and State to get over it.

Good News for Carolina Fans: Atlanta's the Pick To Win the South

Ron Wagner — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:23:15 -0400

Predicting a division can be tricky business. Just ask division-predicting professionals who get paid in July to tell the masses who's going to be where in December—even though they're hardly ever right.

Exhibit A? The 2008 NFC South.

Last summer, the overwhelming favorites to walk through was was considered one of the NFL's weakest divisions were the New Orleans Saints. Professional handicapper Jason Lowrey told gamblers to go with the Saints, followed by the Panthers, Buccaneers and Falcons.

Six of nine Sports Illustrated NFL writers also went with the Saints. Athlon picked the Saints. So did Lindy's, Pro Football Weekly, and Sporting News.

You remember the Saints, right? The team that finished dead last in what turned out to be the strongest division in the NFL? Whoops.

So obviously that means it's time to predict the 2009 NFC South. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, that depends on the team. For the Panthers, perhaps your only real pass-rushing threat could refuse to sign your contract offer. If you're the Falcons, defenses could use an offseason of film study to discover that there are some chinks in second-year quarterback Matt Ryan's armor after all.

The Buccaneers might have to worry about adjusting to a new coaching staff.

The Saints could have a talented running back trying to come from risky microfracture surgery while at the same time hoping to shore up one of the NFL's worst defenses with only four draft picks—one of which was used on a punter and one of which is a linebacker already out for the season with a torn Achilles.

Oh, wait. Turns out all of those things have already gone wrong for the four teams in the South. So the real question is, who will be able to minimize the damage the best?

The easiest call to make is that it will be a three-team race between Atlanta, Carolina and New Orleans. A tougher call is whether the Panthers can not only make the playoffs for the second year and a row but defend their division title.

The Falcons, Panthers and Saints return the bulk of their teams and coaching staffs, for better or for worse, and all believe they should be better than Tampa Bay, which will go into the season with a new coaching staff desperately trying to overhaul an aging roster—not a good place to be in a division where no team finished under .500 last year.

All that success wasn't because of defense, however. No division in the NFL averaged as many points as the 25.5 teams in the South put up, and most of that offensive talent is back.

That in mind, it seems reasonable to conclude that whichever squad gets its defensive ducks in a row will be at an advantage. That won't be easy, though, since the South's offensive prowess was matched only by its defensive ineptitude.

While the Saints (28.9 ppg, first), Panthers (25.9, seventh), and Falcons (24.4, 10th) were all over the top of the league's offensive charts those numbers were undoubtedly aided by defenses that were all over the bottom.

New Orleans' season was derailed by a unit that ranked 26th in points per game (24.6), and though the Falcons (11th) and Panthers (12th) looked respectable in that category both were much shakier in yards per game. Atlanta allowed 348.2 yards an outing, actually worse than the Saints, and Carolina was 18th at 331.1.

Not surprisingly, the division focused heavily on defense in the draft. The Panthers' first three picks were all on that side of the ball.

The Saints had only four picks but used the first three on defenders (well, four if you count punter Thomas Morstead, but drafting a punter in the fifth round probably wasn't the answer), and nobody helped themselves more than the Falcons, who used their first five and seven of their eight selections in a quest to stop Carolina's potent rushing and New Orleans' explosive passing.

The Saints had the most holes to fill, so it's hard to see how three draft picks - down to two with Stanley Arnoux's injury—can do the job even with new a defensive coordinator and the remarkable Drew Brees under center.

The Panthers, also sporting a new coordinator, picked up a nice pass rusher with their limited draft options (nothing until late in the second round), and if end Everette Brown produces at all coupled with Peppers (assuming Julius can bring himself to bite the bullet and play 16 games for more than a million a game—poor baby), Carolina has improved itself enough to make a repeat trip to the playoffs.

Still, on paper it's hard to see how Atlanta isn't the team to beat. Many thought the Falcons were the South's best by the end of last season, and the've done nothing but add depth to go with a plethora of young talent led by the best young quarterback in the league, Matt Ryan.

Yep, it's settled: Atlanta wins the division. Based on recent history, that's great news—so long as you're not an Atlanta fan.

Furman ERA Update

Ron Wagner — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:46:00 -0400

Looks like the Paladins will make the first SoCon tournament they have ever hosted despite the fact that they were swept by the Citadel at home last weekend. That's because the teams behind them in the standings—Samford and Wofford—also managed to get swept, so if Furman can somehow win at least one game at last-place UNC-Greensboro this weekend the Paladins are in the eight-team bracket.

Not sure if that's much consolation, but it is what it is. On a higher note—or lower if you want to go down in history—despite four straight losses Furman actually lowered its team ERA to 7.11, meaning the school record is probably safe and the staff is getting hot at the right time.

So watch out, Southern Conference.

Jake Won't Keep My Wife and I From Going to Another Carolina Panthers' Game

Ron Wagner — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:41:39 -0400

In January, my wife Kristy and I attended our second Carolina Panthers game as fans (I've been to dozens as a sports reporter, but that's another story and I don't like to brag), and things started out innocently enough.

The Best Western off of Woodlawn checked us in promptly, and I didn't have to listen to a lot of small talk or look at any fake smiles from the surly girl behind the counter. I can appreciate that.

By 2:15, we had unloaded the car and were headed to the train station around the corner. I'd mention the friendly smile I got from said girl behind the counter on the way out the door, except it was really more of an irritated glance as we walked through the lobby.

It's always good to put non-people people in people-person jobs, just to keep us all on our toes.

I love Charlotte's new train system. Well, system is probably too strong of a word—it's a single line that runs to and from the south side of the city—but it's still a great addition. The platforms are clean and modern, as are the cars themselves.

And the couple of times I've ridden the Lynx, as it's called, there have been just as many normal people to chat with as there were bicycle-carrying dirty people to avoid chatting with. Talk about modern marvels!

Anyway, after the wife and I had a little debate about whether to pay $2.50 for round-trip tickets or $4.50 for all-day passes, we settled on the all-day. Sure, it was an extra $4, but we were there to have fun, dammit.

And it was also kind of stupid to be worrying about $4 when you're planning to use the money to have the opportunity to spend half your mortgage on beer and game tickets.

Kristy was convinced she'd seen a couple of breweries the last time we were in Charlotte that needed to be visited.

However, one ended up being a Jillian's sports bar halfway into town on the rail line and the other was either, 1) a Dixie Tavern with handle-less doors requiring a deep knowledge of Elvish to open or, 2) a "silver building" nestled deeply in Kristy's imagination.

In any event, we ended up where we always do, at the Rock Bottom Brewery, drinking a beer sampler and chuckling at the waitress' dire warnings that the IPA was their highest-alcohol offering at 5.5 percent.

Oh, child, have a Derlium Tremens and we'll talk again. Charlotte is many things, but a beer city is not one of them.

Anyway, it was pushing 4 by this point so, naturally, Kristy was freaking out about getting tickets in time for the 8:15 kickoff. Throw in the fact that Bank of America Stadium is several blocks from Rock Bottom, and it was clearly time to get serious.

I'd bid on some tickets on eBay, and while I wasn't successful I suspected we wouldn't have any trouble getting in. From my experience, there are "sold-out" games, and there are SOLD OUT games.

This one was merely "sold out"—meaning technically you couldn't walk to the window and buy a ticket, but there were going to be more people trying to sell them outside than were trying to get in.

On the surface that seems crazy for an NFL playoff game, but it's important to know a few things about the Carolinas and pro sports. We really dig the Panthers, but we haven't moved to the level of, say, Steelers fans.

It's not because it's a bad sports city, as an angry, pale, hairy, jobless Cleveland Browns fan would insist between shots of Jager. It's just that pretty much anyone who can afford a ticket didn't grow up rooting for the team for the simple-yet-critical reason it didn't exist yet. I know, because I'm one of those people.

And there's something about that primal bond you get with a team you were forced to like as a kid as opposed to one you've decided to like as an adult. Maybe it's because you're young and impressionable, and maybe it's because your dad would hit you if you didn't cheer. Whatever.

The point is, I grew up with Virginia basketball and football and Atlanta Braves baseball. And to this day, I get physically sick when they lose (I'm sick a lot). I get angry. But I can't control those feelings any more than I can control loving my parents. The teams are fused with my DNA.

I want to love the Panthers that much, and I try to. But the hard truth is I don't, and never will.

Almost all of the rest of us Panthers fans are the same way, which is precisely why we'll "sell out" game like the Cardinals game but we won't break the bank to watch our team play somebody we're favored to beat by double digits—at least not before the NFC championship. We're interested but also pragmatic. I know, I know, not very fan like. But we've been over this.

Throw in the fact that Bank of America Stadium is really big and Cardinals fans are a lot like Panthers fans (as in, they haven't spread throughout the rest of the country like a flu strain and they're sure as hell not going to fly across two time zones to watch their 10-point underdog team in all probability lose), and I was cautiously optimistic that we'd get tickets for not much more than face value.

So was Kristy. That's why, five blocks from the stadium, she was ready to show Pacman Jones what it really means to make it rain by throwing the contents of my wallet as well as her wedding band, earrings and credit card at some guy trying to sell his upper-deck end zone seats.

Granted, he did only want face value—75 bucks—but I figured that if the first guy we saw was only trying to get face value we were in good shape. Kristy didn't speak to me for the next two blocks, but it was all good. We were looking for lower level, baby.

With the stadium in sight we came across another seller. He appeared to be nothing more than a kindly old feller just trying to make his money back on a couple of extra seats available because his grandson had an unexpected volunteer shift at the homeless shelter, but I began to doubt this back story when we balked at paying $150 each for upper deck.

So he magically pulled out a pair of lower levels that he only wanted 175 for—negotiable. Next thing I knew, tickets were flying out of this guy's clothes like he was David Copperfield.

Thanks, but no thanks. I'm at a distinct disadvantage with a professional scalper under the best of circumstances. Throw in a bladder full of Rock Bottom's finest malted hops, and I might as well just give the guy my Visa.

We found a port-a-potty, and by the time I finished it was three hours to game time. Kristy wasn't going to make it much longer. The pressure was killing her.

As we walked up a fairly deserted street, another older gentleman was holding up a pair. Lower level. He wanted $125 each for $115 face value. This looked good. It looked real good. But don't be too eager. Never be too eager.

I pulled out my stadium map to make double-dog sure Section 206 was really lower level and in Charlotte, and as soon as I did he corrected himself with a quick "well, they're not quite LOWER level. More like club level." True, dat.

Still club level was fine with me, but not for one penny more than $120 each. He took it. We had lower level, at face value, and we skipped off in happiness.

It was clear we were in for a special night. You could just tell.

The revelry outside the stadium amongst the tailgaters was contagious, and the two hours we spent in a cool little dive called George Herman's watching the Titans fumble away their game with the Ravens were two hours spent in contented bliss knowing we had tickets in hand and the crappy Cardinals waiting.

The real question was, could we afford to go it again next week if the Eagles came to town (here's a tip: Two hours in George Herman's will have to confident you can afford just about anything).

At last, it was time to go to the game. Our first foray into the stands as Panthers fans came two falls ago, against the Dallas Cowboys, and remember my point about being a Panthers fan, but maybe not a fanatic? That was a great example.

No way were we paying what scalpers were asking to watch that team almost certainly lose, especially since it was pretty darn nipply out. We ended up getting a good deal on crappy seats just before kickoff so we did go, but it honestly wasn't much fun except for the cardio work we got hiking back and forth to our seats.

This time, though, had to be different. And it was. The seats, just above the Panthers tunnel, were great, the barbeque sandwiches were delicious and the Jonathan Stewart touchdown on the opening drive was electrifying.

Somewhere about this time I caught the girl next to me looking at my sandwich with an expression of bemusement, awe or disgust.

I couldn't tell for sure because I didn't yet know that this was her expression pretty much all of the time, and I had to assume the worst because there was almost as much food flying out of my mouth as there were disgusting eating sounds. I mean, I was really hungry.

Still, between swallows, I had to ask "What's wrong with my sandwich?"

Words seemed to snap her back to attention, and she looked at me with glazed eyes before uttering, in an endearing Columbia, S.C., accent, "That sandwich smells goooood."

It wasn't the response I expected, but we were on the lower level. Anything could happen here on the lower level. As we soon found out.

First, Jake lost a fumble inside his 10. Being a little sloppy with the ball. Just Jake being Jake. Then, he threw a bafflingly terrible interception. Jake being Jake again, only this time it wasn't so funny since we were now losing as a result.

I was peeing when INT No. 2 came, with Carolina knocking on the door of its own touchdown. Uh-oh, I texted my brother, we're about to be in big trouble. That was because apparently Larry Fitzgerald was wearing some kind of invisible suit.

Something had to explain how the best receiver in football was running all over the field by himself until Kurt Warner eased the pangs of loneliness with a football to the chest.

By the time Arizona led 27-7 at half, everybody in the stadium knew it was over. We couldn't believe it, but we knew it.

Jake went on to be Jake twice more in the second half before stopping drunkenly at five picks, and I won't lie: It reached the point that the few of us left in the stands were searching feverishly for double coverage on every play and imploring Jake to throw into it.

He didn't let us down.

We stayed until the bitter end, said slurring good-byes to the sandwich-sniffing girl beside me, her boyfriend and her tipsy sister, who hated Virginia because she didn't get in its law school but insisted on calling Jake Jake Delhomo because he deserved it.

She also let it slip that they'd only paid $50 each for their tickets, so so much for my brilliant maneuvering. The final indignity, Ron being Ron.

We walked slowly back to the train station. Our plans of a post-game wrapup beer drifted away as bed suddenly seemed like a pretty good idea, and 30 minutes later Kristy and I were falling off to sleep in our $69 room.

There will be a third Panthers game, and hopefully a fourth. I hope Jake is Jake for them, too. If your team is going to lose, you may as well have a historically awful performance to remember it by. And I'm sure Ron will be Ron and Kristy will be Kristy when it comes to scoring tickets.

SI's Peter King May Be Right About the Carolina Panthers

Ron Wagner — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:45:33 -0400

Sports Illustrated's Peter King recently put the 2009 Carolina Panthers 18th in his preseason NFL rankings, and if you can believe it that isn't a popular sentiment in Charlotte.

Personally, I hope he's wrong. I also won't be surprised if he isn't. A realistic hope for this year is another division title and a run at the Super Bowl. Equally realistic is a return to 8-8 land.

How can I say that? Carolina went 12-4 and won the South. The Panthers led the NFL with 30 rushing touchdowns and it wasn't close and ranked seventh in scoring offense. As of now, 21 of 22 starters are back to go with the addition of pass-rushing specialist Everette Brown, a defensive end whose 13.5 sacks last season at Florida State led the ACC.

So the question remains, how can I be afraid of an 8-8 season? Part of it is I'm a hopeless pessimist (I'm also a Virginia and Atlanta Braves fan), though sometimes pessimism and realism can walk the same road for a while.

To be sure, those are all good things up there and form the foundation of my hope that King is wrong. But there is an unfortunate fact to face about last year's team, as exciting as it was: It was good, but it wasn't that good. Deep inside we all knew it. That means the return of 21 of 22 starters maybe isn't as great as it's cracked up to be.

To wit:

Despite their record, the Panthers were an average defensive team that devolved into awful and had a weird proclivity for not just losing but getting annihilated. The Panthers won more than one game with mirrors (San Diego and Green Bay come to mind), and when they went down they went down in flames - usually when it counted most.

Against the Giants in Week 16 Carolina made Derrick Ward, who cracked 80 yards twice all year, look like Bo Jackson. And not the Bo Jackson who posterized Brian Bosworth; the Bo Jackson on Techmo Super Bowl who ran like he was riding a motorcycle.

In the second half and overtime, Ward appeared to be working against the scout team. A girls lacrosse scout team. A high school girls lacrosse scout team. In a state that doesn't recognize it as an official sport.

A Panthers linebacker appearing on the TV screen was akin to a bigfoot sighting by the second half as Ward piled up 215 yards in Carolina's most important game of the regular season. And it's not like the Panthers weren't an equal-opportunity screen door.

A week after the Giants ran for 301 against them, Drew Brees threw for 367. Larry Fitzgerald had 150 yards receiving IN THE FIRST HALF of the playoffs debacle; a number that could only be overshadowed if the other team's quarterback threw five interceptions. Which he did. Sigh.

Those lowlights only highlighted the year-long problems of a unit that wound up 18th in the league in yards per game (331.2) and 20th in rushing (4.4 yards per carry).

The pass rush was often non-existent, even with Julius Peppers and his 14.5 sacks, and the secondary was average at best. Worse, Panther defenders often seemed surprised at what the opposing offense was doing - a sign of unacceptably poor coaching at the NFL level.

The team has attempted to address those problems, of course. Defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac was replaced after the season by Ron Meeks, a respected disciple of the "Tampa Two."

Brown, a 6'2", 255-pounder, fits Meeks' mold of "undersized" ends who become dominant pass rushers (see Freeney, Dwight and Mathis, Robert). Sherrod Martin, another second-round pick, was brought in to give the secondary a boost in athleticism. At least, that's what the Panthers hope. Many thought the two were overdrafted. We'll see.

But we're still looking at basically the same team—with the same head coach—that often made things much harder than it seemed like they should have been and showed a willingness to lay down and take a beating in ways a real championship contender never would.

Jake Delhomme just signed a huge deal and is back under center. I'm a Jake guy, to a point, but at 34 is he ever going to become more than a home run hitter to Steve Smith when the other team is keyed to stop the run? No. Will he ever be a guy you can count on to be consistent for four quarters most weeks? No.

And the elephant in the room is Peppers, who refuses to sign his $16.7 million contract and continues to insist he won't play for the Panthers again. Even with him, it's hard to see how Carolina can hold off Atlanta in the division much less hope to compete in the playoffs. Without him?

Well, there's always a chance that a schedule that includes the Eagles and Dolphins at home and trips to Dallas, New England and New York for both the Jets and Giants isn't as tough as it looks. It could be Trgovac's schemes were the sole problem with the defense. Maybe Peppers isn't that critical to Carolina's fortunes.

I'm just not counting on it.