Sports Brethren

Announcements: Moving Day Hath Come

2009-07-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Brethren: This announcement is a bit late-coming, but if you're still checking around these here parts, wondering why we haven't posted in a while, here are your answers:

Nacho and I have decided to close up shop on the Sports Brethren and take our sports blogging prowess over to the team at Cubicle GM. We're the lead NFL and life-musing writers for the Cube, so expect much of the same Panthery passion, as well as thoughts around our beloved league. We'll do some NBA (Bobcats) posts too, and try to keep the quirk and the charm as flowing as ever.

I believe I speak for Nacho when I say writing this blog has been a huge part of our lives the past two years, and has brought us closer together as brothers. It's been a real joy, and I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read, make a comment, or forward us along to unsuspecting fools.

So keep track of us at the Cube, and we'll keep the archives up here for all time so that you can come back, get nostalgic, and read some of our greatest hits. Or maybe that'll just be me.

Be well, sports (brethren) fans.

Oh yea, and we'll be writing under our real names at the new site. For those of you who didn't know:

Nacho Friendly = Smokey Cloud
Brethren = Mickey Cloud

Wherein I Take the Swine Flu Bull By The Horns

2009-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Brethren called me from Yankee stadium or shortly thereafter and exclamied "You can drink in the bleachers!" Which I found odd. It's another great example of the differences from NY and LA. They're just now allowing booze in the bleacher seats of Yankee stadium. In LA, they have All-You-Can-Eat seats with several beer stations in our bleachers. As Michael Bay would proffer: BOOM!

Me? I spent a week of hysteria surrounding swine flu combatting the disease the only way I knew how: by eating as much pork as possible. See, this is a prime situation in which we can blame vegetarians. If they'd done their part of keeping the swine population in check, none of this would've happened. Anyway, it's not like this whole swine flu could be a diversionary tactic to dissuade Americans from traveling to a tropical Amsterdam. Because that would be ludicrous.

Taking the swine, head on, after...

Nacho cont'd:So last Tuesday, I sampled the West Hollywood branch of Baby Blues BBQ. While the decor and clientele are distractingly out of place, but the most important part, the food, is authentically awesome. Saturday afternoon found the woman and I making baked mac and cheese with bacon crust, and then, Saturday night I hosted a small get together for the Bulls-Celtics Game 7 and Hatton-Pacquiao fight. We ordered a massive amount of Baby Blues to be delivered, and there's a ton of leftovers, so consider Hollywood proper safe...for now.

I trust you all had as good a weekend as I did, and I hope you'll join me in my scorched earth policy against the dreaded swine. They can't kill us if we eat them first. FOLLOW ME! FOLLOW ME TO FREEDOM!

Judgments: The New Yankee Stadium

2009-05-03T13:57:00.001-07:00

Brethren: Jackson, my roommate from my first-year of college, was in the Big Apple this weekend, which is always a good time. We used the opportunity to head out to the new Yankee Stadium with some good friends, including my roommate Malick, a big Yankees fan. With our crowd of six, we bough bleacher tickets and hopped on the 4 train to take the trek to the Bronx.

I had been to the original Yankee Stadium five times in my time here in NYC, but I had never sat in the bleachers before, for a few different reasons. One, I had always been wary of the "no alcohol" rule and two, in those five trips, I had only paid for my ticket once (and bought that one at face-value in the 2nd inning in the Upper Deck). But I had to pony up for this ticket, and we had already decided the bleachers were the destination. Walking off the 4 train, I was immediately impressed with the marble columns and sense of tradition and majesty that really only the Yankees can pull off. With that said, there was nothing particularly majestic about the product on the field, but the experience was all-around awesome.

For my best details and description of a great Saturday of baseball, let's follow the Jump:

Brethren (cont'd): The home team couldn't pull out a win, as a huge 7th inning by the Angels ultimately undid a solid afternoon from C.C. Sabathia. But what was great about this trip to the new Yankee Stadium wasn't that the game particularly mattered (it was May 2nd after all), but just the great experience of spring baseball.

Jackson was rocking a "Uncle" Chuck Knoblauch t-shirt, our friend Andrew was donning an official Yankees batting practice jacket, Malick was pimping the Yankees t-shirt OVER a white collared shirt (he's so counter-culture, see pic below), and I was just happy to be wearing my Rainbows flippy-floppies. After a brief bout of rain on the trip to the Bronx, the sun came out, and the bleachers were a fine place to sit.

Beer was expensive ($10 for a souvenir cup of Bud Light), but it was allowed, which makes the New Yankee Stadium bleachers better than the Old Yankee Stadium bleachers. The hot dogs and popcorn was solid, if not particularly amazing.

The trip to New Yankee Stadium reminded me that live baseball is one of the best experiences sports has to offer. Football offers more passion; basketball more awe-inspiring opportunities, but nothing tops sitting on a sunny afternoon, drinking some beers, talking sports with good friends and watching a 9-inning contest. It's experiential, it's visceral, and it's incomparable.

The New Yankee Stadium bleachers experience: one I highly recommend and one I'll be going back to enjoy several times.

Quick Hitters From Around the Sports World:
1. If you haven't been reading SKEETS and Kelly Dywer's coverage of the NBA Playoffs over at Ball Don't Lie (Yahoo!), you're sorely missing out. All season long, they've enhanced my NBA-following with their game recaps, analysis, previews, entertaining write-a-captions, links lists, and general awesome knowledge of the NBA game, but they've particularly raised their game during playoff-time. The work ethic the SKEETS/Dywer team show, along with their pure passion, remind me of the early Simmons days when he chugged out 3 columns a day for Page 2 and brought the noise on the NBA. He still can do that every now and again, but for a day-in-day-out appetite of all things NBA, Ball Don't Lie is where it's at. Hat tip, brothermen.

2. Wow, Manny Pacquiao. Dominating performance. Made me cringe several times for Hatton. Pound-for-pound, the best boxer today. Just ridiculously fast and powerful. Overhyped fight? Maybe. But what the Pac Man delivered last night was awesome to watch.

3. Great in-depth look today at the Observer by our Bobcats beat-man, Rick Bonnell. Very thorough examination of the 'Cats roster, along with acquisitions that are spot-on for what Larry Brown would want. Very entertaining.

4. Tiger in contention at a Charlotte PGA Event = me watching golf on a non-major weekend.

Draft Week, Sir.

2009-04-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Brethren: It's draft week, which is usually a much more anticipatory time for the Sports Brethren, as it's our one official NFL moment until early fall. Yea, the official schedule came out recently, but I like to take a Silver Foxian view of the schedule and say "you play who they tell you to play." But this year, the Panthers have no first round pick, which means they won't be active for the first five hours of ESPN's coverage. Of course, the Silver Fox will tell you we already had our 2009 first round pick -- last year, when we traded up to get Jeff Otah. Hiiiyyooo.

But there are some things to note with this draft, despite the relative lack of impact the Cats can have. Of course, that can all change if the stealthy Panthers do something big with Julius Peppers before or during the draft. Everyone's been saying we pretty much have to deal him before the draft takes place if he's going to be moved at all, so things seem very "calm before the storm" quiet right now. There was solid Twitter chatter today about a rumor that sprung out of the QC's best sports radio station, WFNZ (more on that later), but beyond that, the Panthers front office is doing the right thing by saying, "We have Julius on salary cap right now and we anticipate he'll be a Panther come fall" and force the Peppers camp to drive the conversation. Which they haven't been, which has led to a very All Quiet on the Panther Front offseason.

Some Draft Day musings, and an appearance by dear Nacho, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): First thing of note that I think has been undercovered so far this year: the new start time of the draft. We're now getting started at 4 PM EST, which seemed like a ludicrously late time, until I read that link. Apparently, the draft was pushed back to 3 PM last year, so this year is only an hour later. I was under the impression that the draft still started at noon, like it did back in the day, but then I remembered I haven't watched the first day of the draft live since 2003. That was my senior year in high school, and since I went to college, Draft Saturday has fallen on the high holiday of the Foxfield Races, the most wonderful UVA tradition ever, and thus, I've been preoccupied (read: drunk and not near a tv) and unable to watch the draft live. (Yes, even in the late 80s, Foxfield was a ridiculous conceit to day drink heavily. Love how some things never change.) In any event, I find the 4 PM EST start time patently ridiculous because now the first day probably won't end until 1 AM, but it also means I can probably catch the Panthers #59 pick live from the bar Saturday night. I guess now Nacho and the Left Coasters can sleep in and not miss the start, but still seems like quiet a late start time for a slow-moving event like the draft.

Issue #2: Who should the Panthers pick? Fuck if I know. We don't pick for so long, it's a bit absurd trying to actually nail down a name. I hear the Utah DE (we drafted Steve Smith and Jordan Gross from there so every Ute must become a Pro Bowl Panther!); I hear some DE from Ga Tech (if he falls to us!). It seems pretty widely accepted we're going after a DE or DB because of the Peppers situation and the Ken Lucas roster cut. Sure; I could go either way there. Thing is, I have no idea, but I'm sure I'll be pumped and convincing some poor undergrad girl in a booth at the Virginian that we made a wise decision Saturday night, and thus it would be wise of her take me back to her humble abode.

Issue #3: So this is the digital marketing nerd in me, but back to that point I made about Twitter earlier: my search patterns have drastically change when I need news now. Whereas I would usually search Google News as quickly possible, nowadays, Twitter Search is much more reliable. For instance, today, I received a text from Nacho about the rumor Peppers is being dealt to the Patriots for Richard Seymour and a 2nd round pick. While sweeping the Internets with glee, trying to find the story, I went to Google News and searched. Nothing came back about the rumor. So I responded to Nacho about where he heard. His response, "a KSK retweet." So I checked Twitter Search and boom, 12 answers about the rumor. Real-time search results, provided by the users for the users. Granted, this is something I've mildly read about at work, but until now, had no personal experience with the power of real-time search. And it's why Google should be shitting their pants over Twitter.

/end nerdgasm.

Issue #4: The Observer upset the Cap'n quite a bit this weekend by throwing out the fantasy that the Panthers draft Pitt QB Pat White. Now, I encourage such whimsical thinking, but Pappy didn't take kindly to the ridiculousness of it. It's sad that the Panthers brass would be so written off that their own fans won't even entertain the thought that they could pull something like that off. But I like to think that's where the Silver Fox operates best: when everyone already thinks they know what he's up to.

Either that, or it's been a long damn time since January 10th and I've forgotten how he blindly stuck to a defense that Fitzgerald was killing and didn't have the good sense to reign Jake in. Well, maybe not completely forgotten, but I still -- for some reason -- have faith in the Silver Fox.

Enjoy watching Berman tip the picks; I'll be leering at sundress cleavage through my un-reality aviators, swilling bourbon, sweating through my finest race clothes, and generally being a gentleman.

So That Happened

2009-04-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Nacho: The month of March has come and gone, and with it nary a blog post could be found from the fabled SportsBrethren. Fear not, we've not succumbed to peanut salmonella or something, there was just a lot going on. The Cap'n Pappy and Mammy flew out to LA to visit me, and Brethren was shepherding "Eastbound & Down" into the cultural zeitgeist.

In the interim quite a bit has gone on on the Charlotte sports scene. The Panthers, again, didn't listen to me and make a play for Jay Cutler. On the brightside, Ashton only has to fly to Denver to see his buddy. The Panthers haven't dealt Julius Peppers yet, but my guess is they will. He's trying to get a big paycheck in a bad economy, so don't be surprised when the first-round-draft-less Panthers deal him on April 25th to pick before #30.

The Bobcats had a helluva month. February ended with a drubbing of the Clippers that I got to witness firsthand in the Staples Center. Even got to meet DJ Augustin's cousin, and they enjoyed the enthusiasm. The Cats rolled off a nice five (or was it six? -- Brethren: It was a franchise-record six!) game winning streak and found themselves in the hunt for the 8th seed. At the rate they were playing, it looked all but foregone that they'd sneak in as the last team, but some unfortunate, typical late game collapses seem to have doomed them.

For further analysis follow us, after...

Nacho cont'd: I got really into the Bobcats during the month of March, primarily because I discovered sites like justin.tv and atdhe.net that show streaming video of games. I consumed more Bobcattery than I'd ever done before, and eventually found myself invested in their success. I buckled and admitted that Larry Brown had done well by the time, I speculated about Allen Iverson's prospects in Charlotte, and in the end bit the eff out of my fingernails and yelled a lot. I share Brethren's optimism about the Bobcats 09-10 season and look forward to a fulfilling playoffs over the next eight months.

March Madness happened and the first week was awesome and everything after that kinda stunk. There was a lot of bad basketball played and few upsets. I guess I'd like to see UNC win, but I have no vested interest. I do firmly believe Tyler Hansborough will be Spain's best player in three years, tho. (hat tip to Dave for that prophecy)

And now, someone with a better education....

Brethren: Hello there, friends. I'm truly apologetic for now just getting back on the Sports Brethren blog horse. In our late winter hibernation, a fine blog with the fine promise of only posting during business hours has popped up, the Panthers have remained as stoic and Panthery as they always are, and the Bobcats became a relevant NBA team. Like riding a bike, I'll get back to what's familiar; we present the "where the fuck is spring yet?" edition of the patented bulleted Brethren thoughts:

- Did you watch Eastbound & Down? Did you fan Kenny Powers on facebook? Did you send a friend a customized voice message from the Legend himself? Did you interact with this kick-ass banner ad? If you did one or more of the above, thanks for helping a brother pay rent.

- But seriously, Kenny Fucking Powers is a goddamn bullet proof tiger, and I will do everything I can to convince my HBO marketing clients to call their colleagues in Programming and bring it back for Season 2. Which means I'll have as much influence as any other joker, but gives me an easy conversation piece to discuss with anyone I haven't seen in a long time.

- Wow, Carolina. Ridiculous first half. You are validating the Analyst-in-Chief quite nicely. Next thing you know, he'll be firing CEOs because he can. Snap.

- I actually disagree with Nacho/Smokey -- I think Peppers plays next year for the Panthers. Hurney and the Silver Fox are content to pay him ri-gawd-damn-diculous money or take their sanctioned 2 first round draft picks. They're playing within the rules of the system, and they're keeping their mouths shut. Which seems to have worked out better than, say, what the Broncos did the past two months.

- It's tough to make any predictions about the Cats next year, simply because so much rides on what we do with Pep. These few weeks leading up to Draft Day will determine a lot how the rest of spring/summer play out.

- Opening Day today. How 'bout the Mets' bullpen? Night and Day from last year.

- And, of course, the Bobcats. The five seed is ours to lose next year, I really believe that. AI, as Nacho suggests, may make some sense, in that it moves Bell to the bench, and provides a scorer that we need from the wing. But it's hard to ignore the rapid decline of AI, and I'm not sure we have the cap space -- nor the inclination to fuck with what seems like good team chemistry -- to take a flyer on The Answer.

We'll hopefully be more frequent with the check-ins around here. I'm off to watch the Tar Heels cement this National Championship and drink some bourbon. Good to be back, folks.

This Ends Well

2009-02-19T11:16:00.001-08:00

Nacho: When Ashton Kutcher signed on to play a Quarterback in his upcoming movie surely he knew he'd need some pointers on the mechanics of the game.

Thankfully, Kyle Orton is there to help. Personally, I enjoy imagining that they're relationship to be a lot like Rudy and Charles S. Dutton's.

I see no way in which this ends bad.

Oh and a simple reminder:

Bobcats - Clippers: February 28th, 2009. Staples Center. Or, as I will refer to it, "Operation Get On TV 2: The Sequelling"

lookin good.

Wherein My Morrison Jersey Becomes Much More Ironic

2009-02-08T09:44:00.001-08:00

Nacho: Yesterday, as I sat down to watch the film "Fanboys" I received a phonecall I chose to ignore. There's little in this world scarier than a miffed sci fi nerd. A voicemail was left that I listened to after the movie; it's mocking tone unmistakable: "Where's your Morrison, now? WHERE'S YOUR MORRISON NOW?!"

It's true, the face of the franchise, the great Mustachio himself, has left the Queen City. Adam Morrison was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlad Rad and with that, a chapter in the steep Bobcat lore comes to a close.

Not unlike Natalie Imbruglia, I'm torn. I love the Bobcats, but most of that initial love started when we drafted Morrison. With him off the team, I'm naturally sad, but he couldn't have been traded to a better team. I discussed the potentiality that Morrison's just trade bait to get Shaq back to LA (it's rather large) but that gives me two weeks to enjoy Morrison in a Laker jersey. Seeing as how he'll probably get passed around the league from here on out, any Morrison jersey is gonna be worth it's wait in gold.

A few thoughts on the off season, after...

Nacho cont'd: A month ago the Panthers shat the bed against the eventual Super Bowl Contender Arizona Cardinals. It was a devastating, demoralizing loss that could very well have shook an inexperienced fan to their very core. I was upset; I had somehow gotten about 20 people to come out and cheer for the Cats. It was kind of like trying to show off a new trick your dog or child has learned, only to watch them play with their own feces when the neighbors show up.

The most important part of that loss was the perspective it gave me. I saw the storm coming midway through the first quarter and willingly surrendered myself to the plummet into darkness. After the game, I got home and purged my body of all the hate, sadness, and fried foods I'd consumed over the previous 12 hours. It was cathartic, and disgusting.

A lot's happened since then: the Panthers purged their defensive coaching staff, Peppers said he wanted out, and, in the most encouraging news since January 10th, Steve Smith has spent the past week at the Pro Bowl recruiting Anquan Boldin. I'm wearily hopeful for the next season. The 2008-9 campaign was one that I will cherish and keep with me forever. The highs were high, the lows were pitiful. I'll remember all the beer and wings, I'll remember the San Diego and Oakland games, I'll remember it all. And I'll forget the Arizona game.

Staring out at the vast wasteland that is the offseason, I'll keep tabs on my Panthers as my passion and fury spends some time with the Bobcats. I was able to attend the double-overtime Laker game a few weeks back and it served as a worthy substitute until football comes back.

In the meantime, everyone should enjoy the probability that Jordan Farmar has this video playing in his locker, which is RIGHT NEXT to Morrison.

Week 19 And Beyond: The Day the Music Died

2009-01-31T12:56:00.000-08:00

Brethren: It has taken me a full three weeks to write this. The absolute stomach-punching atrocity that formed a burning sadness and simultaneous anger in my heart on January 10th, 2009, has finally turned into a compact black hole I'll carry for a long time. But while compact, it's small and it doesn't consume my entire heart.

But for a while there, it absolutely did. After Jake's second interception in the first half and we were suddenly facing a two touchdown plus differential, my world started to fade quickly. We had an entire section of the bar in the East Village reserved and I can take at least 60% of the credit for turning us into an interminably miserable peoples. I was angry. We had worked hard to get to 12-4 dammit. And then it all slipped away as Jake played the worst game of his career and John Fox stubbornly didn't gameplan for the Cardinals' most potent offensive weapon.

A lot has happened since that night three weeks ago. Nearly all the defensive coaches are gone, most notably, the defensive coordinator Trgovac. He's been replaced by the Colts' D-Coordinator, Ron Meeks. Indy hasn't been renowned for the defensive side of the ball in recent years because of Pey-Pey's huge presence in your standard marketing campaigns, but statistically, this guy knows what he's doing. And he has a Super Bowl ring. This will still be a John Fox team, but Meeks brings an aggressiveness to the defense that we clearly lacked in that Arizona playoff game.

The Cardinals have moved on in dramatic fashion, and I've been rooting for them all the way. I always start rooting for the team that knocks mine out of the tournament, if only to say, "hey -- nobody could beat those guys that year -- how'd you expect us to?"

And of course, the most potentially bizarre situation is the elephant in the proverbial room right now: Defensive End Julius Peppers wanting out of Carolina. The Panthers jersey I own carries Peppers's #90 and name, he was the first piece of the John Fox era, he is the most ridiculous athlete to ever hit the Charlotte sports scene; and yet, if he truly wants out and he thinks he has to leave our organization to truly reach his potential, well then fuck that. Fucking Carolina grad. I can turn on him in a heartbeat.

But Pep, if this all works out and you stay on in the Kakkalak and dominate the way we know you can, we're cool. If not, you gots to get the fuck out.

As for me, I spent the rest of the night of Jan 10th getting as weird as possible. Lots of shots, lots of drinks, self-inflicting damage had to be done. I put on my onesie and didn't get out of bed until 5:30 PM the next day, eating only a small sandwich and some yogurt when I did. It was pathetically adorable and I couldn't have gotten over the pain of watching your team self-implode so dramatically when they could have been so great without this exercise in self-pity. Writing this blog every week about the Panthers certainly ups my ante as a fan -- I feel much more personally invested when I'm chronicling the emotional highs and lows of following this team. So when you get that involved, it only hurts that much more when the sudden and finite end swiftly kicks you in the ass.

But life goes on. Players will come, players will go; and we will rebuild a roster that will look different than the '08 version. Fans will turn on Jake the second he throws his first interception next season, but I hope Fox/Hurney don't. I think they should open up training camp for competition, but I suspect Jake would win that. He's Smitty's QB -- and next year, we'll just have to have a better defense and remember that we're a fucking running team that likes to take a chance every now and again downfield with Smitty. Stick to that identity and we should be force to be reckoned with again.

Life has gone on. Nacho and I will continue to check in with the Panthers as the off-season progresses and big news pops up, but we turn our attention to the improving Bobcats and the coming months of non-football sports. And it shall be good.

I missed the concept of the jump with this post, but perhaps Nacho will have some words down there.

(And yes, that picture up top is of Nacho and Brethren, dressed to the ts in our onesies that Mammy gave us for Christmas, drinking scotch. Like all good Southerners. Admit it: we're so hot right now.)

Nacho?

Bobcats 114, Celtics 106

2009-01-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

Brethren: I didn't watch this game at all -- I live with a die-hard Knick fan and so we watched them lose to The Team That Shall Not Be Named (RIP Seattle) -- but sometimes, something happens that makes you scour the Interwebs looking for all the info you can about a game you couldn't watch. The Bobcats beating the world champion Celtics at home in overtime is one of those games for we Bobcats fans.

Both Nacho and I attended home Bobcats games while in Charlotte for Winter Break '08, and yet we didn't write a post about either game. Nacho saw a win over the Wizards; I went to the loss to the Knicks (I actually went to the Knicks loss in NY back in November too). It's just that it's crunch time for us and we'd like to conserve our energy for the Panthers. But that doesn't mean we don't care about the Bobcats or don't have the same rabid fandom for LB's Cats.

Well, maybe not as much as we do for the Silver Fox's, but after the Cardiac Cats go as far as their merry playoff journey will take them, I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be starting the Bobcats Bandwagon, as this team starts to pick up on Coach Brown's style.

Nacho: Likewise, I wasn't made aware of this epic success until I was informed by my cohort Dugan. I believe his message over iChat was "What does Charlotte think they're gonna prove? They're beating the Celtics in overtime." I immediately clicked back over to the GameCast and kept a watchful eye. My coworkers saw me intermittently ecstatic and worried for my Cats. When they prevailed it was quittin' time and I rode home with a gleam in my eye.

I remember when we lost on a Ray Allen dagger last year and how exhilarated I was. To finally get that W is a small, but significant mountain. Dugan humbled me with a message later that was "Next stop: NBA Finals. The Celtics; not the Bobcats."

I'll take thirteen wins any year of the decade....sigh.

Go Panthers!

Week 18: The Drinking Game

2009-01-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

Nacho: After the smoke had cleared and the charred rubble had been picked through, the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Iggles emerged victorious in the Wild Card Weekend of the National Football League. The AFC also played games, but I'm gonna go ahead and assume you know about that.

So how do the SportsBrethren feel about this rematch of drunk proportions? As the New Zealanders say, It's Business Time.

I think it bodes well for the Cats that they barely eked out a victory at home against the Cards earlier this year. Up until the fourth quarter there wasn't one iota of certainty about how the game would play out. Boldin was back and scary, but Edge James was really a non-factor in the game. That is not so much the case anymore. Edge and Boldin are finding reserves of talent heretofore dormant to the public eye. The Panthers match up a heck of a lot better with Arizona than they do Minny or Philly, so I'm glad for that aspect, but Kurt Warner's Faustian destiny still seems a few years off.

If the game this upcoming Saturday is anything like the depressing-then-inspiring, come-from-behind victory of yore I'll be pleased. The best we can hope for is everybody in the media starts hyping the Cards, so ESPN, FOX, and Blogosphere have at it.

The Cards did some monumental things this season. Won a home playoff game. Won their division. These are things they should be proud of. And use to build momentum next season.

For the record, Leitch never paid up on the beer he owes me, so I've upped the ante to a pony keg. Who knows if he'll be man enough to take me up on it; at this point I'd imagine he's playing with House Money. I am truly glad he got to see a playoff game in the Melted Hershey Kiss, but playtime's over.

Brethren may or may not get around to posting his thoughts on the weekend, somewhere after...

Nacho cont'd: In the meantime, lets bask in the memories.

Brethren: I celebrated my 24th birthday yesterday by drinking several pint-sized Pabst Blue Ribbon cans with good friends at a bar whilst watching the Sunday NFL. In a lot of ways, it was not unlike, oh, every other Sunday this fall/winter.

But you know what I've come to learn now that I'm in my mid-twenties? I gotta ap'reciate what I got in life, especially what I got from 2008: two damn good football teams. No matter what happens this week, I am going to be watching two epic games that I will be heavily invested in.

First, on Thursday night, the Florida Gators play for their second national championship in three years (and third in my lifetime). Now, I've already explained my perfectly legal pro and college football allegiances round these parts, so I don't want to hear anything about that. Now, granted, I haven't written about Baby Rhino and the Gators much this year (at all?), but that doesn't mean Urban Meyer's tour de force hasn't been on my mind. At this point, you'd be a silly, silly man to doubt Tim Tebow and the horde of fleet-footed receiver/tailbacks he has at his disposal. It has been good to be a Florida Gator this year, and I expect nothing but perfection come Thursday.

But whether or not the Gators bring home the crystal ball, I know that football will continue to matter come Saturday night. Football will not be out of my life. When Charlotte plays host to the first home playoff game since a night game against the Cowgirls in 2003, football will still be running through my veins. It's not always that when college football bowl season ends, and ends in epic fashion, that I've got something to look forward to. This year, this football season, I do.

Go Gators.

Then bring on the Buzzsaw.

Week 17: NFC South Champs

2008-12-29T10:53:00.001-08:00

Brethren: The last game of the regular season provided just as much drama as you would expect from a team that can't shake its "Cardiac Cats" moniker. Leading 30-10 going into the final quarter, the Carolina Panthers promptly gave up 21 straight points to a humming pass-happy New Orleans offense, and found themselves down 31-30. New Orleans' only problem was they left over 3 minutes on the clock to a team that knows how to run a two-minute offense.

Either that, or Steve Smith did his Superman bailout thing again. On the first play of the potential game-winning drive, Jake Delhomme bought time in a pocket that was quickly collapsing, and as he was about to get nailed by two defenders, heaved a jump ball downfield towards a double-teamed Smitty. Result: another amazing catch by Smitty, a clock-killing drive, and a John Kasay field goal that wrapped up a 33-31 win, the NFC South championship, and the #2 seed in the NFC for the playoffs.

I shouldn't be surprised by Steve Smith anymore, but I am. He fought over two defenders, secured the ball, and made my life a lot more happy. He's just unreal. He did this against Green Bay earlier this year, and he's done it countless times in his career as a Panther. I thank my lucky stars for Steve Smith every Sunday.

So in a game that almost quick-sanded away, the Carolina Panthers eeked one out, and established a 12-4 record on the season for just the second time in team history.

One more thing before we get to our more ramblingish thoughts: on Christmas Day, I gave myself the pleasure of re-reading the Carolina Panthers preview that the Sports Brethren wrote for Deadspin. I don't mention this to toot our own horns (because, seriously, we pretty much nailed every aspect of that preview), but just to remember where this season started. It's far from over, but it was good to reflect. As this blog has become exceedingly Panther-specific, I can't imagine a better season for us to do it.

More thoughts, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): For the final time this regular season, the patented, bulleted Brethren thoughts:

- There's no way John Fox would ever admit to this, but I kinda saw this fourth quarter lead give-away and reclamation as exactly how I would do it if I were playing a video game. After going three and out as New Orleans had made it a six point game by effortlessly scoring two passing touchdowns, wouldn't you at least entertain purposefully shanking a punt so you can give the other team a short field to work with, give them the TD, the lead, and leave enough time on the clock to make the game-winning drive? I mean, in a video game, that scenario definitely goes through my mind. Now, knowing the Silver Fox, I can guarantee this is NOT what he was thinking. But it worked out all the same, huh?

- Another fantastic day by Smash N Dash. DeAngelo set the single-season record for a Carolina Panthers running back and capped a break-out season by cranking out 178 dagger-to-the-heart yards, and several big ones on the last drive. Stewart had one ridiculous run where he was stuffed by five guys in the backfield, never went down, and bounced outside for a dozen yards -- and he had a solid touchdown run.

- The Panthers coaching staff's propensity to go conservative on offense with a lead two weeks in a rows scares the shit out of me. I will be so pissed if that's the reason our season ends in the playoffs, because at this point, it's just become so predictable.

- With that said, I love that we won and got the bye week. Should be enough time to get our big boys in the middle of our D-Line back and prepare for the first playoff game in Charlotte since 2003. Whichever meek bird we're playing, I know damn well the Queen City will be rocking.

Fuck. and. yes.

Nacho: On Saturday night the SportsCousin, aka Trey, walked up to spend the night at my place and before saying hello or anything, he asked "Do you think there should be seeded playoffs?" Sure, we hadn't seen each other in over a week, and the last time we were supposed to see one another was when Trey didn't pick me up and take me to the airport, the Pats could miss the playoffs with one less win than the Panthers, and this is a legitimate question with a great debate behind it. Should a team like the Cardinals or Chargers get to the post season over a team with a better record? Trey and I both decided that yes, the playoffs should be seeded. Trey said when he brought this up to his coworkers, their first complaint was "What if you win your division and don't get in?"

We decided that Division Champs is good for breaking tie breaks, but should not guarantee a post season berth. The more I think about it, I find it odd that I took this stance so willingly, but it's true. The NFC South was the best division in pro football this year by leaps and bounds. It speaks volumes that yesterday, when the Panthers beat the Saints, was the first time all season that the visiting team of an NFC South vs NFC South match up won. The NFC South was ridiculous and everyone finished above .500. In summation: I've got every reason to defend Division Champs = playoffs, and yet, I don't. Probably because we only lost four games this season.

Anyway, the Cats continue building momentum and are playing the best ball they have been all year. It's been a helluva season, and one I won't soon forget. I've loved the highs and lows, and I'm still kind of flabbergasted that DeAngelo broke our rushing record in a platooned backfield.

I trust the Silver Fox won't let these fellers rest on their haunches and I look forward to facing a worthy opponent in two weeks.

Week 16: Will this be our "Patriots loss"?

2008-12-22T06:28:00.000-08:00

Brethren: That's about the only thing I'm clinging to this morning. Last year, the NY Giants infamously took a 16-0 Patriots team down to the wire in a Week 17 loss, giving them the confidence that they could play with the best team in the league. They then went on a 4-game road win streak to win the Super Bowl. Could this overtime, "should have won but didn't" loss in the Meadowlands be the same kind of propulsion the Panthers need to take home their own Super Bowl title this year?

Like I said, it's all I've got.

We got beat at our own game: power football. We had control through the fourth quarter -- a few things bounce differently for us and that's a huge road win. Instead, we probably got too conservative on our last few drives, pining for a field goal and defensive stop that never materialized.

It was a heart-wrenching loss in that I know we could and should have won that game. Four beastly touchdowns from DeAngelo; a beastly performance by Steve Smith (why do we ever stop giving him the ball); some jarring big hits on defense; and it was all for naught. The silver lining is that this is just a regular season game -- it counts as much as the Tampa debacle, the Atlanta loss, or the Week 3 Vikings loss.

More musings desde

Brethren: Oh! I found one more silver lining: now the Silver Fox is forced to play our starters and get that win next week. If we can go on the road and beat an NFC South opponent (something no one in the division has done this year), we'll take home the #2 seed and division title. Lose, and we're a road wild card team. Given our 8-0 success at home this year, I really really want that home January game and the bye week.

Foxey: we need a W this week. Then shit gets real.

Nacho: The SportsParents put the kabbash on me watching last night's game in a bar, so I ended up in our quaint living room, surrounded by some family friends in a cocktail party setting. The compromise was that I was allowed to behave in my usual manner (read: every other word out of my mouth is fuck; this affliction was named "Situational Tourrettes") The game happened, the fridge has a dent in it, and my fist hurts today. To dull the throbbing pain, I went down to Bank of America Stadium and bought over one hundred dollars in Panthers paraphernalia. Retail therapy rocks, but---

Oh my god....Oh my god....Is that Will Clegg's music?? IS THAT WILL CLEGG'S MUSIC?!?!

Ladies and gentleman, a Panther fan who actually attended last night's game. The one, the only, Will Clegg:

I have attended many a Panthers game in my time, but never in the other team's house until the epic battle for the number one seed on Sunday night. The Clegg bretheren made the short trek to East Rutherford, NJ, and here my non-patented, random thoughts, as they actually occurred:

7:15pm Why did we get here an hour early? It is cold as hell. This italian sausage sandwich is terrible. I can't believe... Oh shit! Steve Smith is yelling at Antonio Pierce! That's why I came early. TELL 'EM SMITTY!

1st Quarter- DeAngelo scores. Panthers are awesome. I am so cold.

2nd Quarter - DeAngelo scores again. This time I got a picture of the touchdown dive. I can't feel my toes. I pray that Brandon Jacobs continues to limp around the sideline.

2nd Quarter - Jacobs is back. God hates me after all.

Still 2nd Quarter - OMFG we are leading 21-10! This is amazing, I'm here in the Meadowlands with my brother, watching my team win, I'm so happy and - OW THAT ICE BALL THAT JUST HIT ME IN THE BACK OF THE NECK REALLY HURT!

3rd Quarter - We are not scoring. Steve Smith is not touching the ball. I can feel my toes again, but this is bad because they hurt so much.

4th Quarter - We are winning 28-20. FINISH THE @#$!^$#&ING GAME! Derrick Ward is a dick!

4th Quarter - Field goal is good! Oh, no wait, no it's not. Oh god. I am uncomfortable with the old man pointing in my face right now.

Overtime - We lost the coin toss. If my tear ducts were not frozen, I would cry right now.

Game Over. Derrick Ward is a super huge dick. At least it won't be an hour and half before I get home.

I must say that overall, Giants fans were pretty pleasant. They seemed to recognize that the Panthers came to play and were pretty good, and some even showed genuine concern for our game next week. Many commented on what a great game it was. But to the one who hit me in neck with an ice-ball: we will be back in January. And you will take an ice-ball to the nuts when the Cats win the NFC.

photo courtesy of Will Clegg

Week 15: The Homes Stretch

2008-12-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

Nacho: For the second time in the team's history, the Carolina Panthers finished the season 8-0. The other time we did that, we got beat by the Packers in the NFC Champioship. Not that anybody's counting...

The Cats looked textbook strong against the Broncos. The O-line made mincemeat out of a formidable Broncos D. Smithy got his. Fox continues to make the adjustments he needs to within the game with remarkable awareness. Denver has no run defense? Denver has no rushing game? Sweet!

It was also good to see a cameo from the man himself, Jerry Richardson. Always good to see old Jerry rockin' out, and staying warm.

The rest of the season's no cakewalk for the Panthers. Coming up they've got the Giants; a quirk in the universe has turned the 2008 Panthers into the 2007 Giants, where we're playing our best ball at the end of the season. Should be interesting to see if the Giants can continue their self-implosion.

Brethren's thoughts and various other sundries lie beyond...

Brethren waits in the tall grass...

Week 14: A Historically Good Night

2008-12-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Who did what to the what now? The Carolina Panthers rushed for nearly 300 yards and 4 touchdowns against a run defense that had previously given up 1 rushing touchdown over the entire 2008 season? These little, old, barely-beating-the-Lions-and-Raiders Carolina Panthers? The ones no one at Sports Illustrated thought could hold the jock strap of the mighty and fierce Tampa Bay Bucaqueers? Surely you jest -- it simply cannot be!

I jest motherfucking not.

On the biggest stage in football, under the brightest lights a young swash-buckling town like Charlotte could produce, the Carolina Panthers pulled away from their most hated rival in complete and utterly dominating fashion, winning Monday night 38-23, behind a historically good running game. First place in the toughest division in football? For now. First place in all the NFC? Could be.

Monday night was a night that allowed Panthers fans to dream big, as big as a NFL fan can dream. It had everything you'd come to expect from a crushing Panther victory: sacks and big plays by Peppers and Beason; plays that make you curse and love Jake Delhomme; big catches for first downs and touchdowns by Smitty; and now, an absolutely dominant run game. We'll breakdown more desde:

Brethren (cont'd): Some patented bulleted Brethren thoughts:

- If the NFC Pro Bowl team doesn't contain someone off this Carolina Panthers offensive line, it would be a sore oversight. My vote right now would be for LG Travelle Wharton -- that man has been playing great football. Last week in the Green Bay game, beyond his blocking, he hustled and recovered the Stewart fumble 40 yards past the line of scrimmage. This week, it seemed like every big DeAngelo and Stewart run (which happened, oh, every other rushing play) was one where Big T was pulling left or right. Here's a guy who was the starting left tackle last year -- the premiere position on the O-Line -- and he moved inside to left guard during the offseason as Silver Fox and Hurney revamped the starting five to be as mammoth as possible. Wharton didn't see it as a demotion or anything like that -- he embraced it and now is playing as noticeably good as a left guard can play.

- The big knock on the Panthers offense is that it's always too one-dimensional. Who do they have beyond Steve Smith? And if we run the ball well, it's well, that's just what John Fox likes to do. Please: this offense is plenty explosive, but strives for a balanced, dagger-esque identity. Last night, that's exactly how they played.

- Seeing the run game dominate like this made me realize the Silver Fox is just trying to not have to rely solely on Jake to win a game. It can and has been done -- but we're much better off not having to have Jake force things, like he did several times Monday night. Great games by Smitty and Moose though.

- The pass defense still seems too vulnerable to the big play, but I think that's the nature of the aggressive, blitz-heavy Carolina D. We have faith to put the corners on an island, and last night, that almost bit us too many times. But ultimately, the superior pass rush and pressure won out.

- One more home game, next week against the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos. Get that win, go 8-0 at home, and start prepping for D-day against the Super Bowl champs on the road for a real test of character. Let's keep this motherfucking train going.

Nacho: Shortly after the Panthers dispatched of the Bucs our mom texted me to say "Peter whoever eat shit!!!" It was her use of coarse language, not to mention three exclamation points, that tipped me off that she was fired up. Smitty's third quarter foot-draggin' TD was made right in front of her. It felt good knowing a family member was getting to witness this remarkable night in person.

This was the game our entire season had been leading up to. Steve Smith said in the locker room after the game that he'd like to keep things the way they are. He meant this in relation to the way the media views this Carolina squad. As Brethren pointed out, no one in the sports media feels necessarily moved by the Cats, and refuse to give them the time of day. If there's one through line sentiment that connects the Super Bowl 2003 squad and this one, it's the enormous chip on both's shoulders. Both's? Boths? Weird.

Last night was magical, it was cathartic, and most of all, it was impressive. Now it's time to move on. The Giants game doesn't exist yet. There is only one thing that should be on everybody's mind right now:

Week 13: The Power Of Inevitability

2008-12-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Nacho: Perhaps the most unique thing about Sunday's come-from-behind victory for the Carolina Panthers was how routine it was. By the time the Packers had marched down to their own 30 yard line on their second-to-last drive, I was outwardly rooting for the Cats to just let them score so we could make our own go at the end zone. A defense that had seemed befuddled by Aaron Rodgers's ability to pick apart their schemes, however, did not concur. Instead our boys did what they seem to do about every other week this season. Put up a goal line stand.

They did. Coach McCarthy, whom I'm pretty sure wore the motion capture suit for the humans in Wall-E, opted for a field goal and when that happened I looked to my left at the gaggle of Green Bayers and smiled.

"Game over."

Had I been a man of chance, I'd say what we had was a sure thing.

My eloquent conclusion, and Brethren's unique trapped-in-airport bulleted thoughts, after..

The graphic came up on the screen announcing that Jake Delhomme had 17 4th quarter comebacks in his career. I solemnly sat down and explained to Doug and the other Packer fans that this is simply what we do. We race out to early leads, we squander said leads, we give home teams a ray of hope (see also: Diego, San) and then we rip your heart out in front your fanbase. It's a dick move, but it's our bread and butter. Well, that, and throwing to Smitty.

this is Doug.

It was a game of momentum, with pendulous swings for both teams. Jake did another turn as Zelig, playing just well enough to beat the opposing team. He even pulled a Brett Farve on that last pass to Smitty, heaving it off his back foot. No one else coulda caught that thing. Tampa Bay's defense has been their core this year, but their offense hung 27 on us last time around. Our D's gotta show up a helluva lot better than they did Sunday if we want to win.

Brethren showed me how ol' Patty Y over at ESPN.com thinks the statistics for home teams in the NFC South favor a Panther victory, come Monday.

I sure as hell hope so.

Brethren: I was in the midst of my nightmarish post-Thanksgiving travel itinenary during this weekend's game, so the only quarter I caught on TV was the fourth. I spent the first half in a car on my way to the Norfolk airport, with 3 women more interested in counting up the amount of "good proteins and calories" in their week of eating than football. I was vainly trying to listen to the play-by-play of the Bucs-Saints game for updates on the Panthers. Needlesstosay, I was ready to get to the airport's sports bar to finally watch my Cats play on the Frozen Tundra.

Once I arrived at the quaint Norfolk airport, I immediately found out my flight back to New York had been canceled. I was then stuck trying to decide whether I should tend to getting a new flight or watching the suddenly close 21-21 game. I settled on just calling Delta instead of waiting in the 300+ person line, and sat on hold as I watched the Panthers fight it to the death in Green Bay.

Therefore, much of my lamenting, cursing, and celebrating came as I was also talking to a Delta representative on the other end of the line. Here are some bulleted thoughts, representative of that odd phone call/viewing of a dramatic Panthers win:

- Even if Smitty is all we have, he may just be enough. Yes, DeWilliams is 'Dash'ing it up and scoring at will recently, but the Carolina Panthers are not that dynamic without Smitty. But with him, they possess just a whole 'nother gear.

- Loved the late hit by Pep, and his explanation of it after the game. He said he saw Rodgers fake going out of bounds the play before and ended up with 6 more yards. He was not going to let that happen, fifteen yard penalty be damned. Loved it.

- Really enjoyed the flea flicker to Moose to start the game. All week, to Fox's chagrin, some players reported that the team had been practicing a little harder to try to correct the recent habit of starting slow. It was good to see that play-call; we just need to see Moose not fumble the ball.

- Moose said after the game that we may look back and see this game as a huge win, as a win that gave this team the backbone to go compete in the NFL Playoffs. Let's see it -- big MNF game coming up.

Week 12: Ugh. Are the Panthers as not good as everyone else thinks?

2008-11-27T18:20:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Some teams have already played their Week 13 games, so it's high time we talk about Week 12 and the Carolina Panthers' disgusting loss on the road to Atlanta. It's Thanksgiving week and thus, I am overly fed and weary from travels, but here are some random thoughts from Week 12 leading into Week 13:

- This slow start shit has got to stop. Zero positive yards in the first quarter. Three-and-outs galore. A 17-0 hole. The Panthers do it too often and it finally bit them in the ass.

- John Fox's bottom line approach is tantalizing for bloggers like ourselves. The man only judges the team's individual aspects on whether we've won or lost. Passing game sucks? Well it's good enough to be 8-3. Run defense been terrible recently? It's been good 8 weeks and not good enough for 3 weeks. Players not as prepared for the game? They've been well prepared 8 times and not as well prepared 3 times. Every aspect of the game is "something we'll evaluate" and has been up to snuff 8 times and not up to snuff 3 times.

It's frustrating because as someone who analyzes and overanalyzes every cotdamn Panthers game, I'm seeking answers. And John Fox won't have it. Which is probably good for the team, but it leaves me to do nothing but jump to wild conclusions. I'm sure John Fox loves me.

- Fucking Falcons. They bite us at least once a year. It's annoying.

- I haven't felt comfortable about this team since mid-October. Last Sunday was the first significant Sunday in a while -- we had a bye then two games against the Raiders and Lions -- and quite simply, the Panthers shat the bed. Methinks we're giving the rest of the world a lot of evidence to support the "Panthers aren't that good" theory. I, for one, am still believing. So much so that I recently had a very vivid dream about how the Panthers won the Super Bowl. It felt real. I woke up salivating, knowing that's how it could feel when the day happens.

But still...the Panthers need to get a lot better. Put ourselves in the position to do some damage in the playoffs and we'll go from there. Nacho's thoughts if he ever gets out of a food coma, desde

Nacho: I woke up sad today. Not because my favorite holiday was over. Not because the blogosphere seems to be taking it easy today. No, I woke up sad because the first clear thought through my mind this morning was "There's still two more days until football." Sure, the Iron Bowl's this weekend, but with each passing year my tenuous love of college football wanes. It's because of the bowl system.

Anyway, usually Fridays and Saturdays are pretty packed with work and whatever weekend obligations I have. It keeps my mind off the fact that football's still two days away. Now I'm facing a forty-eight hour stretch without football and even less to occupy my mind. I will, inevitably, overthink this weekend's match up against the Packers. This probably doesn't end. I get a distinct feeling I will memorize "Tropic Thunder", or make just wantonly spend hours on Bodog.

So bear with the Brethren; we're going to be filled with various meats and side items throughout the weekend, and we'll be more prompt in our posting, if for no other reason than it'll give us some peace and quiet.

Happy Turkey Weekend, urrbody!

Week 11: In Which Sports Illustrated Angers the Sports Brethren

2008-11-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Week 11 brought the winless and hapless Detroit Lions to Charlotte (and one special guest to our press box) -- and with the winless Lions came the expectation of a Carolina Panthers blow-out. That didn't quite happen, but the Panthers still came out victorious behind a banner day from the Smash And Dash duo of Jonathan Stewart (15 carries, 130 yards, 1 TD) and DeAngelo Williams (14 carries, 120 yards, 2 TDs) and another beastly day from Julius Peppers, Jon BEASTon, and Thomas Davis. Jake Delhomme and the passing game was still a bit underwhelming, but in the end of the day, we didn't need an A+ game to defeat the Lions.

And that's why I'm not too terribly concerned that the past two weeks, the Panthers have played the two worst teams in the NFL and not looked convincingly great. Sometimes the sign of a good team in the NFL is that even on their off days, they win. The Panthers have played 10 games, and come out on the right side of those 8 times. Only two teams have won more games than the Panthers and 29 haven't.

So what does Sports Illustrated, the national magazine who employs some of the most renowned football minds, think of the Panthers? Let's check out the King of the SI Court:

FUCKING NINTH?? Holy shit, you Favrerian cumguzzler! Yes, yes, we'll get to that.

Maybe the Playoff Picture will be kinder?

OH ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? NOT EVEN MAKING IT?!

Anger personified with Nacho Friendly, desde:

Nacho: Thanks, Seth & Amy, but the Nacho's got this one.

Really, Sports Illustrated? Really?

Both your play-off predictor/goomba Dom Bonvissuto and world-renown Peter King think the Panthers won't see post season play. You looked over your sheet of paper that showed the teams ranked from top to bottom based on their current record, you saw the Panthers sitting there at number three after watching two weeks of admittedly shitty football, and you thought "nope"? Really?

You fellas took some pretty selective ganders at the upcoming schedule, didn't you? Saw a bunch of tough teams and a lot of away games for Carolina and wrote 'em off. Brethren and I both agree Carolina plays proportionally to the talent of their opponent, which would make complete sense for the past 2 weeks and the upcoming four. Peter King completely dismisses the fact that the Dolphins upcoming games include the 49ers, Chiefs, Rams and Bills. Dom thinks the Saints are gonna come out of South. That's some maverick action right there. Did we all just fucking forget about the Bucs defense?

Really?

Here's an idea: watch more fucking football. Think maybe not just drawing conclusions from highlights on The Blitz could do you some good? Step it up, Sports Illustrated, because I want desperately to agree with Nate Silver.

There is a silver lining and that is this: The Panthers always play better with chips on their shoulders. We're best off under the radar, and it would appear that the Main Stream Media has agreed to allow just that. I'd spew more vitriol, but honestly it's not worth my creativity. Let 'em keep thinking we're not hitting our peak at the exact moment the Giants did last year. Part of the problem of employing middle aged people and calling them the best in their fields is that occasionally they'll shit the bed. This would appear to be one of those time.

Onward, to embarrass the Rookie of the Year.

Week 10: Good Thing the Raiders Suck

2008-11-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Dear Lord, I have never felt worse after a game the Carolina Panthers won by 11 points. So while John Fox can tell me that in the NFL, a win's a win's a win, beating a gawd-awful Oakland Raiders team 17-6 to move to 7-2 didn't inspire great confidence in me. The offense looked so out of synch and Jake looked so terrible that we needed a banner day from the defense to beat a 2-6 Raiders team.

Luckily, Peppers brought the noise and the funk, the secondary proved it's on its way to being the best the Panthers have ever had, and BeasTon and Davis were flying around the ball like they are wont to do.

So while it was a great performance from the Panthers D, it was against a terrible Raider offense that looked even more pathetic than Bill Simmons trying to do the first-person narratives Big Daddy Drew made famous. DeAngelo made good on his promise to never be run-down and his 140 yards were another great game on his way to 1,000-yard season. But Jeebus did Jake look terrible: a 12.3 QB rating, completing 0 passes in the second half, and connecting on 7 passes to his team while connecting on 4 with the other team.

At the end of the day though, it won't matter as long as Jake can bounce back -- and there are many a good game this season to make me believe Sunday was just an aberration. The Panthers are at a quiet 7-2, and flying just enough under the radar despite having the 3rd-best record in the NFL.

Nacho was at the game, and some more patented bulleted thoughts, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): The patented bulleted thoughts:

- Sunday's game was quite a display of horrific offense, but there was something extraordinary that happened: in the second quarter, after DeAngelo's awesome long-distance touchdown gallop, I got the following text from my good friend Eugene, "Smash and dash according to urban dictionary: to have sex with a girl and then leave immediately...amazing." While appreciating the lesson in what the kids are saying these days, since I didn't have sound to the game at the bar, I wasn't clued in: apparently the FOX announcing team had nicknamed Panthers RBs Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams, "Smash and Dash," and used the phrase frequently during the game.

Now that's just awesome announcing. I can get behind any nicknames that also double as vernacular sex phrases. Who in the NFL is the Cleveland Steamer? Who's the Blumpkin? The Rusty Trombone? I need someone far cleverer than me to answer these questions.

I'm just glad the Panthers got the Smash and Dash -- a move quite frequently cheered on by me and my buddies and a running back tandem quite frequently cheered on by us as well.

- Ugh, that was such a gross game that you're only getting one patented bulleted thought. Let's beat Detroit next weekend, move on to 8-2, and see how we stack up for the last 6 weeks.

Nacho: The easiest way to break down the past week of my life is with the tried and true Good, Bad, Ugly rankings. Without further ado....

the Good: It breaks my heart into a million little pieces to think of the photos that could've accompanied this post. Like the one with me and Buzz "Shorty" Bizzinger. Or the historic meeting of Big Daddy Drew and the SportsBrethren. Or the countless Jowlers from Friday night (Brethren's got a cache of them and will be posting shortly.) Allah in Heaven, those photos would've been epic. My travels from LA to NYC to Oakland brought me such great joy.

Sports peppered themselves throughout my weekend walkabout: from the Varsity Letters presentation, and having the Godfather recognize me, despite my pedo-stache. To the glorious $15 all-you-can-drink brunch on Saturday morning. It was my first time visiting Brethren since he graduated college, and my first time the Big Apple sans parents. Suffice to say, we stayed up past our bed time. In Summation: the first three days of my trip were some of the happiest times of my life.

The Bad: During the four hours my car sat parked outside MacAfee Stadium in Oakland on Sunday thieves made off with my camera and my best friend's laptop. This put a rather large damper on the whole experience. Raider Nation was surprisingly not hostile; the weather was gorgeous, the stadium was adequate...But that town can burn to the fucking ground and I wouldn't shed two tears. It's filled with the worst scum of the world and for the record: None in our party was wearing visible Panthers apparel, at no point did we taunt or talk trash. We were as docile as hindu cows. We respected the fabled hatred and did nothing to call attention to ourselves, and still the Shithole That Is Oakland struck like a fiend in the night. I doubt I'll ever go to Oakland again, and it's probably for the best.

The Ugly:Anyone else watch that game? Oof. Watching Jake Delhomme pass would've made me physically ill, were it not for the power and the glory that is Jose Cuervo Margarita Shakers. Two per quarter is a healthy pace. It speaks volumes that when we all herded down to smoking section, and the usher for our section politely said "thanks for coming out" as if we were leaving for the day. We all realized when we returned to our seats that, indeed, most Raider fans leave at halftime. It was adorable in a really, really sad way.

Jake Delhomme can try and have another game as bad as that, but I doubt he'd live to see the post-game press conference. That was damn near unforgivable. As a wiser man than myself once said, "that's one."

Two last notes: it's nice to see Peppers step things up, albeit against Oakland, that's not terribly difficult to do. And lastly: there's a chance Duante Culpeper will be a smarter QB than Marques Tuiasosopo, so, y'know....be ready.

Onward now to another mockingly mighty foe: the winless Detroit Lions. I guarantee if we play like we did yesterday, they will beat us. C'mon Cats, lets not fuck this one up too bad.

Week 9: The Lovely Bye Week

2008-11-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

Brethren: With the Carolina Panthers sitting Week 9 of the 2008 NFL Season out with a bye, I took advantage and headed South to return to the glorious place of Charlottesville, Virginia, for UVA’s Homecoming weekend. I went to Homecoming last year and saw an underrated ‘Hoos team take down a spunky UConn team, and while Homecoming is a good a weekend as ever to watch Virginia play football; this year, I couldn’t get a ticket to actually go inside the stadium to watch the game.

Not being able to “get” a ticket is a little misleading, though, I suppose. In reality, I was in Charlottesville to party in FantasyLand, reunite with some good friends, and attend the various glorious tailgates that define a Saturday in Virginia. It had been far too long, with watching too many football games in New York City bars, and college football and all its pageantry is meant to be experienced in live and living color.

And it was Halloween on Friday. I had to play my part as Jimmy Hart, the Mouth of the South, as about 15 brothers of my fraternity class were attending the party as Early 90s WWF/WCW wrestlers. Mullets, face paint, outrageous facial hair, and neon were on display, and the Cap’t and Mammy even made an appearance at the party. Grand times all around.

Oh, and those ever-strengthening Florida Gators exacted their fullest revenge on the dastardly Bulldawgs of Georgia in the World’s Largest Cocktail party. The Gators seem quite likely to play in Atlanta for the SEC Championship, and for all the talk of the Big 12 this year, I refuse to believe any team that wins the SEC shouldn’t have a shot at the national title.

Perhaps a response to the Bobcats preview, desde:

Brethren (cont’d): Sorry I missed out on the Bobcats season preview from Nacho this past week, so here are some quick thoughts as we’re sitting at 1-2 after the first three games:

- Nacho hates Larry Brown; thinks he’s too old-school and the wrong fit for this team. He claims he won’t play the young-ins, to which I would like to respond: who on this team isn’t considered a “young-in”? Our Big 4 veterans, J-Rich, Mek, RayRay, GForce, have never reached an All-Star game collectively, and are all relatively young. They certainly all seem like they could all benefit from someone who can teach the game of basketball. Worried LB won’t play Jared Dudley? He’s already spot-starting over a woefully out of shape Sean May. Worried he won’t play Morrison? The Great Mustachio is somewhat resembling the scorer he was in college at Gonzaga – which may be just enough to get some trade value out him and try to find some frontcourt help. Who else is there that’s young and not being played?

- To your point about the draft: it isn’t LB making those decisions – that’d be Mr. Jordan. Yes, LB may have loudly stated he needs more talent at point guard and veered us away from a Brook Lopez with the 9th pick, but that’s because he understands that, especially in today’s game, having steady field generals to lead a team is the only way you can compete if you don’t have a mega-star. There’s a reason the same Pistons team LB turned into a Championship team hasn’t made it past the Eastern Conference Finals since he left.

- Hustle, defense, and moving the ball to find open shooters is the only way this team is going to overcome its very obvious deficiencies in the front court. Mek is a fine power forward/center – but isn’t and probably never will be at an elite frontcourt player. Sean May is woefully out of basketball shape. Nazr Mohammad, Ryan Hollins, and the Frenchie aren’t worth much more than the 6 fouls they each represent. It’s a woeful frontcourt, which means the GForce at the 4 Experiment may continue, much to all of our chagrins.

The thing is, who’s better at getting players to hustle, play defense, and move the ball than Larry Brown?

Yes, this roster isn’t going to wow you on paper. But if J-Rich can continue his solid play from the second-half of last season, LB finds ways to unleash the athleticism of GForce, and Ray-Ray steps it up, we have the makings of a team that can maximize its scrappy play and steal some ballgames on nights where we don’t expect it. It’s far from Championship Basketball, but it’s the best shot we have at turning around the MJ Era.

Eli's Coming

2008-10-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

Nacho: The Larry Brown era began tonight. Ugh. Bill Simmons doesn't think much of the Cats this year, again. Last year he predicted 25 wins and we got 32, the season before that we got 33. Damnit, we were on the rise!

Then we went and brought in Larry Brown.

The Cleveland LeBrons torched us good in our season opener. I gotta be honest, I'm not expecting us to really advance under the wise tutelage of a man who hates playing young players, and already fucked up our draft. Lets just say I remain an devout Bobcats fan, and I hope Adam Morrison has some sort of reverse Sampson effect and becomes the player he shoulda been, now that he's dropped his locks.

Brethren would probably disagree, but them's the breaks.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Git dat kandy!

Week 8: Character Win

2008-10-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Sorry to butt in here but I can't let this wait: Can we all agree that to henceforth call the Panthers head coach "The Silver Fox"? This seems like a no-brainer. The man's got the management style of Roger Sterling, they share a last name, and with John Hamm's surprisingly good performance on SNL, I think it fits perfectly. Sports Guy, Deadspin, FanHouse, MJD: let's spread this like a staph infection.

Brethren: What a phenomenal weekend all-around. We're here to talk about the Carolina Panthers' gutsy, come-from-14-points-down win, but I gotta start with the observation that this weekend kicked some serious ass. The Gators and the Wahoos both had strong wins on Saturday; I spent Saturday night with Penn State fans as we watched JoePa duke out a huge win on the road, and today: the Carolina Panthers overcame some early apathy, silly coaching decisions, and a vaunted Buzzsaw passing attack to snatch a 27-23 victory.

This win would not have been possible without the amazing Steve Smith and an unsung performance by DeAngelo Williams, so we'll start there. The Panthers clearly play better on offense when they've got a sense of urgency and know they need to get the ball to their best playmaker, Smitty. What bewilders me a bit is that it still will take them a while to get the ball to 89, but when they finally come around to it, he does what he does best -- make big plays.

Many may say that the Panthers stole this victory from the Buzzsaw or that the Cards shot themselves in the collective foot, but what I saw was a Carolina Panthers team that kept fighting and pulled out a huge win to close out the first half of the season at 6-2 and alone at the top of the incredibly-solid NFC South. It was a worthy victory and one that makes the bye week that much more glorious.

More individual thoughts via the Brethren patented bulleted thoughts desde..

Brethren (cont'd): Some happy and not happy thoughts from the game.

- Jeebus, John Fox lacks basic sense when it comes to end-of-the-first-half clock management. Let's review and think about the logic behind coaching decisions. The Panthers defense stops the Cardinals on a third down with 1:45 left in the first half and all three of their timeouts remaining. Everyone knew the Buzzsaw would be setting up a field goal, yet the Panthers don't use their first timeout to stop the clock. Instead, the clock runs down to 1:16 as the Cards set up the FG unit, then Fox calls timeout to "ice" the kicker. Forget the fact that the Cardinals coaching staff then made its own questionable decision to fake the FG, which backfires, but I still have no clue why John Fox calls that timeout at 1:16 instead of 1:45.

He's basically saying he'd rather give his offense 1:16 and 2 timeouts to march 80 yards than 1:45 and 2 timeouts. How that makes even basic common sense is beyond me. Let's move on before my head explodes trying to follow the intense, gray-haired man's logic.

- Maybe the most impressive drive of the game was the final one to kill the clock. Two huge third down conversions to keep the Arizona passing attack on the sideline: the first on a huge Dwayne Jarrett catch as he got his clock cleaned, and the second where DeAngelo took a patented John Fox draw 15 yards to convert a 3-and-13. That whole drive made me nervous, and when the game was on the line, the Cats came through.

- Chaz Johnson, welcome to the big boys table. It's one thing to do your thang to a Chiefs JV team in a blowout; it's quite another to do it during a big game against a top offense like Arizona's. Well played, sir.

- Moose: that's your one. Don't ever fucking drop a touchdown pass like that again. You get one.

- It seemed like Jake spent the first half with more energy concerned towards the officiating than playing football. Glad to see that change in the second half.

- I'm feeling pretty good at 6-2, in first place in the NFC South. The season's only half done, but we're putting ourselves in good position to be playing in January. I head down to Charlottesville for Homecoming/Halloween/a four day weekend as the Cats take their week off.

I may not be heard from again until November -- be good, sportsfans, and remember to enjoy life. I discovered that again this weekend and, damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

Nacho: What a win. The Carolina Panthers are atop the highly competitive NFC South, UVA's atop the ACC, and the Godfather owes Nacho a drink.

I find it odd opposing teams haven't solved the Fade-Route-To-Steve-Smith Technique yet, but hey, I'll take it. The Cats are undefeated at home through five games. This is pretty unheard of , and I'm not gonna lie: it feels good. The Panthers enter in their bye week with a morale boosting win, and there's an off chance I'll change my return flight from visiting Brethren in Week 10 to San Fran so I can attend the Oakland game.

Wish us luck, blogosphere!

Week 7: You're On, Leitch!

2008-10-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Sorry for the late post; the Panthers systematic dismantling of the New Orleans Saints was just so impressive. And impressive has become the norm this season. The SportsBrethren haven't grown lazy, we're both hard at work at the day jobs, and this Panther team is a great one to get drunk to.

Jake looked great, our D stood their ground on not one, but two fourth downs, and in the end the Cats were atop the NFC South, along with the Pirates. We host a team we beat in their own house last year. I'd bet good money they're looking to do the same to us, and I hear someone might've had their jaw rewired, just to play us. This has all the makings of a game where we sleep on the visiting squad and end up getting embarrassed in front of our home fans. Beware, and be awesome, Cats.

Here and now, I make a bet. Before I do, everyone should know: I never gamble unless I'm certain I'm going to win. Anyway, here's the bet:

I'll be in New York City visiting Brethren for the Varsity Letters series with Big Daddy Drew and Buzz, November 7th thru 9th. I bet here & now the princely sum of one beer that the Carolina Panthers will defeat the Buzzsaw That Is The Arizona Cardinals, to you, Will Leitch.

If you're not in a wedding in Buffalo that weekend, that is.

Beer's in your court, Dawg.

Of course, if you wanna go all Mayors-Of-Super-Bowl-Teams, I'll put a pulled pork sandwich and one surviving national bank against whatever rural Illinois is known for (manners?), but in all honesty, beer's fine.

a video of a drunk pig, after....

Week 6: The Suck

2008-10-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Brethren: This week's listless game on the road against Tampa was incredibly frustrating. The Panthers lost 27-3, but the worst part was that they never once seemed like they were in the game. It was gut-wrenching to watch, as the Panthers seemed sluggish, slow, ill-prepared, and like they simply didn't give a fuck.

The team is trying to spin it as just another loss -- that losing by 24 counts just as much as losing by 1. While that's certainly the right attitude for my team to have, it does not at all convey my emotions while watching this team two days ago.

My true anger has mostly subsided, as I'm doing the tried and true, "ignore-stomach-let the insides simmer" treatment that all great Cloud men employ, so that this bottled-up choler just festers inside, until one day, it'll come violently spilling out when aggressively drinking Grandpa's Old Cough Medicine.

Besides, I've got a full report from the Cap'n that's full of venom and froth. The jump'll contain that, some odd musings from me, and a report from Nacho -- who was at a wedding this weekend and didn't catch the game at all. Lucky him.

Follow me. Follow me to freedom...

Cap'n Pappy: OK here goes: In a weekend when my college teams (UVA and the Gators) refused to go down, the Panthers were pitiful. In the case of both college teams, the first half was well played. After the half, both teams' opponents made a run out of the chute. However, in both cases the Cavaliers and Gators shook off the pressure and instead of playing not to lose, they got aggressive and gutted it out to prevail.

Now we come to the Panthers. This game was so "shades of the last 2 years" in so many ways. The Panthers have fallen prey to playing the entire game the way they play the first series of downs. After a smokin' game against the Chiefs (yes, they are as bad as beef BBQ), they came to the Pirate Ship with more offensive weapons, a suffocating defense, and special teams vastly improved over last year. Whereupon, somehow Smitty got lost out there. Jake threw one way while his receivers broke the other. We got another freaking punt blocked!!!! And we continue to get motion penalties on offense.

In a mirror image nightmare reversal of my college teams, the Panthers come back at the end of the first half only to throw an interception, turning an almost certain less than 7 point deficit into a 2 touchdown deficit. We then come out from the halftime and promptly get punted onto the 1 yard line. Whereupon we run 3 times into the line and we're out. Thankfully, our end zone punt wasn't blocked. After this series, we were notably silent. Where was the 1-2 punch of DeAngelo and Stewart, the bestial defense of just last week, and the special teams that gave the Chiefs the back of their hand? They mailed it in.

Note to John Fox: "It is what it is" as a response to this week's Pirate Ship showing is not going to cut it. It is time to expect more from these professionals or bench/fine them.

You miss a block that costs points: go sit!

You flinch on the line and turn a 3d & 4 into a 3d & 9: go sit!

You arm tackle or try to bump somebody without wrapping them up or stripping them: go sit!

It is high time to earn the big bucks. Your fans are tired of choosing yard work over the second half of a Panthers' game. Out. Pappy

Brethren: I wasn't fuckin around. The Cap'n brung it. Just a few more musings, then perhaps Nacho will do a "Off the Beaten Path" post regaling us all with the wonderful world of weddings:

- Anyone else notice that the head ref for the Tampa-Carolina game gave "the shocker" whenever indicating third down? If we had won this game, I would have reported it with glee. Now, just seems odd.

- My good buddy and Bobcat employee, Eugene, is ready to patent his well-crafted "Back Up QB Theory" -- namely, that every time a team switches to its back-up QB the week leading up to the Panthers game, our Cats are guaranteed to lose that game. It's happened in both of our losses this year. It happened last year when the Falcons came to Charlotte and promoted John Joseph Harrington. It happened a few years back when Tony Romo got his first shot at starting. If this weren't such a hurtful theory on my Sunday emotional state, I'd be singing the praises of Eugene for recognizing the pattern.

- It's almost as if young Eugene's Theory is somehow connected to the fact that our coach is notorious for being stubborn. Fuck it, I said I wasn't gonna get angry, but here it comes. Honestly: down 14-0 early in the first quarter doesn't change your game plan at all, John Fox? You still think plowing head for 3 and outs will "establish" the running game. Our biggest gains on offense came in the fourth quarter, down 3 possessions, when Jake started running a somewhat urgent/no-huddle offense. And by then, our offense was so lulled to sleep, the receivers (Jarrett, Rosario, and yes, Steve Smith) all dropped passed. Shit, John Fox! Somedays establishing the run early can pay dividends. But when it's halftime, you're down 14 points, and nothing's going, it may be time to spice things up. Even the supposed ultra-conservative DAN HENNING has figured that out with his Wildcat offense down in Miami. Fuck.

- That anger didn't even come close to matching the Cap'n's. He does have a few years of the "bottling anger" routine on me.

- Anger over. Moving on to more important divisional home game against New Orleans. With a surprisingly competitive NFC South, it's time to take back some control.

Week 5: Playing the JV

2008-10-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Brethren: I witnessed the Carolina Panthers absolute and utter destruction of the Kansas City Chiefs in live and living color from Section 539 in Bank of America Stadium this early afternoon -- and let me tell you, it was nearly unbelievable how thoroughly the Panthers beat another team from the National Football League.

It's not that I think the Panthers are the best team ever and the Chiefs are the worst, but that 34-0 drubbing clearly showed that on certain days, the Panthers can do whatever they want on a football field. The defense set the tone from their very first series, forcing the Chiefs into negative yards and a punt. The running game then set the table, opening huge holes and cutback opportunities for DeAngelo Williams and Johnathan Stewart. That then opened up the passing game, getting Smitty involved and unleashing Moose on a slant that went for 47 yards and a TD.

It was as complete a game as I've seen over the last few years. The game honestly reminded me of the Giants and Bears playoff games from the 2005 year, except back then, that was just Smitty dominating opponents. Today, it was the defense, priding themselves on getting that goose-egg; the running game, controlling the clock and breaking off big plays, and Jake, stewarding an efficient throat-slashing of a clearly inferior opponent.

Today was brutal. Today was beautiful. Today was hopefully the very beginning of a long march towards February. It's the kind of game that lets you start dreaming big as you board your plane from Charlotte to New York. It lets you think, "I wonder how this team would fare against someone its own size."

Today, the motherfucking Carolina Panthers put their stamp on a game, and even if it was against a team that looked like a JV squad, it doesn't happen often in the NFL.

More musings, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): There's really not much more to say, but here are a few patented bulleted thoughts:

- The platoon system at running back is certainly working. Williams had his big game we've all been waiting for, but you have to recognize that having Stewart to spell him and keep the ground game working had to keep him sharp and in shape to bust out the big plays.

- Not enough can be said about the defense. Utterly dominant today. From Pep and the quick front four, to the ball-hawking LBs, to the white-on-rice DBs, it was a full unit effort. Quite impressive to watch.

- Being at the stadium definitely let you in on some things you don't catch on TV. Like the way Pep waves his hand at the crowd behind the end zone, egging on them to scream louder and taunting the opposing huddle. That was cool to see.

- And the TopCats are hot, even when they're not doing their lesbian things.

Nacho's got more, but onwards and upwards to a divisional rival I truly despise next week as the Cats travel to Tampa to face the Bucs. If today was about taking care of business early and often, next week will definitely be about taking control of the division. Let's do it.

Nacho: I wore a cape and dressed a stuffed monkey in a full Carolina Panthers uniform to the bar yesterday. The Panthers' surgical removal of the heart from the still-beating chest cavities of the Chiefs was a fun one to watch as a fan. I enjoyed swapping "DeAngelo Williams is frustrating a lot of people on their fantasy benches" barbs and eventually spent my day focused on the Redskins/Iggles game.

The Panthers rolled, and we eventually put Josh "Chainsaw" McCown under center. I led a rousing chorus of "Hail to the Redskins" after every score. Heck, Nick Goings saw significant play time. It was a great day of one o'clock games, and another middling day of 4pms.

Now, of course, the real season begins. We're through almost a third of the season, and we played one team with a winning record. Tampa Bay, again, is a hard team to read, but they seem to be squeezing out victories left and right. Everybody's talking about the NFC East and how good they are but I think they're gonna beat each other up so much, it's gonna be the other team with a bye week in the first round whose most dangerous. Mark my words.

Onward to that place that has a fucking Pirate Ship attached to it.

Week 4: Definition of Comfortable Win

2008-10-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Brethren: Last Sunday the Carolina Panthers played the closest team to them in distance, the Atlanta Falcons, a team that was a surprising 2-1 coming in. I don't like the Falcons, but I'm more annoyed when the Panthers lose to them than anything. Not mad; not raging; just annoyed and disappointed.

Luckily for me, I was just simply content on Sunday. The Panthers controlled the game in all facets and even though the score was close until the third quarter, I never felt a real fear that the Panthers wouldn't prevail.

It was a comfortable win, and it was very delectable to go about my Sunday knowing that I could check "Panthers beat Falcons" of my things to do on a busy Sunday.

More musings looking back, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): Some quick patented bulleted thoughts:

- Moose. Sweet, sweet Moose. He really is better the second time around. I love the guy.

- Jake. Efficient, fiery Jake. He put up a gaudy good QB rating and kept the game in control.

- BeasTon and Thomas Davis. Ball-hawking and ferocious BeasTon and Davis. This duo of LBs is becoming increasingly fun to watch. The fly to the ball; BeasTon led the game in tackles, Davis had the most out-of-nowhere great tackle, busting through the line in the second half for a six-yard loss of Michael Turner.

- Even the problems of the Atlanta game seemed harmless: a bobbled punt by Baker leading to a field goal, and too many penalties. They were cute problems, almost.

I never felt the game was in doubt, which is how I like my Sundays to be. After a hectic two days of the week, I'm back home in Charlotte, gearing up to watch the Chefs (great googily moogily) battle the Cats on Sunday. I'll be doing my rowdy thing in Section 539.

Onwards and upwards to 4-1!

Nacho: For the first time in two seasons, I voluntarily spent a Sunday where the Panthers played away from The Bar, and not in a stadium. I traveled to Little Mexico, with it's 3 HD tvs in the living room, all of ample 50"+ size. The food was delectable (BBQ Chicken sliders on Hawaiian sweet bread), and the banter was lively.

The game started off with a bang, a Pick Six on the first series. That was called back. Because of Eddie Hoc. Fuck and no. Either way, it was a good omen for this new viewing experience. The game progressed, we kept a weary eye on the New Orleans game, and feasted like fatted Romans.

As Brethren said, it was a comfortable win with some cute flaws. I'm starting to get my dander up about these Tight Ends and their False Starts. It's week 4 fellas, less reign this shit in before we have to play some one good.

The Chiefs are coming off a startling upset against the Broncos, but I don't fear them too much. They were desperate for their first win, and could have residual swagger. Nothing fires up a team like pissing off someone else's fans in their own home. Trust me, I was in San Diego for week one.

So I hope the Cats stay focused, I hope the continue to platoon the backfield and make Moose a vital part of the offense. BeasTon looks like he's gonna make some involuntary manslaughter by Week 8. We're in the thick of a homestand that should progressively rile up the Southerners across this great nation of ours. We're gonna need that good mojo for when we play away from Charlotte in the 2nd half of the season.

Sorry for the late post, but seriously, that was about as boring as a Panther win can be. I'll take it. One last note: Little Mexico resident Ricky looked over his fantasy stats and announced, "We need to get Smithy involved in the offense more." Within the next six seconds Steve Smith had connected with Jake Delhomme and God used the juke-stick to spin move around the Atlanta defensive backfield. Well played, Ricky. Well played indeed.

Week 3: Snap Back to Reality

2008-09-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

Brethren: The Carolina Panthers came back down to Earth yesterday and I'm still not quite sure what to make of it. Losing to a desperate 0-2 Vikings team on the road, against a pass rush that looked remarkable, I suppose I'm not terribly upset. I was yesterday afternoon, but it wasn't as if I watched the game and thought, "Damn, we should have won that game." The Vikings outplayed the Panthers, stole the momentum late in the second quarter and never gave it back.

It was incredibly frustrating to watch the Vikings reel off 20 straight and see little to no fight out of the Panthers. Yes, if a few things had gone our way -- if the Jonathan Stewart kick return isn't negated, if John Fox doesn't call a timeout right before we block a field goal to keep it to a one possession game -- we may have had an opportunity to do the Cardiac Cats thing. But there were also a terrible amount of mental mistakes -- 11 penalties, an ineffective offensive line, and letting the Vikings uncork an eleven minute drive that spanned the second half of the third quarter into the fourth -- that truly made me realize Sunday was not our day.

The implications? Hopefully not too much. Four of the next five are at home (I'm going to the Kansas City game in two weeks!), but shit needs to get figured out, that's for sure. The Falcons always give us trouble, no matter their record, and right now, their record says they're just as good as us. I don't believe that, but I do believe we're in for a fight come Sunday.

More thoughts, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): My patented bulleted thoughts regarding the Cats first loss of the 2008 season:

- 1st play of the game for the Cats: completion to Steve Smith. That just seemed right. Too bad Jake couldn't get it to him more as the day went on.

- Jake claims that Smitty was streaking and wide open on the play he fumbled on right before the first half, and that he was gearing up to hit him. I'd like to believe him, but it just makes me angry. I kinda agree with Fowler and wonder how he didn't see Winfield coming.

- Two ominous signs from the week that looking back at I wish I could have taken more heed of: a) The call I received from Chops where he mentioned the last time the Panthers played a back-up coming for his first game of the year, Tony Romo busted us up something fierce and b) Me acting like I know when football lines are absurd.

- I've been to Minnesota more times in 2008 than I've been to Charlotte. I didn't take the pre-game tequila shot with Pam (I did the first two weeks and we won). And still, if anyone wants to blame me for this loss, I'd point them to J-Lew, who watched his first Panthers game of the year yesterday. Silly J-Lew.

Nacho: I sat in The Bar in front of our designated, prime real-estate seats to watch the Panthers play football on Sunday morning, and a funny thing happened. They didn't.

All week I taunted downtrodden Bears fans, exalting how insignificant I thought this Sunday's game was. They're starting Gus Frerotte and won't have [a 100%] Adrian Peterson! Brian McKinnie's still suspended and a rookie's going up against Pep! I might not be too embarrassed to wear his jersey! I said.

Then I wore my Panthers undershirt for the first time this season, watched my first game without my Goose (Ricky, a transplanted diehard Cardiac Cat lover, spent the day of the Emmys at Leonardo DiCaprio's house filming celebrity Obama endorsements. Ricky's priorities are incredibly out of whack. He wrote jealously...) and I totally forgot about Jared Allen. Apparently, the Panthers did the same thing. Not film Obama endorsements. Forget about Jared Allen.

Brethren covered the game too well for me to talk about it, so I'll just say this:

After Johnathan Stewart scored his third touchdown in 2 weeks (while remaining on my fantasy bench) I picked up the Panther bucket I had and beat it ferociously as my velcro Sir Purr hung from my neck. After an appropriate amount of elation, a young woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder. She stated simply, "My uncle played for the Panthers, and I gotta say, you rock. I miss good ol' Panther fans."

"Whose your uncle?" I asked.

"Rodney Peete."

Had I my digital camera, a lithograph, or the syrup-based artistic skills of Jean-Michel Basquiat I would've done something to keep that moment forever. We talked about how without Peete's guidance, there would be no Jake Delhomme and how meaningful and significant his time there was. I don't remember her name because I was drunk on power and Bud Light by then, but she was a Bengals fan and a pretty cool chick to say the least.

Anyway, I hear the Panthers are playing next week, so that's what I'm focusing on. The Dirty Birds look decent this year, but the guy who traditionally beats the shit out of us won't be starting this week (pulled hamstring. Also, he's in prison.) so there's a chance we can pull this out. It'd be a solid win and a great start to a semi-home stand.

The Return to College Football

2008-09-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Brethren: It's Saturday morning and college football is beckoning. I haven't had college football beckon me in quite some time. Between the Carolina Panthers giggly-good start at 2-0 (really, we're 3.5 underdogs to the Vikings? With craziness like that, I should just bet on football to make a living), my job, the suck that is Al Groh and Virginia football, combined with a general lack of epic-ness from college football, my Saturdays have been scarce on beckoning.

That changes today.

It mainly changes because the Southeastern Conference has a huge billing today. The Gators go to Knoxville to play the Vols and the two Tigers of Auburn and LSU do their thang in the evening. I am geared up to go to a Gators bar the same way I did last year for the Gators-Vols game; unfortunately, the Cap't and Mammy won't be at the game like last year, but it's still ramping up to be a romp a la the Gators 59-20 win in Gainesville in 2007. Percy Harvin is returning to the line-up and feeling better than ever, the Gators take on their first SEC test, and the Florida boys treat Knoxville like it's Momma's second house.

Yes, college football has come a'beckoning. And with the weather taking a delectable turn to cool breezes and sunshine, today feels like a fine day to return the call.

More musings de college football desde

Brethren: I am truly fired up about this Saturday. The SEC has reaffirmed its dominance over any other pansy conference in all of college football land, and today will be a testament to that. The conference has 5 of the top 10 teams in college football! And today, the consensus #4 team will take its show on the road and show Fat Phil what good football in the SEC East is all about.

Perhaps Nacho will check in, but he lives in a city where everyone worships USC, and despite their demolition of UVA and Ohio State, I'm just not buying what USC is selling. They play in the Pac-10; they're not the best team in the US of A. The top team in the country will be an SEC team, like the past two years, and that's that.

Saturday, I welcome your beckons. Let's get it on.

Week 2: Rock N Roll

2008-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Anyone who read our Panthers preview is probably smugly smiling today, and probably a little richer. Which, I hear, could prove better for the ol' wallet. I'm not advocating gambling on sports, but it just feels a little safer these days.

I returned to my Panther headquarters out in Hollywood this weekend. The most ADD environment one can possibly watch football: Big Wangs. 42 flat screens showing every game being played. We camped out between Lions fans, Colts fans and a few shifty-looking Bears fans.

The game started, we ate humble pie, things looked about as good as they have at home for the past couple years. By halftime I was on the receiving end of some pretty pointed barbs and hilarious insults. I chomped on my barbeque chicken wings and smiled with sauce in my beard: the game is sixty minutes long, kids. Why does every team in the NFL not get this? We're the Panthers. We don't play for three quarters, we play the whole damn game.

Anyway, two more towers of beer and a cheese pizza later the Panthers had eked out another victory, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. There truly isn't a more anti-climactic ending to a pro game than four knees taken, but hey, a W is a W.

For the record, I'm getting a ton of de ja vu recently: in 2003 there was a shitty, war-mongering president named Bush in office and no one could beat the Panthers in the fourth quarter. Welcome back, Cardiac Cats.

and now, for something completely similar...

Nacho cont'd: Jonathan Stewart taught me a valuable lesson about not starting him in my fantasy leagues, and I have a feeling the phrase "Pass intended for Mushin Muhammed" was not said over the PA system nearly as much as last week. The turning point in the game, the moment that made me turn to all those probably-felonious Bears fans and say, "Oh dear, you don't have a chance, now," was when Jake was spearheaded by a Bear defensive back, sprang up, threw off his helmet and started pounding his chest. Minutes later Beason made a spectacular tackle and started slapping his own chest. These two unbridled displays of enthusiasm and testosterone sealed the deal for the Cats.

One last note: Darius Rucker sang the national anthem yesterday. The two other previous times he's sung it, the Panthers have made the post season. These are the things that matter, people.

Brethren: Week Two didn't have the heart-stopping drama like the Week One victory over San Diego did. But it certainly was a roller coaster, and it took me though all the highs and lows of a Carolina Panthers win. I'm physically and emotionally exhausted, and all I did was scream at a TV and drink beer made from the Rockies.

It was an awesome comeback win -- done without our best player, the suspended Steve Smith. I am downright giddy we've got him coming back next week; as Jake said, "we've got our rocket back."

And now to the Brethren patented bulleted thoughts:
- The first half was downright sloppy. I really don't understand the outrageous amount of false starts. I seem to remember at least six. Not cool. Not cool.

- We need a nickname for Jonathan Stewart. Two weeks in, and he's nickname-worthy. I love that he has stated his goal of trying to become the "greatest running back in NFL history." That's badass. And not even remotely outrageous.

- Moose was huge today, and has been a big reason this team has gotten out to a 2-0 record without Steve Smith. What a veteran, a leader. I love the guy. Feels right to have him back.

- The Cap't bought a BeasTON black jersey today. It was an awesome sign for another banner day from the second-year defensive stalwart.

- Chris Harris, at it again with the forcing of the fumble. He is the awesome. Rock.

- Minnesota scares me a bit, as they'll be a desperate 0-2. But fuck that, they should be scared we're getting Steve Smith back. Rock.

Week 1: The Start of Domination

2008-09-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Nacho: I am currently sporting the most ridiculous red neck at this moment. It's in the shape of a V-neck. I stood/leaned in the first row at the 35 yard line behind the Panther bench. At a quiet moment I shrieked a complete sentence to Chris Harris, something about "acknowledge my existence!!!" He stuck out both hands as he rode on the stationary bike, and gave me a double-thumbs up. I'll be back in a bit...

Brethren: Wow.

Holy shit, what a first week win. Going into the Whale's Vagina, not a many pundits gave the Panthers of Carolina a chance to win the first game of the season. That didn't matter. Nacho was at the game; therefore, we had a fighting chance. And Jeebus, did we give the Chargers a game.

Much will be said about the heroics of Jake, Dante Rosario, Chris Harris, and the two-minute offense. And at the end of day, they won the game in those last seconds. But what I watched was not a close, two-point win. I saw a team that dominated a ridiculously talented AFC team on the road. I saw a team go up 9-7 at the half when they should have been up 28-7. I saw a team that looked confident. And dominant.

I saw the Carolina Panthers.

Brethren (cont'd): Smokey aka Nacho was at the game, so I'm not sure I can add much more. Here are my patented bulleted thoughts:

- I watched the game in a bar in Murray Hill in Manhattan that consisted of many Panthers fans. We had an awesome crowd.

- I jumped up and down in men's arms after that last-second touchdown. I was so angry that Jake didn't call a timeout when the clock read 0:07. But then he threw a slant to Moose, and called time with 0:02 seconds left. He then did his business, caught Dante's eyes, threw him the ball, and won the game. I was no longer angry. I was estatic.

- Honestly, we won that game several times. The defense produced a TD; they kept LDT under 100 yards; we just couldn't get into the end zone until the end there. We should have won this game going away.

- That said, we beat a consensus AFC playoff team. On the road. As I stated on Deadspin, we are the Carolina Panthers and the NFL has been put on notice.

Nacho: I'm fairly certain I sat closer to a pro football game than anyone in my family ever has. But before all that, I had to get to San Diego. Ricky & I hopped on the 6:33am subway to downtown LA, jumped into the Surfliner to San Diego, and sat next to a old acquaintance we'd met once before: an original Top Cat Panther cheerleader.

We arrived at the Power Party outside Qualcomm Stadium around 10:30 and I made a bee line for the tri-tip BBQ hoagie. At this point, we were about eight beers in, and we were welcomed by the pretty swell Chargers fans. Everyone talked about Brady, & we decided to take a walk of cojones through the tailgates. We were loudly, and rowdily heckled on all sides by drunk Chargers fans. It was as intimidating as the walk Ethan Hawke does through the Jungle in "Training Day".

We found our seats, but moved immediately to the first row, leaning over the railing, and commenced shrieking like banshees. We did not stop drinking, heckling, antagonizing and going out of our daggum minds for three straight quarters. The weather was perfect, the fans were evenly split between really cool people, and fans who made decent villains.

As the 4th quarter swung to and fro, and the Chargers scored with about two and a half minutes, my commentary to the crowd was "But did they score too soon?" The guy with face paint and a cape cocked a worried eyebrow. As Biscuit Defender drove the boys downfield and the clock kept ticking, John Fox didn't make one misstep. This was one of the specific situations in which John Fox had been shitting the bed in recent seasons, and he nailed it.

From my vantage point, I saw that the snap was high, Jake's pump fake fooled me, and then, in one glorious moment, I saw Rosario leap up and nary a Charger was at the same height. As soon as his fingers touched the ball I tuned, ripped my Peppers jersey off, and started waving it around my head like a helicopter. In times of great joy, I revert to the biggest stereotype I can.

The Chargers fans were nowhere to be found, so we led the Panther fans in a chorus of chants and cheers. Walking out of the stadium we yelled multiple instigating phrases, such as "We can't spell, but we win ball games." and, "That's why they make the game sixty minutes, and not fifty-nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds." We were clever.

The trolley system had some trouble, y'know, running but we eventually made our way onto the train home. Where we slept with smiles upon our faces. For a day, we were kings.

One last note: did you know that Sam Cassell would be ejected from NFL games for doing his "you got no mah-bulls" dance from Major League 2? Myself and some Chargers did the dance, and the cops came up and reprimanded my cohort Ricky for it. Thanks, Goodell.

Soundtracks for the Day:

Nacho: The theme from Mercenaries 2 "Oh No You Didn't"
Brethren: "More Time" by Needtobreathe.

And Heeeere We Go.

2008-09-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Brethren: My brother, aka Nacho aka Smokey aka the most hilarious guy I know, just sent me that text message. He's en route to the Whale's Vagina as we speak, and I'm waking up, trying to understand why my head and right fist hurt, but not caring. I have a bar to get to; Smokey has a game to go to.

Because that time is here: the Carolina Panthers play a motherfucking football game today.

And this time, it counts. See you after the Cats do their thang.

Rocking the Vote: Intro Music For The Candidates - UPDATE

2008-08-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Ignoring all the other shit lets examine John McCain's choice for Vice President, shall we.

Bottom line: she's a dead ringer for the stripper/teacher from "Varsity Blues" (NSFW) and should be treated as such. Pedro?

When Sarah Palin was introduced and walked out to the theme of "Rudy", one of the seminal pieces of film composition, she raised the bar for candidate intros, and thusly, I will set forth to re-appropriate new music for the others, after...

(Editor's note: a loyal friend and reader reminded me that, outside of movie themes, the absolute best intro music for Barack would be the Chicago Bulls Searching Spotlight theme. Also, it turns out Sarah Palin's high school nickname was Sarah Barracuda, which is coincidentally my porn name.)

Nacho cont'd: Damn, man....Rudy. She really swung for the fences on this one. Luckily, there are equally epic scores to choose from. Let us begin...

JOHN McCAIN It won't pump up a crowd, it won't ignite passions in the hearts of many, but dangit, when I see John McCain walk out onto that convention floor I'm thinking the theme from Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven." Eastwood was mayor of Carmel and seems to enjoy him some Republican politics, so it just makes sense.

ALTERNATE: Considering McCain's military career, he should march out onstage to the whistle theme from "Stripes"

BARACK OBAMA: Considering how epic his entire campaign has been, there's really only one option, the launch sequence from "Armaggeddon". It's so over-the-top, it just fits. Besides, when the asteroids attack I'd much rather have Obama with his finger on the cellphone to Bruce Willis, than McCain. Obama's a celebrity, so they probably Twitter one another, like, every day.

ALTERNATE: Another launch sequence, this one from "Apollo 13". Just as moving as Trevor Rabin's work.

JOE BIDEN: I want Biden to be a little more downbeat in his badassery, so I'm suggesting the theme from "Pleasantville" by Randy Newman. Check out this piece around the 1:30 mark. E. PIC.

ALTERNATE: Barring the soft tones of Newman, I say kick it up a notch and go with the theme from "The Rock" because it's pretty much the only score Hanz Zimmer has written in the past 15 years.

SARAH PALIN: She struck gold with the "Rudy" theme, but just for shits and giggles I'd like to see her come out to the main score from "True Romance". It's seems like it would be uber-cute.

Here's the video to her intro:

I welcome your suggestions in the comments.

High-Falutin' in Flushing: A Night at the US Open

2008-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Brethren: If you're ever going to attend a pro event in one of the country club sports, there has been one thing I have learned: you need to go in style. As I found out last night, if you're going to go to one of tennis or golf's Majors, well, then you need to bypass style and go straight to pretension. So once I got word that the work “field trip” was going to include box seats to the 2008 U.S. Open out in Queens, I donned my best uppityness, took the quick lane through security, rode the escalator to my Suite 103 ticket, and drank in the opening round at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Thanks to some kind folks who are trying to sway the company that pays me on the 15th and 31st to do some more work with them, I ended up in this swanky suite, drinking Heineken Lights and Gin & Tonics, eating sliced roast beef, lobster and crab sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and fresh fruit, while Venus Williams and Roger Federer did their bidding a scant few hundred feet away. Neither Venus nor Roger even really seemed to break a sweat; they won in their respective straight sets and the matches were never in doubt. But when you’re introduced to a professional sporting event for the first time and you’re in a corporate box, the night become much less about the sport and more about the experience.

Beyond this obviously unique situation, I couldn't help but notice the U.S. Open has such a fascinating place in the New York City sports landscape. A tournament I obviously paid attention to growing up because my mother was a tennis player herself, I didn’t really understand how much the sport gripped the city until I moved to Manhattan over a year ago. This is my second Open living in the city, and I’m absolutely captivated by it. Lots has been said that tennis is a dying sport, that the game has become too fast, too technologically-advanced with not enough stars or even more importantly, not enough American stars (especially on the men’s side). But what I’ve seen in my short time here in New York is that it’s still a sport that can grip its fans and keep everyone on their toes. I’m not sure if it’s that way around the rest of the Union, but in this here island of concrete, when the U.S. Open comes a’knockin, that still means something.

More high-falutin’ country club sports reports and thoughts on how to truly attend a tennis major desde

Brethren (cont’d): The first time I attended a PGA event, I went to the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte at Quail Hollow Country Club. I went as a guest of a member of Quail, and we had close parking, clubhouse access, and tent access aplenty. It was easily the best way to experience a golf tournament – “free” drinks and food everywhere, and the ability to get so close to the players. I did not expect my first tennis tournament to be like that one bit; after all, the only tennis tournaments any casual tennis fan really cares about are the four majors (and that’s even a stretch, as no one realizes the Australian Open is here until it’s over and another is French!). So you figure, if I happen to snag a ticket to one of the two important tennis tournaments a year, I was gonna be sitting on the Hill at Wimbledon or in the nose bleeds on a side court with the rowdy New York crowds.

Instead, I squeezed a little bit of the Mad Men aspect of my job, and ended up in an exclusive box with the upscale food and beverage spread. Well, I knew what to do in that situation: get busy eating and dranking or get busy dying.

Well-to-do-ness aside, being a spectator at a tennis major was definitely quite different than being at any stadium’ed event I’d been to before. The whole stadium was deathly quiet, hushed right before the games begun, and remaining that way as high-quality rallies happened right before our eyes. No real hootin’ and hollerin’. Certainly no one on their cell phone (except for all-important texting), and certainly no one talking shit to any fans around them. It was a docile experience and I really was amazed at how silent the crowd could remain during an athletic event.

I know this stuff’s in the heritage of the sport, but it still took me off-guard. There were stretches of points that concluded with no applause at all. It was as if good points and rallies were expected and only the best Federer whip-lash one-handed backhand cross-court really deserved a slight head nod and slap of the hands. Rowdy applause must be checked at the door. Of course, this could be have been magnified by the 1st round nature of the match and the fact that both Venus and Roger heavily outperformed their opponents.

Or it could be that I’m just not high-brow yet to properly know how to attend the U.S. Open. One day, I’m sure I will. But I was definitely in new territory last night, and I’m sure a bit out of place.

Bad Idea Jeans & Marcellus Morris

2008-08-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Funny story, the matriarch of the SportsBrethren forbid both Brethren from watching the film "Pulp Fiction" until we were both at least 15. This was not because of the rampant drug use, graphic violence, or salty language. No, it was because our dear mother fought tooth and nail to ensure that her baby boys never knew anything about sodomy. Yep, the male rape scene was the ONLY thing Mammy objected to us seeing.

Naturally, when we both finally did see it (long before our 15th birthdays) the male raping barely registered a blip on our radars. We were entirely too engrossed with all the surrounding badassery to care about the butt pirates. In fact, the only thing we really remember about the scene is that Bruce Willis uses a samurai sword to TCB.

I bring up Marcellus Wallace and his anus because it would appear that someone else named Marcellus is into some no-so-legal things in Charlotte these days. Namely, stealing cars. His most recent victim: Panther rookie Jeff Otah.

A word of advice to Mr. Marcellus Morris: I sincerely hope you have high-tailed it outta Charlotte. Pulling two guns on a 6'6", 340 pound dude usually doesn't end well for anyone.

For a brief description of the fate the SportsBrethren imagine is in Marcellus Morris's future, follow us, after...

Caution: foul language afoot!

Brethren: I have to admit: my mind did not immediately go to the Gimp scene from Pulp Fiction when hearing about Jeff Otah's theft. But that's what makes the big guy the big guy. Well served, Nacho.

We gots to get around to our Offense side of the ball previews and we've got about a week and a half to do it. We're on it.

Baby Pools

2008-08-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Nacho: So that happened. So it was, so it always shall be. The Cats got out to a commanding, early lead and managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

As I looked over our roster the other day, one giant red flag kept signaling: we're not an especially deep team. This weakness was exposed during the biblically-weathered preseason game against the Eagles from Philly last night. Our starters owned theirs; our defense clamped and shut down the Iggles' running game. I'll admit Donovan McNabb looked pretty dang good, despite his team's lack of receivers with what the ol' folks call "hands". I'll also admit that Philly's O-line straight pancaked our front four like it was nobody's business.

Now that we've been all nice and shit, follow us after the jump to hear our thoughts on the Cats, after...

Nacho cont'd: I wonder how accurate of a representation this game was of both team's true potential. That lightning delay in the first quarter prolly wasn't exactly what Biscuit Defender would've wanted. You get all ramped up, and within ten minutes, you're back in the locker room, getting yelled at. Seems like athletic blue balls, so, with that in mind, I'm apt to think the Panthers and Eagles weren't the same team we'll see in the regular season.

Jake ran the offense with assurance, DeAngelo Williams penetrated holes like a porn star and our defense was freaking solid...

Then the 2nd half started. Our 2nd string and then our scrubs came in and proceeded to get their yards stomped. In the parlance of the 1950s, our jocks were eaten. While Jonathan Stewart looked promising our 2nd string D needs to learn how to tackle. Our back ups need to step it up if the Cats are gonna do anything this season, as we aren't exactly known to stay healthy for whole seasons. We're about as deep as baby pools at this point, and that ain't good.

Two last notes: with a receiving corp. of Steve Smith, DJ Hackett, Moose and Jarrett and a tandem of Stewart and DeAngelo, my expectations for a high powered offense are growing. Also: kudos to Richard Marshall for providing the first real highlight of the season.

Now for the east coast feed...

The Panthers on National News and No Response from the Brethren? My word.

2008-08-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Brethren: There are a various sundry of reasons that Nacho and I have taken a little under a week to post about the Steve Smith happenings. But the only one that matters goes back to this here mission statement: the Sports Brethren came about as a way for two wayward, cross-country brethren to keep in contact over the things that matter: the Carolina Panthers, drunken musings, and boobs.

And so it just happens to be that the same day Steve Smith decided to introduce his fist to Ken Lucas's eye socket, the Sports Brethren just happened to both be flying to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for five days of suns'out'guns'out, burs, delectable meals, and family trash talk.

But nary you worry your pretty little heads, we ranted, raved, and guffawed about the Cats all week long. We do have some thoughts, I have gathered what I can recall, and we'd like to share what we think, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): First up, Steve Smith: am I pissed that he is suspended for the first 2 games against some potentially tough opponents? Yes. Do I agree with the decision the Panthers made? Yes. Do I think this will cost the Panthers the season? Not at all.

Steve Smith wants to prove he's the most baddest muthafucka on the field at all times. I'm down with that -- it makes him tenacious, it makes him explosive, it makes him the most talented player on our roster. It can also make him an idiot who doesn't think about the consequences of breaking a teammate's nose.

The thing that really impressed me about the whole "star receiver beating up star cornerback" debacle was how the Panthers as a team showed their true colors: upper management wouldn't stand for this behavior, the captains (Jake, Moose, et al) spoke openly and honestly with the media, and both Lucas and Smith seemed to play the situation right: Lucas forgiving, Smith remorseful and determined to build back what he burned down. I'm glad this incident didn't become a Farvian circus, as it easily could have become. I'm glad the vocal leaders took charge and would not let their season derail before getting out of the station. I think we'll all look back and say, "Oh yea, didn't Steve Smith get suspended for those first two games for some reason?"

But then again, I'm the kind of guy who will find whatever silver lining can be found when it comes to the Panthers. I'll believe anything (because I know the Panthers kick fucking ass). So now I'm hoping that maybe Steve Smith needed a reminder that he's got a bit of HST in him. He needed to know that the Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. Yea, that sounds right.

And now that he knows, he's ready to come back badder, meaner, and ready to fuck up some Viking ass come Week 3.

Beyond the Smith news, there were things to discuss in SpantanburgLand: Peppers seems poised to have a big year, the O-Line has gotten massive and is doing well, and oh yea, bring on Peyton this weekend. More than that, well, it was probably just drunken rambling between Capt, Nacho, Mammy, Sisterin and Brethren.

It's July! Football's Coming Soon! FRONT FOUR Edition

2008-07-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Brethren: Three days into Training Camp, and I’m in hook, line, and sinker. On a car trip back from Charlottesville to DC yesterday (after a most wonderful drunken weekend of tubing, crushing the Virginian, and hitting the Mediocre Restaurant Heaven that is Cville), I spent a solid two hours on my buddy’s iPhone reading all the updates from Chaz Chandler and the Charlotte.com boys I could get my hands on. I have to say: I like what I’m hearing so far. The Thomas Davis quote about the Thunder/Lightning combo of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams brightened my day. Reading the story about Jake doing his fiery Cajun thing and yelling at O-Linemen after a busted play got me excited. Seeing Steve Smith blatantly voice his dislike of training camp even got a rouse out of me. All of it sounded good to me.

Then I saw Chaz is reporting that this team has a positive vibe going for it, that they’re loose and excited to be playing football. That’s when I knew: let’s keep this momentum going.

So, I’m back at the helm today, sitting down to break down maybe the most significant unit on all the team: the Panthers D-Line. Once feared and revered, the Front Four needs to answer a lot of tough questions this 2008 season. What the fuck happened to Pep last year and can he come back? Are we going to miss Kris Jenkins more than we expected? Is having Mike Rucker not around going to affect us? Has Maake eaten any babies recently?

We attempt to answer these questions, and more, desde:

Brethren (cont’d): As I mentioned Saturday, the Fox/Hurney Era has been about making a claim for a dominant Front Four. Some years, it’s more bark than bite, but cotdamn, they try to go big or go home every year. What’s the 2008 edition look like?

The Starters
Julius Peppers, RDE: I don’t think there was anyone who summed up last year more than Pep. After a huge stastical 2006 campaign, he mysteriously disappeared in 2007. 2 ½ sacks? Are you kidding me? He’s a phenomenal athlete, and he claims he wasn’t sick or injured and refused to give excuses.

Well, what the fuck then, Pep? What gives? Your double-teams waned as the season went on and the production wasn’t there, in terms of stats. And any explanation we get is that stats don’t tell the whole story; that’s the company line from Pep, Hurney, and Fox. Well, they know more about football than me, so when they say that Pep’s still affecting the game, that he contains the outside, can force a running play inside, and limits the other team’s playbook with his presence, I’ll believe them. On the other hand, stats might not tell the whole story, but they tell a pretty damn big story, because they reflect production, as much as any piece of measurement can. So while I love the big fella and I rock his black #90 jersey every week, I want to see him making Pep plays and having Pep stats this year.

I want to see him bat a ball mid-air, pick it off, and stiff-arm a fullback on his way to the end zone. I want to see two blocked kicks in one game. I want to see him run down a LDT-type back. I want to him to single-handedly save a victory for us.

So yes, those are my expectations. He was the #2 draft pick, an athlete unlike any other to come through Charlotte. And it hurts that much more when he doesn’t meet them because we all know he can do it. We’ve seen it before; we want more than anything to see it again on his way to taking us to the Promised Land.

But better yet, the past two days have seen reports floating out of camp that Pep looks better than ever, that he looks on the verge of breakout year. He isn't talking to the media, and he's got a sick beard. I'm convinced: Make it happen, Pep. As you go, we go. Put us on your back, Big Cat.

Maake Kemoeatu, DT: One of the largest Panthers ever. I have enjoyed his presence, depsite never knowing how much he actually affects the game. He's not a pass-rushing DT so he doesn't pile up the sacks, but he takes up a lot of space, so I'm down with that.

Damione Lewis, DT: The returning sacks leader for the Panthers, Lewis is reported to have taken on a more vocal leadership role now that Jenkins is gone. I don't know really know what that means, but hey, I'll take it. Maybe more vocal means more production? Sure.

Tyler Brayton, Charles Johnson, and Stanley McGlover: The three dudes fighting it out for Peppers' old Left End spot. McGlover's got the crazy long hair, the Panthers hope Johnson becomes the next Mike Rucker (even with the Georgia lineage) and Brayton's an athletic dude. Of course, it won't really matter if Peppers has the crazy year we all want him to have, then the other guy should have some great opportunities.

From there, we got some rookies and others. But seriously, the time is now for Peppers to take over the D-Line. He's in his 7th year and it's time to start owning this line.

It's July! Football's coming soon! D-BACKS EDITION

2008-07-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

Nacho: About a month ago, I went to see a production of "A Chorus Line" in downtown Los Angeles. Ostensibly, I was there because a fellow former Hawk was in the show, but afterwards, I found myself thinking quite deeply about the show.

Let me abundantly clear: "A Chorus Line" is the gayest musical I've ever seen. If you had absolutely no experience with live theater, and went to see "A Chorus Line" you would undoubtedly walk away with the certainty that everyone involved in the arts is damaged, gay, and obnoxiously emotional...which is pretty much what you can say about a football fan during the summer.

Except the gay thing. I love boobs.

So, without further ado, lets move onto Training Camp. First practice starts today, and if there's anyone in Spartanburg singing "Got I hope I get it. How many boys does he need?" it's definitely, the D-Backs.

Nacho cont'd: Currently, the Panthers roster lists fourteen different Cornerbacks and Safeties. Methinks not all of them will make the final cut. So, in the interest of boredom, lets talk about the favorites:

Ken Lucas, CB: He took over as emotional leader for the squad last year and did alright by it. He's a steady cover guy, makes tackles, and will be an great asset for the 3 rooks. I can't wait for the first time Kenny does something that makes me bolt upright from table, causing all the booze to spill.

Chris Gamble, CB: Chris lives up to his name. He's just as likely to make me spew expletives as he is to make me make some wildly irrational argument for his inclusion onto the Supreme Court. Gamble guarantees for the year: he will miss coverage, he will miss tackles, but he will be a deciding factor in at least two wins this year.

Richard Marshall, CB: Marshall's consistently shown improvement in his three years in the league. He's got some of the best pivot feet I've seen since Rik Smits and when he makes a move on a lazy pass, you can take it to the bank that he'll come down with it. His 5'11" stature hasn't been that big of a problem, but it just feels like all the receivers are 6'5" these days.

Chris Harris, S: Finally, a Safety. Chris Harris runs like a gazelle, can chase down any of the leading RBs in the league, and generally has a pretty good move on the ball. He'll cause consternation and frustration but there's hardly a better Alamo/Last Line of Defense I'd want more.

Terrence Holt, S: Terrence anchors the safety position for the Cats. He's a seasoned vet, he's a local boy from Greensboro, and I just feel better knowing at least one player on the field has sweet tea coursing through his veins.

Charles Godfrey, S: We took him in the third round, so he better cause no less than four boners this season. He had a breakout year last year and seems like a sniper. Chaz probably has the best chance to the BEASTon of the D Backs this year.

Joe Fields, Darren Toney, CJ Wilson These guys are all young, and could potentially blossom into players, but only time will tell.

Ricardo Colclough, CB: Easily the team's resident ladies' man. Just on the squad to teach Dante Wesley, Quinton Teal, Nate Salley, and Curtis Deloatch how to take down sluts.

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY HERE! TRAINING CAMP STARTED AND WE JUST SIGNED JONATHAN STEWART!!!!!!

It's July! Football's Coming Soon! LINEBACKERS Edition

2008-07-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Brethren: Well, lassies and lads, we are but a few scant days from the beginning of training camp and with it, the coming of the glorious 2008 NFL season. I wrote nearly two weeks ago that Nacho and I would be rolling out our Panthers season preview, and I intend to honor that. So since we already covered that we’re of the mindset that Jake’s our QB, let’s take a look at the group of on-field leaders on the other side of the ball.

LINEBACKERS:
Overall, this looks to be the stacked part of the defense. The depth is there, the young legs are a plenty and the head-hunters are there. On paper, this is a fearsome group. It’s interesting because in the Fox/Hurney Era, so much emphasis has been placed on the D-Line and they always seem to just plug in a decent veteran here or there along with a 1st/2nd rounder to hold down the LB fort. This year’s group harkens back to the days of Sam Mills, Lamar Lathon, Michael Burrow, and Kevin Greene, back to the Dom Capers Era. If there was anything I liked about that era, it was the players that wore jerseys in the 50s: they were a badass bunch.

The 2008 linebacking corps is starting to inspire that same kind of confidence in me as a fan. The voice inside me that says, these guys will stop a 225-lb running back train on a dead stop, pick off a rope to a TE over the middle, and blitz the fuck out of the pansy-ass quarterbacks that make up the NFC South. Fuckin a.

Full breakdown desde:

Brethren (cont'd): We take a player-by-player look at the LB Corps:

The Starters

Jon Beason, MLB (aka Jon BEASTon): Great Googily Moogily. We haven’t seen a rook step in, look around, notice the desperate need for football plays to get made, and just go do them like that since a 3rd round receiver out of Utah came in with a chip on his shoulder. I remember last summer liking the fact that BEASTon wore the #2 in college, and that was about it. I was still holding out hope for the now-retired Dan Morgan and I was wondering if we’d get some production out of Beason when Morgan went down in Week 6. I had no clue we’d be getting a really good middle linebacker.

Nai’l Diggs, OLB: The one guy who fits the Fox/Hurney “veteran” plug characterization, but that’s only at the surface. This man continues to make plays from the outside and will make at least one play a game that can turn a casual fan to me and say, “wait who the fuck made that hit?” Plus, absolutely stellar name.

Thomas Davis, OLB: The young head-hunter who kept getting swapped between linebacker and safety early in his career seems to have settled in at the OLB position. I remember when the Panthers drafted him pretty much to play “spy” on Michael Vick back when Vick was terrorizing the Panthers (and not pit bulls). Well, after moving out of that specialty, he’s become a ferocious OLB. The Charlotte media has wondered aloud for many seasons that the former first-round draft pick wasn’t living up to his potential. While he didn’t have the early impact BEASTon did, Davis is still a man on the outside. If he continues to improve, he could take this group to another level.

The Bench
Landon Johnson, LB: He led the Bengals in tackles the past two-three years, and he won’t crack our opening day starting line-up, if everyone’s healthy. An ultra-productive linebacker, he will lead the bench and can easily fill in at all three positions should one of the three starters go down. His signing was a very savvy Fox/Hurney move that characterized the under-the-radar, but aggressive offseason those two directed.

Dan Connor and Tim Shaw, MLB: Two former Penn State ‘backers, their presence on the team gives my buddy Big Mike an instant erection. Connor is a potential huge steal from the draft, as some say he’s even better than Paul the Polack up in Buffalo that came out of Penn State in 2007. Connor is definitely going to push BEASTon to make sure there’s no sophomore slump from him. Shaw’s another young hard-hitter and his Linebacker U pedigree gives him a nod from me; if we can get some stellar special teams plays out of these him, I’d be excited.

Adam Seward, LB: Scrappy dude. Never gonna be a starter, but mops up special teams duty and seems just crazy enough to enjoy it.

Brandon Jamison, Donte Curry, LB: Never heard of either of them, but they have names that J. Price and I would have recruited hardcore during our dominant NCAA Football 2006 UVA dynasty days. Side note: playing that game on Dynasty with a college roommate as a team effort might be one of the most awesome things to do. Receiving text messages during class letting you know that the 5-star QB out of Cali named Eddie Cannon just signed is one of life’s unheralded treasures. We also rushed for over 3,000 yards in one season with Mikell Simpson (the same 3rd-stringer who became the real UVA’s go-to running back last year). Damn, this makes me miss college. A lot.

And Just Because I Still Want Him To Be Around:
Mark Fields, OLB: This dude beat cancer and, with Sam Mils, inspired the 2003 Super Bowl run. He was crazy fast and would definitely put Reggie Bush’s 3.3-year-per-carry ass in his place. Well, guess that job falls to BEASTon now.

It's July! Football's coming soon!

2008-07-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

Brethren: Is it really July 11th? That means football is nary but a few scant weeks from training camp, which means the Panthers are that much closer to my life, which means a very real and important part of my being becomes a little more alive.

And fortunately for the Brethren, the Carolina Panthers have more than enough going on where their name gets brought up in all sorts of media conversations.

First off, there's the Favre thing. Now he's not my one true hate -- which may be one of the most thoroughly readable, relatable, and enjoyable columns about the goodness of hate ever -- but he's certainly not my starting quarterback. And this is important: I think I can say for most Panthers fans, that "Brett Favre making Brett Favre plays" is not what we want come September when we take the field for the first time in 2008 in the Whale's Vagina.

I want Jake Delhomme feeling spry as the chicken that becomes the delicious Bojangles' chicken biscuit. Dammit, Jake's our Biscuit Avenger! He's our boy to love unconditionally. He may not be the best quarterback out there, but fuck it, he's ours. He's fiery. He's Cajun. He and the most talented, tenacious player on our team, Steve Smith, have a great relationship -- on the field and off. He's taken us to the Super Bowl (when was the last time Favre did that?). Our team fell apart last year without him. He has earned the right to be the starting quarterback of this team.

So no, Brett Favre, you are not welcome to come in and try to fuck that up. I'll gladly take you as long as you know you're second fiddle to Jake Delhomme. Yes, Mr. All-Time TD and Passing Yards Record Holder, if you dare come here, you dare to hold a clipboard.

This is Jake's team.

More Panthers musings, desde

Brethren: Ugh, glad we got that out of the way. Fortunately, there's even more to talk about the Panthers. Like, for instance, the 2008 season!

It's fucking sweet the season's right around the corner. And while that might not technically be true because we're still a solid 8 weeks away from a meaningful game, it definitely is that part of the year where my brain says, "Oh shit, is that the hot July air I smell? That means football players should be sweating in Spartanburg soon!"

Nacho and I will be rolling out our full Panthers previews in the coming weeks, but rest assured, this team is on our minds. The Panthers historically play best when no one expects them to do well -- which is why I hated this software -- but we're getting to the point that, as we enter the 14th season of this franchise's history, I enter July honestly believing we're winning it all.

Because the Panthers will. They've got Jake at QB, Smitty and Moose out wide, a barn full of speedy, hard-hitting linebackers, the sleeping giant that is Pep, a bruising rookie RB to complement the speedy and fantastically mustiachoed DeAngelo Wiliams, and the Fox/Hurney era with a sense of urgency ne'er seen before. Yes, ladies and gents, 2008 is the year the Carolina Panthers will dominate the NFL.

Welcome to it.

Nacho: I"m gonna let y'all in on a lil secret. Ever since Football ended, I still get up redonkulously early on the weekends. Why? Through the magic of transference I've redirected my love of the pigskin, into a love of the Food Network. Seeing as how ESPN will shove this Favre silliness down our throats for the next four weeks, I figure I'll need something to keep me occupied. Take that ESPN; my ass belongs to the Neelys!

Luckily, my fattening infatuation will pass soon and I can get back to the real work at hand, blindly loving the greatest football squad in all the land. As an added bonus, it would appear yours truly will be in attendance for the season opener, seeing as how Komrad Goodell was nice enough to ask the Panthers to come out to San Diego for week 1. Don't think for a second I've forgotten all those Panthers/Redskins games where Norv was at the helm. First guarantee of the season: Panthers beat the Chargers in their own house. Take that to the bank!

There's lots to cover over the coming weeks, and you can rest assured the Brethren are on top of it all. Favre's welcome to come to Carolina, as long as he's only employed after The Defender of Fresh Biscuits goes down. Not unlike poo, he's number two.

Strap in and enjoy an overflowing amount of coverage of a small market team with few ties outside of the geographical headquarters.

And now, there's much to do before I head out to go see the one and only Ricky Gervais.

How To Cope With The Bobcats' Draft

2008-06-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Nacho: How does one deal with the terrible drafting prowess the Bobcats displayed Thursday night? Remember that the Olympics are coming up, and remembering Derek Redmond.

Nacho:Can't wait for more of that shit.

Brethren: Summer Olympics also mean Beach Olympics. I lurve me some Beach Olympics. I won't partake this year, but I'll holler from my beach chair, bourbon or beer in hand. C'MON, CHASE "MICHAEL PHELPS" WITTENAUER. PROVE YOU'RE AN ATHLETE.

Bobcat Draft Round-Up

2008-06-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Nacho: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU LARRY BROWN!

Fuck you with pants on because you've shackled us with a Frenchman who won't put on a Bobcat jersey until long after you've gone.

Fuck you for taking Kevin Durant's ShortRound with a top 10 pick.

Fuck you for using the 2008 Draft to replace Earl Boykins and Primo Brezec.

Fuck you for GETTING BRONZE WITH A TEAM COMPRISED OF NBA ALL-STARS!

Brethren's hatred, after...

Brethren: I am the cock-eyed optimist of the two, but even I raised an eyebrow at this draft. I'm not gonna lie, hearing Larry Brown say he "fell in love" with the Frenchie during a workout is not music to my ears. Even the renowned Europlayer lover that is Chad Ford wrote that he doesn't know any player who's ever averaged 5 points a game in France become a good NBA player.

I'm okay with DJ Augustine, but looking back probably would have preferred Brook Lopez. Same way I kinda like Morrison, but would have preferred Brandon Roy. Same way I can deal with Felton/May, but would have preferred rolling them up to take Chris Paul.

All I know is this draft is a few days old and I'm still reeling in exasperation. I try to keep the faith, but I don't know. It's tough to when these kind of decisions get made.

Hopefully DJ can prove me wrong. I'm expecting ZERO from the Frenchman. Fucking French.

I Can Haz Lottery Pick?

2008-06-23T19:44:00.001-07:00

Nacho: The NBA Draft is looming and the Bobcats have the ninth pick. Everyone seems to be jonesing for big man, which I wholeheartedly agree with. However, with the lottery being the way it is this year, who knows what'll be left for us.

Alls I'm saying is we've been burned by scrappy white guys before.

Either way, I hope we go big or go home. By which I mean I hope we draft a big guy or pull a J Rich and trade for someone awesome.

Brethren, your thoughts?

Nacho: Brethren's thoughts go here.

Brethren: And here they be:

I was all about the Bobcats taking Kevin Love back in March/April, but I've heard enough of that argument above from Nacho to back down a little. But then I see YouTube clips like this and I kinda wish we do draft him.

I've heard a lot about the UCLA point guard, and I think that'd be ok. But I'm definitely hoping for a big guy, so that with the 38th pick, the Bobcats pick UVA point guard Sean Singletary. Yea, he might be a little undersized, but he's a floor general who will play hard and is coachable (things Larry Brown is looking for).

So yea, if the Bobcats came away with Kevin Love and Sean Singletary, I'd be an extremely happy fan come end of draft night.

And thus, the NBA's been won

2008-06-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Brethren: I had such faith in the Celtics last night, that I didn't even watch the game. In its stead, I let my dear sisterin take me out for her XXth birthday. I'm a nice (poor) brother like that. So we had a trendy dinner in Manhattan's Meat Packing District, content to not watch the game and let Nacho alert us with texts like, "Halftime highlights put to Pirates theme. Awesome."

Indeed, that's all I needed to know. Danny Ainge, a brilliant pirate I can only assume, pilfered Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett from the nether regions of the NBA's dredges, brought wily veterans like James Posey and PJ Brown aboard, and had them train some fresh sea legs like Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and Leon Powe to become swash-buckling basketball privateers.

And thus, the NBA's been won.

And so we end a pretty classic NBA Season. I am quite pleased with the state of league. And hey, the Bobcats have the 9th pick in, like, a week. Let's pick the unathletic white guy! That works out!

Parting thoughts, Nacho?

Nacho: This Celtics team sticks in my craw for some reason. I have a big issue with the idea of a league being based on parity when one franchise can mortgage their future to consolidate All-Stars and make a title run. Sure, it's not against the rules or anything, but it doesn't make me like it.

I kind of feel about the Spurs, a team I dislike greatly, the way Brethren feels like the Celts. I feel like they were a team who assembled a squad that was championship caliber, and they didn't have to steal aging All-Stars to do so. Alas, like Brethren, I'm fine with the state of the NBA, as this season was an incredibly enjoyable one to watch and play fantasy leagues.

I look forward to screwing the pooch on Draft Night and/or being elated as the Bobcats trade away their first-rounder for a quality superstar.

One last note: where was the posse/entourage member of Big Baby's whom he specifically pays to make sure he doesn't end up in childlike poses with championship trophies? Really dropped the ball there.

Good Lord, Tiger

2008-06-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

Brethren: My Lord. I have never watched a golf match with such a drama overwhelming me: the tight chest, shortened breath, a "holy shit" sense hanging over my head. Tiger, on a day where he clearly was affected by his knee, on a day where he couldn't find a fairway, icily corrals a 12-15 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open to force a Monday grudge match against the incredibly likeable Rocco Mediate.

I cannot even fathom how much focus, faith, and gigantic balls it took to make that putt. To put into perspective how tough the U.S. Open is, this is the first time in 4 years that a golfer posted a below-par score over 72 holes. This is the toughest stage in arguably the most mental tough game. You play enough golf, you know how mentally shaky you can become when you tell yourself you have to make a putt -- to win a bet, to beat your dad, to beat your buddy. It's silly how much you can psyche yourself out.

Tiger, through faith in his ability, through incredibly hard work, through a disposition that makes him hate the "snooze" button, simply does not let the game of golf get the better of him. It is unreal.

It's one thing to be so well conditioned and have such natural athletic ability to dominate a sport. You have to be a special person to have the mental toughness and killer instinct to perform at such a high level with the stakes so high. I can't think of another athlete like him in my lifetime besides Michael Jordan.

Tiger fights to keep his perfect "will win the major when leading after 54 holes" sreak tomorrow at 12 PM EST.

Image courtesy of Getty Images via msnbc.com

If we can get in touch with Nacho, perhaps he'll add a thought or so after

Brethren (cont'd): Oh, and pre-emptive apologies to my employer and my client for my lack of productivity from 12-4 tomorrow. Tiger does this to us golf fans.

West Coast Bias

2008-06-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Brethren: Where the hell does NBC get off showing coverage of the 3rd Round of the 108th US Open past 8 PM EST on a Saturday? Don't they know I had B.Y.O.B. reservations at a Thai restaurant at 9 PM and therefore was not going be able to see Tiger?

West Coast Bias.

But seriously, that was an unreal performance on a Saturday at the U.S. Open. I doubt that there's even much of a need to play today's fourth round -- who is going to pass Tiger on a Sunday at the U.S. Open after he put together that back nine on Saturday? Two eagles and a birdie on a gimp knee in the last six holes. And two of those three scores came after horrendous drives off the tee. ESPN Video has a full hole-by-hole recap of his round
here.

More of Tiger's brilliance, desde

Brethren (cont'd): The most underrated part of Tiger's day was his approach shots that kept him lurking in the early part of the day. He hit a groove somewhere around the turn that put him in a position to do his Tiger thing on 13, 17, 18. I say Tiger thing, because there isn't a living (or dead?) person alive who can do what he did on those last six holes on a golf course.

On the 614-yard par 13, from the rough, hitting over the green onto the fringe. The same green that it took Phil Mickelson as its bitch, giving him a Mickey Cloud-esque quadruple bogey 9 on the hole. Then, Tiger putts the 50 foot eagle shot with a huge right to left break and he nails it.

On the par four 17, a wayward tee shot gives him no chance but to put it into greenside rough, which of course, he one hops off the pin and into the hole. He even started laughing because he knows these are things golfers just don't do! And he caps it off by nailing another eagle putt on 18 -- and there's not much I can say about that one because he did it the "normal" way -- fairway, shot to 25 feet, sink the putt.

Oh yeah, and he was doing this on a surgically repaired knee that was giving him fits and would mentally destroy any human golfer.

Just absurd. Just Tiger.

Ed. note: Forgot to hit Publish when I wrote this at 11 AM ET. Whoops.

Some Historical Perspective

2008-06-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

Nacho: When I think back to the epic Lakers/Celtics series from the 80s, I distinctly remember my thoughts on the topic: adding cinnamon to apple sauce creates a nectar of the Gods.

Since both Brethren were still in shorts pants during Magic and Bird's tussles, we'll pass the mic to Cap'n Pappy.

Cap'n Pappy: So, Elvis is in the Army in Germany. The biggest sports event of the era (baseball's World Series) for the first time in forever did not feature the Yankees (White Sox of Nellie Fox, Rudy LaRusso, and Luis Aparicio) but did feature the newest twist in US sports: a professional team on the West Coast (Dodgers of Koufax, Drysdale and Maury Wills). The NFL championship had settled into a dynasty (the Colts beat the New York football Giants in a rematch of the greatest NFL game every played: the Sudden Death Colts victory of Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Alan "The Horse" Ameche). It's 28 degrees in February and yet it's the perfect weather for copying Bob Cousy's behind the back dribble/pass and Elgin Baylor's one hand free throws on the basketball hoop nailed to the garage.

The rest of his thoughts, after...

Cap'n Pappy cont'd The infancy of what would become the NBA's greatest rivalry was just hatching. The MINNEAPOLIS (Great) Lakers of NBA Rookie of the Year Elgin Baylor, Vern Mikkelsen, Rudy LaRusso (yes the baseball player), Hot Ro d Hundley, and Frank Selvy (Yes, that Frank Selvy: the only collegiate basketball player in history to score 100 pts in a game: for Furman against Newberry College) were up against the Boston Celtics of Cousy, Russell, Howell, Sharman, Gene Conley (yes the Red Sox pitcher),the Jones boys, and Satch Sanders (an old version of Cornbread Maxwell).

Why has David Stern wanted so much to have today's Celtics & Lakers back on the court? Well, KG vs Kobie was preceded not only by Chamberlain/Russell and Kareem/McHale. But by Jerry West against Bob Cousy; by Hondo Havlicek, Larry Siegfried, and Don Nelson (yes that Don Nelson) against Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, and Walt Hazzard. Realize that the Celtics were in the NBA finals 11 of 13 years during that time. and the Lakers were their only serious rivals (except for when Wilt was with the 76'ers). This is without mentioning the 80's teams of Magic and Bird (oh and Michael Cooper, Worthy, Byron Scott, AC Green, and Rambo). Possibly the most impressive hit ever recorded on hardwood was a product of this rivalry: the clothesline takedown of Rambis by McHale as Rambis attempts a snowbird layup. In the 1962 finals against the Lakers, Russell pulled down FORTY!!!! rebounds in one game. (Only surpassed by Wilt's 41 rebounds in 1967) Oh yes, and the steal of the inbounds pass that we always hear Johnny Most's overdubbed yelling about Bird pulling off.

That is just a ghostly echo of Havlicek's feat, the game of Dr J and MJ is directly descendant from Elgin Baylor.

Some historical perspective from Capn Pappy.

We Write A Sports Blog

2008-06-05T20:01:00.001-07:00

Brethren: It's about time to get back on this horse.

I have several topics I want to cover, that I've let stew up inside of me and I'll blame travel to far off places like Minneapolis, Atlantic City, and the District of Columbia for the reason why I haven't written for a while.

Enough of that though: I've got thoughts. I've got a blog. Here we go:

NBA
1. The Finals are here: Game One is in progress; it's close; Boston players are trying to do their best impression of Willis Reed, hobbling out of the locker room in the second half.

I won't go into any full in-depth analysis because there's nothing I can write that hasn't been said. The Cap't'll be along shortly to give us youngins the historical perspective, but I grew up with Michael Jordan, not Magic and Bird. So Lakers/Celtics is that vaguely important piece of history that you know you should know more about, but unless it happened to you then it's just something you know about, not something you experienced. You know, like the The Great Depression.

Avoid lightning bolts and read more NBA thoughts with me, after:

Brethren (cont'd): 2. I tweet'd earlier today how I liked where Rick Bonnell's head is at. I normally do. The Charlotte.com commenters give him a lot shit, he takes it in stride, and does a good job as the only beat writer out there who follows the Bobcats. He also writes a mildly entertaining Sunday column about baseball -- entertaining in that it's probably the only non-AP written MLB story all week that goes into the Charlotte Observer sports section.

This morning, Bonnell threw out the argument that the Bobcats should go after 'Sheed. I love this idea. I love that Sheed calls our new coach, "Pounds," because his initials are LB. I think Sheed and G-Force will instantly become really close, that Okafor can be the Ben Wallace/McDyess character, and our backcourt can mature. I love that the Bobcats would only be taking a one-year risk because Sheed's only got one more year on his contract.

Add 'Sheed without giving up Okafor, G-Force, J-Rich, and RayRay and I think you have to make that trade. Rick, I like where your head's at. Bring Sheed back to the Kakkalak.

Ok, Game One's almost over. I gotta go pay attention to that. We'll back with Panthers stories, some baseball thoughts, and more NBA in the coming days, weeks, months.

Also, Fearless Leader: don't forget about your promise to us and the Panthers preview. Don't you forget.

Sheed Being Sheed

2008-05-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

Nacho:Highlight of the NBA Playoffs:

9:05 left in the 4th. Celtics 66, Pistons 70. Sheed gets his fifth foul. They cut to a replay, they cut to Sheed on the bench and in a moment of inspired live tv, the Junkyard Dog warns:

"I told you get that camera out my fuckin face."

This playoffs has been dern swell.

Brethren might write something, desde...

Brethren: I was away this past weekend. I'll address this post, in the next post. It'll be like time traveling.

Nerdgasm!

2008-05-25T18:52:00.001-07:00

Nacho: I don't know about you, but I desperately want to play Barkley, Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden terribly bad. It's got everything a videogame lover needs.

"Twelve years prior to the game, Charles Barkley, in an attempt to impress his son, performs a Chaos Dunk -- and inadvertently kills almost everyone present. As a result, basketball was made illegal and nearly all great players were killed in "The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041" (a.k.a "B-Ballnacht"

It's got LeBron's Octoroon great grandson, Jordan killing Bird, and Wilford Brimley. I need not say more.

What are you doing clicking THE JUMP?! It's a freeware game on the eBays! Get out there and dunk!

The MLB & Charlotte

2008-05-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

Brethren: The hard-working fellers at Walk Off Walk swung the Interweb's ADHD attention today to the town that the Sports Brethren call home: Charlotte, NC. The reason? They see the QC as the most viable place for Major League Baseball to add an expansion team (along with Portland), to get the League to a nice round number of 32 teams.

Now, Nacho will get to the more hilarious side of this thing (that's his job) and probably show how adorably named this Charlotte MLB team could be named or talk about how not even this would make him become interested on a day-to-day basis in MLB.

I'm here to put the more pragmatic spin on this here idea. And alls I have to say is, "Ha. Ha."

While the boys at W.O.W. have as good as reasoning as any (the SouthEast is underrepresented in the MLB and the QC, while not a huge metropolis, is centrally located for lots of mid-sized areas), I'm not buying that as sole logic. First off, I'm not buying that MLB needs another two teams. I don't at all see how that's good for baseball. I understand the league is making more money, but I think a reinvestment strategy is better than using that cash to try to add out more teams. Baseball has a litany of problems it can address with their extra profits: bad PR from steroids, under-representation from the African-American community, spotlights only ever being shone on the New York teams and Boston, to name three. Methinks there are other ways to spend these newfound dollars.

More reasons why this is laughable and Nacho's thoughts, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): If we allow ourselves the notion that MLB will expand, let's then look at Charlotte as the number one destination. This is a town that is captivated by cars turning left, so one would think that ability to pay attention to the same thing (over and over again) would lend itself well to the baseball season. There's one problem: NASCAR fans are NASCAR fans because they've been raised that way and ain't no Yankee coming down to take that away from them. Being given a team as if we're supposed to be honored to have one? Let's just say them boys wouldn't take too kind to that notion.

More importantly, no one under the age of 35 is passionate about baseball in Charlotte. Lax has become the cool spring sport and young kids have been conditioned to think they have to focus on one sport to get ahead, and baseball sure ain't winning that game against basketball, football, lax, and yes, maybe, even soccer.

Having young, interested fans is crucial in bringing out the masses -- and I can almost guarantee Charlotte can't do that. I went to my first game of the 2008 season last night, attending Shea Stadium to see the Expos, err, Nationals play the Mets. The great booming metropolis that is New York City could not even come close to half-filling (the massive) Shea Stadium, with a division rival in town. This clearly won't be true for the weekend series against the Yankees, but it points out that even in the biggest of places, Tuesday night baseball just ain't all that popular. A team in Charlotte would only magnify that. Hell, look at our Bobcats attendance, and North Carolina is a helluva fine basketball state.

Finally, and let me be clear about this one: this is a selfish reason. But I am very convinced that Minor League Basbeball could kick ass in Charlotte. In fact, I see myself as the guy who, after building up some credibility in the marketing/advertising world here in NYC (and in the sports world with this here blog), returns home to his beloved hometown as the Knight in Shining Armor and resurrects the Charlotte Knights, building the model Triple-A baseball team. A downtown stadium. Enough Minor League Enterprise promotions to fill a schedule. Cheap beers and college nights. I have a vision -- a vision that is only going to be killed by a failing real MLB franchise.

So one of the few baseball fans born and bred in Charlotte has this to say to MLB expansion: Thanks, but no thanks.

Nacho: If you've made it this far, you probably don't have to be told what that giant, rashed anus is doing attached to this post, but I'll tell you anyway. It's the Gaffney Peach Butt and it's the landmark by which you know you're close to Knight Stadium somewhere outside Charlotte. I don't wanna do research for this, I wanna go off feelings, so I, not unlike Brethren, will be dishing the *truly* informed thoughts:

I'm with Brethren on this one, the Charlotte Soccer Moms wouldn't be able to contend for ten years, kinda like the Devil Rays. There'd be marginal interest in the game to begin with because baseball's only enjoyable in person, and even then, it's not a good idea to take an ADD/ADHD kid.

Besides, Brethren's right: Charlotte's an awesome place for Minor League ball, with it's penchant for whimsical "theme" nights and family/drunk-centric appeal. I could see a load of bankers descend upon a new Knight stadium for dollar dog night a lot more than I could see us fiscally supporting any sort of "serious" team. I don't want baseball to be taken so seriously, it's what makes Charlotte not Atlanta, and if there's anything Charlotte strives more, it's to not be called the New Atlanta. Let baseball spiral down the drain as it inevitably will, and let it do so without involving the Charlotte Wombats. Give us more time to focus on the important things, like the vinegar/tomato base argument for barbeque.

The Sports Brethren Weigh In

2008-05-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Brethren: I woke up this morning to a great phone call from JLew and with no memory of how I got to my bed. I recanted with JWho, then I hit the Interwebs. It was a pretty normal Saturday morning; only I haven't had a normal Saturday morning in quite some time, due to travel, awesomeness, and general debauchery.

Then I, as I do nearly everyday, went to the Charlotte Observer Sports Section online. In a week that sparked great debate over the value of blogs (like this one!), mainstream sports media, the heated fight over what some people don't comprehend, and all that is good in the world, I bring this up because I greatly enjoyed what the newspaper brung me this morning.

Four Panthers articles. To borrow from one of the interweb blogging pioneers: Fuck. and. yes.

Delhomme's arm is feeling great? He threw 34 passes? Fuck. and. yes. Thank you, Scott Fowler.

Stewart's toe is still in a boot? But he talks like a Panther and "looks like a man"? You're God-damn right. Thank you, Charles Chandler.

Moose is happy, looking great, and handling his business? Awesome. Thank you, Stan Olson.

Pep's lining up in Rucker's old position? But just for a few snaps? Okay. Thanks, David Scott.

You see, I love the Panthers. I'm a fan. I write (not frequently) with my brother on this here Interwebs site not because we're dedicated to speed or to ruining society, as Buzz Bissinger would generalize, but because our experience is a shared experience, and we're funnier and better than you.

Our written words back that up, if you'll follow us:

Brethren (cont'd): As I said, I woke up this morning and it felt like a normal Saturday. A normal Saturday to me means the Panthers are playing tomorrow. And it's not so much that it's normal (because it only happens 16 out of the 52 weeks) but that it's fucking awesome. Part of loving the NFL is loving the anticipation of a Sunday. Today, I got that feeling.

How? By reading a newspaper -- online. That's all I needed -- that's all the NFL needs to do and I'm right back in. Four articles. Written by four guys that may or may not share Buzz Bissinger's thoughts and hate this here blog. They may understand that blogging is just another way to approach sports -- and yes, blogs are taking away readership from newspapers, but we aren't taking away readership from Journalism -- and I honestly hope they do.

But I don't know what they think -- and honestly, don't really care. Because we're not stopping and because fuck you. I love the Panthers and I have a forum. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, as the Cap't asked me last night if I was. I am. It's May, the Panthers don't play a real game for another 4-5 months, and I'm in. I'm in because I read a newspaper (online) today.

So in all honesty, thanks newspaper dudes. I see your value. Just don't be a douchebag about it.

In other news: how about them fucking Atlanta Hawks!? I generally don't like Atlanta as a city -- it thinks it's better than Charlotte because it's bigger and they randomly had the Olympics and the Braves are so bicurious -- but I have to respect the way the bandwagon fans are helping the cause with their NBA team. That's an inspired team, and I love that the fans are a part of that inspiration. Forcing Game 7 like that last night was fucking awesome -- this is a crazy, insane, young team that doesn't care that they don't have Chris Paul or Deron Williams and are just rocking and rolling. Good for them.

(And yes, the headline is misleading, because Nacho's not weighing in, but he will -- you have to forgive him, he's headed to the biggest Renaissance Fair in the US today. Yet another reason we're funnier and better than you.)

We Hired Some Coach (plus NBA Playoffs and late NFL Draft thoughts)

2008-04-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Brethren: The Fearless Leader is calling out us Bobcats blogs for not being "a-twitter" and posting quickly enough about the hiring of Larry Brown as the third coach in Bobcats franchise history. Well, first off, I'd like to direct Mr. Leitch again to our sub-slogan. Then, I'd like to look at the Larry Brown hire without rash emotion -- like Nacho would like to probably do -- and truly see, is the right move?

There's no denying Larry will be the best tactical and motivational coach to date for the Bobcats. He's the best coach to come through Charlotte (besides maybe Bob McKillop). And while he's known for dramatic turnarounds of franchises, he's also notoriously hard on young teams. He's also known for butting heads with any strong-willed front office executive.

How do we see this playing out? Follow us through...

Brethren (cont'd):, I understand all the arguments against hiring Larry Brown. I can see how his style can be grating on young players and his desire to jettison any player if a few little things go wrong can be undermining to the front office. His recent work with a team like the Knicks was horrific -- and are we certain the Bobcats are much more talented or more cohesive than that team? He's had past failure with Emeka Okafor (the US Olympic team). He's not going to like Adam Morrison's inability to play defense (or his hippie long hair). His tough love on point guards might fall on deaf ears with Ray Ray.

But there are definitely things that I can see going well. I think our stars, G-Force and JRich, will respond to someone with as much respect and past success as Brown. I can see Larry taking a liking to Jared Dudley (yes, I'm ignoring the "Larry Brown doesn't play young guys" corrolary because Dudley plays much older and wiser and tougher than a second year player). And you know what? We are in Tar Heel country: maybe casual fans will come around if we can get some early success.

It's a bold move to recognize that the coach you hired last summer was over his head. It was bold to bring in such a big personality of a head coach. But bold moves are what this team needs. We're coming into year 5 of this franchise and results need to start coming in -- and bringing results is what Larry Brown has a history of doing.

NBA Playoff Thoughts:
- I hate Hack-a-Shaq. Especially when the Spurs are ahead by so much. And when Shaq is 50 feet away from the basket.
- I hate that the Spurs whine at every call. Every fucking call.
- I hate the Spurs.

NFL Draft Thoughts:
Boy, Foxy and Hurney are certainly going all-in. Mortgaging next year's draft to acquire the last blue chip offensive tackle to go along with the big bruising back that Fox/Hurney crave -- that move screams, fuck it, let's win now, cuz if we don't, we won't be around anyway.

I like our draft class right now -- but so does everyone, right? Well, this offseason certainly seems on paper to be the exact kind of offseason Fox/Hurney always plan on doing: beefing up the interior offensive line, acquiring a battering ram running back, signing some options at WR to take some heat off of the tenacious Steve Smith, drafting for value in the second and third rounds, getting rid of high-priced veterans and players who don't want to be in Carolina. All in all, it seems good on paper.

And what seems good on paper will only get better as spring turns to the long summer without football. Guys will look great in shorts and no pads in mini-camps. I will of course be incredibly optimistic come August.

Fuck yea, Panthers.

Nacho: Grumble grumble grumble Larry Browns hates young people apples & oranges apples & oranges Our team is pretty much comprised of young people yada yada yada This team was going to get the 5 more wins they needed to make the playoffs next year, regardless of LB.

Panther draft
+10 me, for miraculously finding myself in a Chevy's restaurant at the exact moment the draft started. Margaritas and no audio make this Bloomberg TV layout motif awesome.

I'm still a little confused with the Jon Stewart pick, but, as usual, the Cats made their splash in the later rounds. Good on 'em.

NBA Playoffs
Go Hawks! Go Sixers! Begrudging respect for the Lakers!

Bake some frownies for the two teams that didn't stay the course when the Lakers signed Gasol: you deserved better, Suns and Mavs. Well, Suns, at least.

AVERY JOHNSON FIRED. EDDIE GRIFFIN OSCAR CHANCES PLUMMET...OR NOW HAVE THEIR 2ND ACT?!

[Insert Daily Show Joke Here]

2008-04-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Far be it from me to call a pick wasted, but the selection of Jonathan Stewart with the thirteenth pick seems unwise. Of all the problems we're about to have this season (porous O-line, flaccid D-line) it made too much sense to pick a big guy with some real longevity potential and bring in someone to motivate DeAngelo Williams to run faster. Surely with that second 1st round pick they'd take someone with a long, tenured experience on the line.

Whoops.

Instead, we took the guy from Nigeria who started playing ball for all of four years. He's probably been through more "real life" shit than any other Panther, but will he know how to pick up a blitz?

Brethren, be like Tanier on Deadspin and sell me on these picks. Also, celebrate the departure of Sam Vincent.

(Ed: WEST COAST JAWS ATTACK!!!)

Brethren's drunk at an antiquated sporting event in the middle of nowhere, Virginia. He'll post eventually.

I'm all for Sam Vincent's departure, but keep Larry Brown away from this team. It's comprised of a bunch of developing, young talent: the one segment of the NBA population that Larry Brown notoriously despises. We need someone who will foster an environment that will continue to let Jared Dudley and the rest expand their potential while making sure J Rich and Gerald are kept happy.

CP3 and NBA Playoffs: The Conundrum of A Former Hornets/Current Bobcats Fan

2008-04-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Brethren: Watching the New Orleans Hornets and Chris Paul absolutely own the Dallas Mavericks toys with my emotions. On one hand, the brand of basketball Chris Paul plays is amazing -- he's so strong for a guard his size, he has the ability to lull you to sleep then switch gears, he's confident, he's always aware of the court. Quite simply, he's everything you'd want out of your point guard.

On the other hand, I'm a Bobcats fan -- been with them through their inception, they have my full support. However, I feel like how someone in a second marriage must feel: there's no denying I had a first love, a first marriage, and a nasty divorce. The Hornets were my starter marriage of professional sports teams.

I loved them. I loved going to games at the Hive, listening to Steve Martin in the car or on my clock radio in my room, watching them on WJNZ. So many memories, many memories I have sufficiently suppressed, especially when I hang out and root for the Bobcats. I try to forget that I ever had such a passionate, deep relationship with the Hornets.

But, as the Big Cat says, "I'm gonna go see Dr. Finklestein and I'm gonna tell him we have a whole new bag of issues. We can forget about mom for a while" -- the sight of Chris Paul's near-perfect basketball in that vaguely familiar Hornets jersey and hearing the New Orleans Arena blasting "Shout!" as the Hornets built a 30-point third quarter lead, well, it made the emotions of that starter marriage all come flooding back.

Theraputic sessions, desde

Brethren: Chris Paul broke Muggsy's assists-for-a-playoff-game record toinght en route to a 32 points, 17 assists, 5 boards, 3 steals line. That's just an absurd line. And don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing Chris Paul to any Hornet player -- I don't think anyone I watched could have posted a line like that when I was a fan. Le Baron might have posted it -- but it wouldn't have been expected at all. With CP3, a line like that can be expected.

So it's not so much that Paul reminds me of a certain Hornet or a certain time when I was a Hornets fan. Because when I was around, the Charlotte Hornets won lots of games, built solid teams, and won a few playoffs series. But they were never a 2 seed with such a deadly line-up and a player who was seriously considered for the MVP award.

But that's also what gets me: I put in 14 years of Hornets fandom. And aside from that jackass Shinn, it was awesome. I loved it. And we did have good teams with great players to watch. But we never had a Chris Paul.

CP3 is taking the Hornets places. And I guess it's just sad to think how easily the Hornets could still be in Charlotte, and how I could be engulfed in all this.

At least the Bobcats bring in a steady paycheck. Oh wait, they're deadbeat too? I thought second marriages were supposed to be better...

Nacho: While I'm not going through the existential crisis Brethren is, that's probably because I'm more Jason Alexander (Britney's first husband, not Constanza) in that I'm the fan folks forget. I had some magical times at the Hive. I witnessed Alonzo's buzzer beater against the Celts. I remember SuperHugo. I even went to a monster truck rally at the Charlotte Colesium.

But I'd lost all interest a few years before they left. There's about four years there where I just kind of fell off the sports map. Strange how one, steroid-infused Super Bowl season can bring you right back into the fold. So now, I view the Hornets as someone who once dated the Hornets and is genuinely happy for their success, while mutter about how much a loser they're dating now.

Still, the best joke I've heard about the playoffs so far was, I think, from Basketbawlful: the Hornets have banned billionaires from their locker room. Good on 'em.

Due Kudos - NBA Playoffs

2008-04-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

Nacho: A quick note or two on the split-screen adverts for the NBA Playoffs:

1. Good on ya, NBA. Inventive, visually off-putting, and best of all, we get to see which NBA stars can't sit still to save their lives. The Kobe/Shaq split is the most telling. One can surmise that Shaq has acted in major motion pictures before and is as still as the doldrums of the Carribbean. Kobe's head bobs and bounces, as do most of the players'.

2. J. E. Skeets is doing some phenomenal mock-ups over at Yahoo. My favorite, of course, involves Walter Herrmann, although the Varajeo/Ginobli one is worth a gander.

I think my favorite part of these playoffs is going to be the announcing teams. Over the past season I've become enamored with the local broadcast duos for the Clippers and the Lakers. The Lakers is polished and professional, as one would expect, with the occassional exercising of poor judgement. The Clippers tandem of Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith is real gem. Lawler's been calling Clips game since the Carter administration and will randomly blurt out things that totally embarrass Mr. Smith. Lets just say basketball season has added a level of awesomeness since I moved to LA.

Additional playoff ramblings, after...

Nacho cont'd: Everyone's, correctly, discounting the Eastern Conference and expecting whomever wins the West to plow on into Championship lane. However, if you think logically about it, doesn't the disparity of the East bode well for the Finals chances? Isn't it more likely Boston or Detroit (or my pick, Cleveland) will roll through their series' with little resistance, and get some downtime to rest up while the West turns into a bloodbath?

The NBA playoffs are also where I truly hope Hubie and Jeff Van Gundy bring their A games. All season Hubie spouts nonsense and turns phrases that make me furrow my brow. Meanwhile, Van Gundy comes off as a pompous ass for three-and-a-half quarters of every game, but will point out the ONE THING that decides a game before the players even know it's gonna happen. I have a begrudging respect for Mr. Van Gundy and hope he never goes back to coaching.

Also: this commercial is the TITS!

Brethren, what say you?

Brethren: I say...these playoffs are gonna kick ass. Just like this sport's commercials kick ass. Some thoughts:

Spurs vs. Suns: already given us a ridicului double OT game. This series will most likely go to seven games, and even then, we'll feel cheated. I heard this is the first time two 55-win+ teams played each other in the first round -- which should tell you enough about the Western Conference this year.

Hornets vs. Mavericks: Chris Paul is absurd. And by Leitch's logic, Nacho and I should be Hornets fans still to this day -- so I'm happy to jump on that bandwagon. And I wore a Charlotte Hornets shirt to the gym today, and got asked if I was from Charlotte, which was cool.

Lakers vs. Nuggets: Nugs will give the Lakers fits. Listen to me. Or don't.

Celtics vs. anyone: despite the fact that I wanted to vomit at Simmons's article about the MVP race and how it was painstakingly obvious he was going to pick KG as the obvious winner, I think that team is really good. I don't like it when I don't like Simmons' writing because I don't want to be categorized as Simmons sports blogging hater -- but while KG is a nice story, the Celtics played in the Leastern Conference, and he has 2 other All-Stars playing with him! That said, I can easily see them winning the championship.

The Hawks: they're in the playoffs! hahahaha!

As you can see, I'm writing a lot, ignoring the fact that I could be linking to a lot more articles that are evidence that the NBA Playoffs are going to rock, and I'm just plain giddy. I do love this game. And its commercials.

Sailing Through the Doldrums

2008-04-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Well we seem to have gotten through the doldrums. The SportsBrethren don't much follow, or care, about baseball, so expect a slimmer output for a bit. The NFL schedule came out today. MJD thinks the Panthers only Monday Night game has a high potential to be shitty. I think our Cats could be clinching the Division title around that time.

The Panthers will open their season in San Diego, and I will most certainly be attending. There's also a game in Oakland, which may or may not be attended by yours truly.

Other than that, not much doin'. The Bobcats finished their season in much the same manner they've done lately. That's, like, the third game we've blown huge leads in, with differing, albeit frustrating results. I'm glad we won more games than Simmons thought we'd win (25). I look forward to who we might pick up in the offseason, where Mek ends up, and of course, the draft.

Brethren will add some thoughts, and we'll check back in when something strikes us.

Brethren: It feels good to be back here at the Dexter Lake Club.

So while I disagree with Nacho and will remind our good readers, I do care about baseball, it's only April, and I'm hindered by my lack of gumption for one team (an issue I'm sure I'll get into one of these days).

That said, there wasn't much of a Masters and like Nacho pointed out, the Bobcats are following their formulaic late March/early April baloncesto of blowing large leads, letting the other team outrebound them, and generally not seeming too care much at all what Sam Vincent has to say. Whether Jordan fires his good friend after one year is sure to be a topic of interest this offseason.

A quick look at the Panthers schedule just makes me sad football's so far away. I love the idear of caring about the order of their schedule on a Tuesday in April, but not so much that I'm gonna get real riled up about it. As for the NFL Draft, I'm liking most of the names I'm hearing: Jeff Otah or Rynn Clady at tackle, Gator Derrick Harvey at DE, and Rashard Mendenhall at RB (although the last time the Panthers took a Rashard in the first round, George Siefert was at the helm, and I'm sure no one wants any memory of those times).

But at the end of the day, the NFL Draft falls on the same day as the Foxfield Races every year. And for those of you who don't know what Foxfield is, well, I feel bad. Because you haven't lived in super happy eternal awesomeness land until you've experienced Foxfield.

That's about all I have to say about that. Be on the look out for a special guest column from an old pal sometime soon!

And So It Goes

2008-03-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

Brethren: We Sports Brethren have a pretty close connection to the Davidson community. The Cap't was a Florida boy who rocked the Davidson, NC, campus back in the late 60s/early 70s and one of my best friends did the same the past four years. These close ties have made me extremely connected to this March Madness ride that Stephen Curry and Co. have taken us on.

And, man, what a ride.

That's what I'm choosing to remember about the past few weekends of basketball. Not the questionable last play selection, not the fact that big bad Goliath eventually won out, not that a boring Final Four of all #1 seeds is what we've got. I'm going to remember the fact that alumni and friends of Davidson packed a Murray Hill bar in Manhattan to its gills on a glorious Friday night and Sunday afternoon. That this crowd cried out its hokey "Daaaave-iiiiddd-sooooon" cheer and adopted "Sweet Caroline" for a glorious three weeks. The fact that the media fell in love with this
team, with this school. That Dell Curry is back in my life so notably. That LeBron James wishes he had a Stephen Curry on his team. That Jason Richards is the player I honestly wish I could have become (seriously -- Friday night, against the Big Ten champs, he had 11 points, 13 assists, and zero turnovers -- in my head, that's the kind of the stat line the point guard I always believed I would become would produce in March on an Elite Eight team). That on a Sunday night, I'm extremely sad it's over.

Davidson, you have the basketball team we all wish we had -- and for that, I am extremely grateful. More sentimentalities and Wildcat lurve, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): I think the phrase I used the most this weekend was, "That's just absurd! This is ridiculous!" I said it mainly to my buddy, Steve, who wrote about his excitement on this here sports blog when the Cats made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Because, honestly, what else can you say?

This 1700-person school did some amazing stuff this weekend. Don't let their heroic -- nay, tragic -- loss on this Sunday afternoon diminish what they accomplished. They dominated Wisconsin -- a team from a school 20 times their size. They shot, what, 54%? When you're used to watching basketball and seeing teams shoot 35-45%, and then you see a team shoot 54% for an entire game, it seems like they're making every basket. It's unreal. I feared looking at the really cute girl I met at the bar Friday night while I was talking to her, because fuck, I didn't want to miss anything!

But it's really beyond their amazing run of basketball that's the legacy this team will leave behind. They've helped shine some light on a really good school that produces top-notch people. In my native Southern tongue, quite simply, Davidson is good people.

They played so well. They smiled. They inspired. And even if the second half slipped away and they heroically fought the good fight, I'm not going to let that asterisk this weekend. I understand Kansas won today, but for me, the 2008 NCAA Tournament belongs to Davidson.

Thanks, Davidson. Thanks, Bryant Barr, Jason Richards, Bob McKillop, and of course, Stephen Curry.

I remember why I'm a fan.

Nacho: North Carolina's a little like Florida, where even the ones that don't make the big programs can still go toe to toe with all comers. Like South Florida this past football season.

What Stephen Curry did over these past two weeks will probably inspire a handful of kids to shoot another 50 J's during practice, which means in, like 7 years, college basketball's gonna be wikid amazing.

It Got Hot In Thurr

2008-03-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Nacho: The sun shines pretty bright out here in Southern California, but on a day like today, it shines even brighter. Last night, I got to witness the Charlotte Bobcats come in and destroy the Lakers at the Staples Center. It was glorious, despite the no-show on Adam Morrison's part. It's cool though; I still wore my Morristache shirt into the office today. Neat factoid: I played as many minutes as Adam did in both games played in LA this season. Hooray, season-ending injuries!

It was a glorious evening, one surrounded on all sides by Laker fans. I like Laker fans. They're not egregious assholes and their extreme knowledgeable. I sat next to a pair of fellers who consistently pointed out all the failings of the Lakers and their breadth of info kept me both informed, and immensely pleased with the Cats performance. I tried to keep the relish from my hotdog off of them.

The rest of the recap, and an explanation as to why Pam Anderson didn't want her child watching this sort of filth, after...

Nacho cont'd: The Cats went 2-0 this season when playing in Los Angeles on weeknights with me in attendance. I'm no statistician, but even I can clearly see how much better I make this team. I dress in full uniform (thanks for coordinating with the blue, guys. I looked like an ass at the Clippers game.) I really feel like what I bring to the table is vital and inspiring. These titans travel across an entire continent to play a game, and when they arrive they're greeted with disdain and inherent hatred. It does their soul good to see a fanatic from their hometown, all the way out here. It warms the cockles of their hearts, and it makes J Rich wanna drain threes.

And drain threes did J Rich.

The game was exceptionally fun for both Bobcats fans (I count me and Nelly.) The refs let a lot of fouls on both sides go, but the truth was inescapable: the Lakers, sans Bynum and Gasol have NO ONE who can match up in the middle. Nazr and Mek had their way with Tiny Turiaf and I'd have to take off my shoes cuz I'd run out of fingers if I tried to count the times Matt freaking Carroll drove the lane with positive results. On defense G Wall shut down Kobe, who had J Rich sniping at his ankles every time he touched the ball. Their double-teams obliterated whatever offensive game plan Phil Jackson had. Combine that with terrible shot selection, usually pretty early in the shot clock, by Vlad, Sasha and Rony and you've got yourself the fixin's for a down home, ol' fashioned Bobcats win.

As the final buzzer sounded I'd already positioned myself in a prime spot for high-fives. I knew without Morrison there was little need for me to have brought the camera I had borrowed, but I doled out hearty fives all the same. Ryan Hollins saw me, laughed, and exclaimed "Hey look, Adam dressed, too." Matt Carroll gave me his arm sleeve. It looked, smelt and felt like an oversized, soiled condom, and I will treasure it with all my heart. With Carroll's arm sleeve and Jeff McInnis's headband I'm slowly constructing the perfect Bobcat/Frankenstein hybrid.

So to all the fans that came out and got to watch Kobe creep ever closer to that fateful one-game suspension for too many Technical Fouls: sorry. Your team is 1-5 against the Bobcats in their history. We absolutely own your ass, and we're not giving it back any time soon, as evidenced by the great play of Jared Dudley, Carroll and Ray Ray.

Extra special sauce goes to J Rich who not only elevated his team, but also a couple of my fantasy teams as well. We're in the playoffs here, people, respect where it's due.

Pam sat real close to where I was. I'm guessing
this pic has more to do with Laker girls routines than
Vlad Rad's horrific shooting, but could be either.

New York Knows Davidson

2008-03-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Brethren: I live in New York City, where a close childhood friend who went to Davidson also lives. This past weekend ranks up there as one of the best sports weekends he's ever experienced, as the country embraced his small school on a level never known before. His words:

Steve "HB" Kaliski: In moving from Davidson College to New York City this past summer, I realized I was changing a lot more than my address. I was changing my entire universe. From the friendly confines of the Sweet Carolinian liberal arts to the big bad city, not much would survive in transition. These two worlds have as much to say to each other as a Village hipster and a downtown banker, as Cunningham Fine Arts and Martin Chemistry, as a Ewing dunk and a Curry three. Yeah, not a whole lot in common.

I bring this up simply because it’s impossible to talk about my Wildcat bliss this week without talking about New York. My life as a sports fan has been all about cheering for the underdog, and nothing—not Robin Ventura’s grand slam single in 1999, not the Panthers storybook road to the 2003 Super Bowl, not even Dell himself pouncing on Alonzo in the Hornets’ first playoff run—compares to the totally bizarre pride I felt at the New York Post headline “HOYA DESTROYAS!” Or the New York Times front-page “UNEXPECTED GUESTS.” Or a stream of text messages from 917 and 212 area codes reading “CONGRATULATIONS!”

Man, this is weird. New York knows Davidson.

S"HB"K: And nobody loves it more than the 100-strong contingent of Davidson alumni who gathered at the Eastside’s Mercury Bar this past weekend to watch our cats slay some serious dog. When people asked me where I watched the Sunday game, I said, “At a Davidson bar.” A Davidson bar? Like a Gator bar? Or a Hokie bar? Does such a thing exist? On Friday and Sunday it did, and I’ll never forget it.

You must understand: we ‘Cats are a frenzied population, workaholics and playaholics, avidly ready to cheer for our friends when they’re achieving something remarkable. But most of the time, we settle for localized frenzy, a bubble of fun we save for ourselves, telling others, “You shoulda been there.” Now, this whole “nationwide” idea…this is something different. At least for this week, when people ask me where I went to school, I won’t have to say, “Davidson College…North Carolina…just north of Charlotte…small liberal arts school…yeah…” A simple “DA-VID-SONNNN!” should suffice, and even if I have to clarify with, “You know, Stephen Curry,” I won’t mind at all.

And though I’m thrilled to welcome the world to momentary knowledge of my education, the most meaningful consequence of Curry and Company’s March magic is that I’ve never seen the Davidson community itself so united in enthusiasm. Whether on Facebook or Gmail or AIM, every Wildcat status this week says something like “SWEET 16!!” or “DETROIT ROCK CITY!” or simply “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” On a campus where academics loom large, it takes a force mightier than a four-point play to inspire this kind of pandemic pride. It takes a four-point play as the ignition for one of the most inspiring underdog comebacks of all time, a comeback guaranteeing that the ’08 Hoyas will never hear “Sweet Caroline” again without a sweet sweet pang of “How did that happen?!”

Wisconsin, beware. No one wants you to succeed.

Of Man-Babies and Perspective

2008-03-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

Nacho: Cap'n Pappy graduated from Davidson in, like, 1912 or something. He gives us his take on his beloved Wildcats, whether we ask for it or not...

Cap'n Pappy: Back in the spring of '69, just a couple of months before Neil Armstrong would take "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind", I thought I would check the roundball team of the college I would be attending in the coming fall. I mean, how good could they really be? A small group of their students with Rhett Butler accents had just won the College Bowl (kind of a nerd's version of Jeopardy) where college students competed against each other in answering obscure questions about history, archeology, and literature, beating Harvard, Yale, Penn and others. So I adjusted the rabbit ears, the vertical and horizontal on the TV set, and then WALKED BACK ACROSS THE ROOM to sit down (yes our version of the remote at the time was to get your little brother or sister to walk up to the TV and change the channel).

Cap'n, cont'd: Well, it turns out that it was Lefty Driesell's last season at Davidson and Charlie Scott of Carolina would score at the buzzer over the outstretched arms of Wildcat defenders at the top of the key to advance Carolina to the Final 4 from the East Regional (back in the day when ONLY the conference champion went the to the Big Dance). Terry Holland took over from Lefty and my school of 1170 students would continue what would become its perennial advance to the NCAA tournaments during my tenure there. Since I was a Floridian, I had me some learnin to do about ACC basketball and Davidson basketball. Yeah I knew the SEC and Adolph Rupp and the Duke teams of the mid 60's with Marin, Vacendak, and a guy named Jeff Mullins (who would later coach at UNCC). When I got to Davidson I had to memorize the local traditions: Snyder, Hetzel, Huckle, and yes, Terry Holland. I'll never forget the road trips into the Olde Charlotte Coliseum (a 50's vintage building that looked that the UFO that Michael Rennie emerged from in "The Day the Earth Stood Still") to watch Cook, Kroll, Kirley, Malloy, and Bryan Adrian match up against South Carolina with Roach, Riker, and Ribock, and the Tar Heels when Dean Smith had hair. We loved having Carolina students visit the Davidson campus so we could whistle and shout out "Here, Dean" to the lab running around campus (Terry Holland named his dog Dean Smith). Mike Malloy's fro was way better than Will Ferrell's.

I never thought I'd live long enough to see the Cats challenge the power schools again. I cannot tell you how much I love that the Hornets legacy of Dell Curry/Stephen Curry whipped the butts of Ewing Jr./ and JT3. I ran into a die-hard Hokie fan in an airport last weekend who was disconsolate that Va Tech's coach Greenberg offered the younger Curry a possible scholarship beginning in the sophomore year if he would walk on as a freshman. That's only 30 ppg (or is it per half) the Hokies are missing this year. Not to men tion a very nice character antidote to Michael and Marcus Vick. I also love it that Bob McKillop is following in the tradition of Lefty Driesell and Terry Holland in recruiting outside the box. Lefty was one of the first guys to comb the entire country to find a few guys who wouldn't mind moving from Ohio, Florida, NYC, or Australia to Davidson NC to play college hoops and drink beer at Hattie's Truck Stop. McKillop has just expanded Lefty's Davidson horizons to become a global recruiter (Europe/Africa/Australia). Just a note to the Badgers (the next bowl of Cat-food): how many languages can you talk trash in?

This Day in History: Three Weeks Ago

2008-03-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

Brethren: This day, three weeks ago, I attended my first NHL game. I had been to professional hockey games to see the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers play, but I hadn't ever been to the game played at its highest form. Needlesstosay, I was not disappointed.

I went to Madison Square Garden three weeks ago and saw the New York Rangers play the Florida Panthers. First off, it was weird to root against a professional sports team named the Panthers, but after ignoring my quick-triggered sports concscience, I enjoyed the experience immensely. I like to do things right when I do them for the first time (a la staying at the MGM, playing golf, and being rowdy on my parent's dime when I went to Vegas for the first time). And one thing I can sure say about that Sunday night: I did my first NHL game right.

Some fine thoughts, a quick note about the beginning of March Madness, and perhance some Nacho musings, desde:

Brethren (cont'd): First off, my field trip to Madison Square Garden was courtesy of a buddy's parents, with whom I share this island we live on. They are Canadian. They are very Canadian. My friends and I simply call our buddy, "Canuck," because he's a dirty, dirty man who hails from Toronto. Canuck's dad is the CEO of Bank Of New York Mellon -- and I'm his boss, as I own 11 shares of that fine company. As the saying goes, he's kinda a big deal. He's also one of the most fascinating persons I've ever met. He's unapologettically Canadian, extremely quick-witted, and used to tell his son, Canuck, that they like his sister better every night Canuck went to bed when he was 8. This is the kind of father I aspire to be: a baller, hilarious, and kinda a dick to my kids, in that loving way.

So Canuck's dad was sick and I got called up from the proverbial bullpen to accompany Mrs. Canuck and Canuck's two (even more) Canadian cousins to the game. When I got the call that I'd be attending the game, I immediately assumed our seats would be kick-ass. They were. We were sitting on the 6th row, center ice, opposite the benches. At hockey games, sometimes you don't want to get too close so you can't see the entire rink. We weren't too close. It was just right.

After depositing ourselves in the club seats, our waiter immediately showed up and we ordered beers. He punched in the order, which was electronically sent to the concession stand, far away. I like that our waiter himself didn't have to deliver our order himself. It kinda made me think that soon enough at sporting events, I'll just be able to muse that I'd like a Bud Diesel, and it'll show up.

The two teams entered the ice, and then we had the national anthem. Sung by a deep-voiced New Yorker, I knew before the end of the song that this was not your typical NFL or NBA game. People were hootin and hollerin throughout the duration of the rendition, and cheers poured throughout the arena. I had never heard a crowd so excited about the national anthem. At SEC football games, people go crazy for the tradition, but usually remain somewhat quiet during the singing. Not hockey fans.

As the game started, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that hockey fans pay attention quite well. Because the game is so fast and a scoring play can unveil itself so quickly, you're pretty much forced to keenly pay attention, and the MSG crowd did not disappoint. The game itself was a blowout, with the Rangers winning 5-0. I had no idea Jagmir Jagr was even still in the league, and he scored a goal.

Of course, the true highlight of the night was the fact that the Rangers got into two fights. The first one was a strict 15-minute penalty because the two kept fighting after the refs tried to separate them after they hit the ice. The second one was interesting because it seemingly escalated out of nowhere. Each fight wasn't particularly rough or had a great punch, but grown men being allowed to fight is always awesome.
Hockey fights rule.

I also appreciated all the line changes more in person. As Canuck's cousins explained to me, ideally, each player would like to play in 30-60 second sprints, because that's the optimal way to play. You need to be at full bore the entire time, and you need a talented team to pull off a solid three lines. All-in-all, I feel much more knowledgeable after one live hockey game, and I hope to be back soon.

NCAA thoughts: Unless UVA's in it, I'm not much of a watcher of Selection Sunday. I don't get real excited about whether or not Drake's a six seed and whatnot. Just get me those brackets, let me dissect 'em, and take people's money.

One thing that did tickle me green this afternoon was during the ACC Championship game. Clemson grad JLew was up in NYC for the weekend, and he and I were watching the game. I'm sure somewhere else in Blogfrica (I'd imagine Awful Announcing's on it) this will be documented, but I had to mention it: sometime in the second half, Mike Patrick was talking about Tyler Hansborough's missing contact. In an attempt to tell a related story, Dickie V started off a story by saying, "Let me tell you about that -- my wife was on her knees this morning..."

Now I'm sure the story had something to do trying to find a contact on the floor, but neither JLew or I heard the rest, as we couldn't stop cracking up at Dickie V's intro. I'm sure his wife hasn't blown him in years, but here he was on national TV, lying about it to the watching sports world. I would have loved to seen Mike Patrick's face when he heard that story intro.

Good old Dickie V. Great to have him around.

Nacho: I'll say this and only this: Gonzaga, Davidson's gonna be a helluva game.

Cats on a roll!

2008-03-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Lots of action going in our Cats world. The boys at the Panthers Headquarters are sticking to their game plan: cutting high-priced veterans who we can get better value for and signing under-the-radar free agents who have a history of producing. They had a busy day on Friday, adding the Bengals' leading tackler, versatile LB Landon Johnson and a big back (who doesn't fumble!) from Jacksonville, LaBrandon Toefield.

But the real news round these parts is the YOUTH MOVEMENT going on with the Bobcats. Our Cats are in the middle of their franchise-tying four game (take that, bitches) winning streak, led by Ray-Ray Felton, Matt Carroll and Jared Dudley.

And although this has all come from almost a direct result of cutting my appointed basketball equivalent, Jeff McInnis, I must say, I was at the Knicks-Bobcats game last Wednesday, and it was very apparent this team was lethargic and needed a shake up.

More thoughts and Nacho's musings after..

Brethren (cont'd): The Knicks game was, in a word, pathetic. Neither team was playing well. The Knicks used a late second quarter run to put the game out of reach. We were down 2, then all of sudden, the Cats were down 20. It lasted like that for much of the rest of the game, and then it was thankfully over. I was sad we lost, it was disappointing to see our team suck like that, but the most annoying thing was that in a garbage time bucket, Matt Carroll sent us over the "over" and I lost my bet on the game. All in all, I was more apathetic than actually upset. I then went and played some darts and drank some beers.

But now, I'm wrapped back in! Within a week and a half, we're in the midst of our franchising-best winning streak and I'm quite excited.

Yes, the Cats YOUTH MOVEMENT has taken down The Dinos, the TWolves, the Warriors, and the Hawks. Three potential playoff teams in there. The swagger, the confidence that this team has shown with RayRay, Jim from The Office, and the Rook leading the way is contagious. They're playing the way a loose team does, and while they're still 16 games under .500 at 23-39, here's the kicker:

The Charlotte Bobcats are 3 games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Hey, some Southern brethren can dream, right?

Nacho: Halfway through my first sentence I got the text:

Fifth in a row! Franchise record!

That does my soul good. This streak comes at a time when I need something to keep the hopes up. I feel like a new inmate at Shawshank, being told the ol' Dufrense story for the first time. I don't want to do anything to jinx it. Sure, one could make a case, in this semi-late doldrums of a long and punishing season, that those potential play off teams don't mind losing a game or two, especially if it means your team leader *cough*Chris Bosh*cough* gets to sit out said meaningless game, I might be forced to at least acknowledge the possibly....but instead...

THREE GAMES OUT BABY! C'MON CATS! WOOOOOOOOO!

Don't Bring Your Fists To A Whiffle Bat Fight

2008-03-03T18:32:00.001-08:00

Nacho: While it pains me to write this post, it had to be done.

People, we've been over this. Don't bring your fists to a whiffle bat fight. That's right, the esteemed learning institution that the SportsBrethren owned is in the news, and it ain't good publicity. Seems some kids got in a fight over a whiffle ball game and one dude ended up unconscious.

Naturally, the Chattanooga PD put their best cop on the case, Kim Noorbergen. Nice try, Kim, but we all see right through your alias:

Kim Noorbergen's dad?

More shenanigans, after...

Nacho cont'd: Tempers flare and emotions run high in the valley below Lookout Mountain. You've got a deadly mixture of hormones, boner-inducing scenery, and rednecks. It's a cocktail of a powder keg of high gravity situations. It was only a matter of time before someone snapped and some kid ended up in the hospital.

I did expect better from the whiffle ball crowd though. Sure, you expect these kind of tiffs on the high-octane fields of Flickerball or the Football Jumbo Jamboree, but not whiffle ball.

This is a message directly for the fine, young men of McCallie: shape up, or you will not receive......A BIG COOKIE

Bobcats Win and Other Oddly Interesting Things for a Sunday

2008-03-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

Nacho: Here we are in the doldrums of late-winter/early-spring, going about our days attending prom-themed parties and drinking spiked punch and the sports world up and gives us something interesting to talk about. How insensitive of them.

In between a Bobcats win and Kobe entertaining us all the way through overtime, we've had a flurry of free agent activity. Looks like the Falcons' old tight end, and Tar Heel, Algernon Crumpler got himself a job with the Titans. To compensate, the Falcons took LaDanian back up Michael Turner off the Chargers hands. And to finish it off, Carl Edwards won his 2nd consecutive NASCAR race. People, I'm trying to recover from prom here, I can't take all this action.

In summation, I'd like to formally extend an invitation for Randy Moss and Daunte Culpepper to visit Charlotte. I love me some Matt Moore, but we could use some more experience at back up QB, not to mention how effing scary our receiving corps would be with Smithy and Moss. So c'mon on down and try some sweet tea. We'll make it worth your while.

Brethren's Sunday thoughts, after...

Breathren: Couldn't agree more with Nacho -- how silly of sports to be relevant in late February/early March. How wise he is. I, myself, was in our nation's capital for the weekend, hanging out with Sisterin, JLew, and my UVA boys. Sisterin works at a fake company, called Corporate Executive Board, and the company had a Prom on Saturday night that I crashed. Awesome times.

As for our sports world, The Offseason Overhaul continues at Carolina Panthers headquarters. If Fox/Hurney say shipping Jenkins for 3rd and 5th round picks was a necessary move, I'll believe them. I was always a Jenkins fan, but it's been apparent for some time that he wasn't the best fit on this team. I especially liked that he called out Warren Sapp for having a stanky soul and I liked that he called out this team's heart in the beginning of the year last year. But we got some value out of him and I'm happy about that.

I second Nacho's request for Culpepper and Moss to visit the QC. Ask Jake and Smitty: we got Bojangles'! It's amazing!

And in the best news of the weekend, Sisterin is moving to Chicago in April, and she'll be living 3 blocks from Wrigley field. That's all sorts of awesome, as the Cubs home field is one of the best MLB stadiums I've been to. I'm looking forward to making a trip this summer and getting drunk in the bleachers.

We got a big few weeks of sports coming up: college basketball heats up, MLB starts back, NBA sorts out, and the NFL free agency continues on! Be good, sportsfans.

Happy Days Are Here Again

2008-02-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Nacho: In keeping with the theme of Jesus-we're-gonna-lose-our-jobs, Fox and Hurney have shaken shit up some more this offseason.

That right: it's out with The Hair and in with The Moose. I think we can all agree that the David Carr experiment was done solely to give the SportsBrethren fodder to bitch and moan during an otherwise lackluster Panther season. I'm not sure who decided, and at what point they decided, that David Carr is a legitimate professional quarterback, but the sad truth is he never was and he never will be. I, for one, am happy to see him leave, and sad to lose his hair.

Moose thoughts, after...

Nacho cont'd: As for Moose, I'm all a-biggity-bout getting back a solid receiver. In years past this role has been filled by the inimitable Ricky Proehl and duds like Keyshawn. We need a possession receiver, as the past three or four years have proven that if you cover Steve Smith well, the Panthers passing game is rather impotent. Moose provides us with a threatening receiver, as opposed to, say, Drew Carter. Drew Carter does not strike fear in the hearts of men.

Anyhow, I'm happy to have Moose back in the blue and black, the way it should be. The Bears have been happy to be picking up the Panthers sloppy seconds for a couple years now. I rather enjoy this. I think the Bears and the Panthers should form an unholy alliance where we just trade the same players back and forth, for ever-decreasing amounts of money. I expect Ricky Manning Jr to be beating up nerds in Norf Cakalacky fast food joints before 2010.

Ahhhh the offseason, where speculation goes to thrive.

The Greatest Sports Gambling Site Ever

2008-02-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

Brethren: This Series of Tubes delivers me joy every single day. But today, I discovered a new land in the Interwebs that I can tell will eternally put me in afternoon drinking mood.

Today, I was emailed by an old college buddy, passing along the word of what I easily consider the greatest sports gambling website I've ever seen. For free, you can put your inner Brandon Lang sports gambling savvy to the test -- and win real money.

Hard cash. Duckets. Dolla dolla bills. For free.

If this seems like a scam, stay with me. There are some catches. But if you have a slight interest in betting on sports -- yet don't want to deal with the hassle of losing hard earned cash, this site is for you. The site is CentSports.com and honestly, I'm just pissed I didn't think of it first. It's a brilliant concept, simply designed, and I'm quite sure will become terrifyingly addicting.

The skinny and the catches after The Jump:

Brethren (cont'd): Here's the deal: CentSports.com deposits 10 cents into your account. You start gambling your 10 cents on sports lines (the spread, money lines, over/unders, parlays, etc) for free. From there you try to grow your dime slowly. If you run out, they will keep giving you another dime. It's brilliant.

The catch (althought it's not that bad): you can't cash out until you reach $10 -- and you get your money via a PayPal deposit. Additionally, once you reach $10 you can't make any bets larger than $10 at a time. All the money come from advertisers. You can also watch commercials and provide feedback for a 25% payout increase after you've made your bet (which as an advertiser myself, I highly recommend doing, for all parties involved).

For the community aspect, once you sign up, you can add anyone else that signs up as friends in order to keep tabs on everyone's bets. It also has a Facebook application for the socially-networking involved. I can already tell it will be incredibly addicting.

As both a sports gambling fan and a person who works in Interactive Advertising, this site just blows my mind. It's so simple: a great concept executed simply and humorously (honestly, looking at the site, it couldn't have taken more than 2 weeks to build and not more than $10-20k of a designer's time to make). It's incredibly targeted for the young sports fan.

Like I said, I'm just fucking pissed I didn't think of it first.

So go to CentSports.com, and behold one of the most addicting sites to hit the Sports Interwebs in quite some time. Enjoy.

A Message From Daniel Plainview to Mikki Moore

2008-02-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

Daniel Plainview: One night, I'm gonna come inside your house, wherever you're sleeping, and I'm gonna cut your throat.

bitch.

The B-E A-GG-R-E-SS-I-V-E Offseason Continues

2008-02-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Looks to us brethren like Coach John Fox and GM Marty Hurney are serious about this "job being on the line" thing. After last season where they basically rolled the dice with the same team from the year before, and not doing much besides cutting Keyshawn Johnson and bringing in David Carr, the Panthers seem to be in overhaul mode.

In another major offseason move, the Panthers have cut starting RB DeShaun Foster. But just as I type this, how "major" is this move? While Foster joins former starters MLB Dan Morgan and OG Mike Wahle in the pink-slip reception line, I don't think any Panthers fan would look at those three starters and say, "You know what? We CANNOT live without those guys."

I would venture to say the "Holy Shit, we cannot do without him" list pretty much just includes Steve Smith, and maybe a previous version of Julius Peppers. I'd personally be pissed if we let Jake, Jon BeasTon, DeAngelo Williams, and maybe Ryan Kalil go, but the Holy Shit list pretty much only includes Steve Smith and a Pep we have in our memories.

That said, a more in-depth look at the Foster release and the Panthers offseason overhaul.

Brethren (cont'd): As ordinary as Foster numbers look when you sit back and actually examine them (he never rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season, he's had more fumbles than touchdowns, etc etc etc), he provided some of the most "my team is badass and we will crush you" moments outside of a man named Steve Smith.

The four-tackles-broken-at-the-goal-line against the Eagles in the 2004 NFC Championship game. The 30-plus yard TD run in the Super Bowl against the Cheaters that had the sweetest fly into the endzone, as pictured above the Jump. Those two TD runs are some of my favorites moments as a Panthers fan. I'm more than sure I told the rooms where I was watching that the Carolina Panthers -- and their fans -- behold the largest cocks on the block after seeing Foster so dramatically find the end zone.

At the end of the day, DeShaun Foster was probably best suited as a change of pace back, not the featured bruiser that Fox and Hurney crave. He never was able to stay healthy or produce consistently, and thus, a man we once franchised is now moving on. The Panthers continue their offseason overhaul, as the Fox/Hurney duo are finally getting the point that status quo never works in the NFL offseason.

The fun thing for us Cats fans is that, with each big move made, we'll be expecting another even bigger one next. What else ya got, Foxy and Hurney??

Nacho: Thanks to those awesome Mucinex commercials, I imagine all the mucus in my body to be a bunch of cantakerous grumpy construction workers. This does not make me feel better as I hack up a lung.

Not much to add because, to me, Foster's, oddly, not all interesting. In fact, that's kind of been our running game's identity under Fox. Our running game reminds me of a certain race of beings.

I remember the two-headed beast of Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster chewing up yardage during the Improbable Season, but aside from that not much is there. There were times when he elated and energized us all, and probably more times when he frustrated us to no end.

So godspeed DeShaun. You never did much to make me hate you, and those two TDs Brethren talked about certainly had my ass out of the seat. I enjoyed it when we had two guys with the letters "De" at the beginning of their names, but wish we'd've run the wishbone option more.

Keep your phone on, though, those Cheaters are always interested in ex-Panthers.

Welcome back, Dunk Contest

2008-02-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

Brethren: Not often do I have a great time out drinking and come home and wished I had at least gotten in front of a TV to watch TNT.

But that's exactly what happened last night. I have spent the last 45 minutes on the interwebs, watching recaps of this here Dunk Contest thing. Dwight Howard's bounce, tip-with-the-left-hand-off-the-backboard, throw down with the right hand was my favorite. Second was Gerald Green's blowing out the cupcake. Skeets has his rundown over at Yahoo! and through the jump, I've found the whole telecast on YouTube. Spend the time. Watch these dunks. Enjoy the Kenny and Charles banter.

Ri-dunk-u-lous.

Brethren (cont'd): Here they are:
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Also, a recap that I can't figure out how to embed found here, at NBA.com.

Worldwide Leader Getting More Panthery

2008-02-15T17:57:00.001-08:00

Nacho: With Brethren back on the east coast, we can resume to our regular blogging schedule. A quick note for all you readers out there: ESPN.com's coverage of the NFC South, and the Panthers in general, is going to be getting a lot more expansive. About a week ago the Worldwide Leader picked up the Charlotte Observer's Pat Yasinskas.

He's already tearing shit up and giving us lonely Cats fans more than enough fat to chew on as we look towards the abandoned tundra that is the offseason.

Brethren was more acquainted with the man's work so, his better-informed thoughts are after...

Brethren: To me, Pat was always the unsung Colonel of the Charlotte Observer sports staff (which I'm pretty sure makes Ken Tysiac a Staff Stargeant). He was the top beat writer for the Panthers and kept up a pretty good "blog" at Charlotte.com on the Cats, but he was overshadowed by the Generals of Tom Sorensen, Scott Fowler, and Commander-in-Chief Ron Green, Sr.

His old blog spot has been taken by a team of the immortal Stan Olson and the slick Chaz Chandler. But as Nacho is indicating, this is about more than the Observer Sports section losing a member of the rank. This is about our Carolina Panthers getting some lurvin by the MSM.

So while the Cats get lots of lurve on this here blog post, expect lots of "hey, you see DeShaun is being shopped around!" and "Travelle Warton could be moving to guard! What are we going to do with this plethora of interior offensive lineman?!" stories coming out urryone's favorite homepage from 2003.

As Nacho put it so eloquently yesterday, good for Pat, "getting called up to the Show." Godspeed, good sire, and don't forget to credit us if you "break" one of our stories.

Canuck's Jersey Has Become Obsolete

2008-02-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

Brethren: And with the first major move of the offseason, the Carolina Panthers have cut two former starters, LB Dan Morgan, he of the oft-concussed fame, and G Mike Wahle, a big splash free agent signing nary but a few years ago. Morgan is most famous for his 25-tackle Super Bowl performance; Wahle for his manly goatee and shaved head. Oh, and I know a few people who own Dan Morgan jerseys, so they can now have a hip "retro" uni in their collection.

From what I've read/seen, neither of the two were very surprised, and both had high praise for the Carolina organization. It was a cap move, pure and simple. With the emergence of Jon BeaSton at MLB, Morgan became expendable, and with talented rookie center/guard Ryan Kalil sitting on the bench, so did Wahle.

I think the great underlying observation that can be taken from this is that Dan Morgan and Mike Wahle represented how the Panthers liked to build their team under Fox/Hurney: Morgan, the speedy defensive leader, taken in the first round of the draft, and Wahle, the tough interior O-linesman, plucked from free agency.

And for the most part, that has worked. But ultimately, the cutting of Morgan and Wahle is somewhat of an admission that those two particular "big-time" acquisitions have failed. And that's a sad reality.

Ed note: The SportsBrethren haven't posted in a while, because they've been hanging out together (last weekend in Vegas, Sun-Wed of this week in LA). And the original plan for this blog was for us to stay in communication (about sports) while we lived on opposite ends of the country. So when we hang out, this here blog you love so much takes a backseat. Sorry.

Follow us for Nacho's thoughts on the Cats start to the offseason:

Nacho: Every aspect of the past five days has blurred and slurred itself into on crock pot of adventure, danger, hilarity and fun, so forgive me if I don't brin my A game...

I'm sorry to see Danny Boy and Wahl E ride off into the sunset, but it's for the best. This move, as Brethren explained, is merely a logical progression of the franchise. These are football players we're talking about here. They're career expectancy isn't necessarily endless. So while we bid adieu, we do so without regret, with eyes looking to the future, and with hope in our hearts.

I will say, that every time the name Dan Morgan is mentioned, I always think back to the concussed hockey player at the beginning of "Jerry Maguire." As in, it's a small accomplishment when ol' Dan remembers his family.

There's so many facets that need to be addressed this offseason, from rehabbing starters, to securing a stronger secondary, to maybe landing a big ol' Free Agent, and this move seems to be the start down the road to victory. If we can beat down some crazed Germans and crafty Japanese, surely the same moxie can push us to the top of the NFC South, right?

Today In History: One Week Ago

2008-02-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

Nacho: Ah, but to be back in those halcyon days, when the world was full of wonder and fecund with possibility. I'm talking, of course, about last Monday: January 28th, 2008. While the world of sports slogged through a needless bye week before the inevitable Patriots Super Bowl victory, we grappled for some other sport to step up to the plate. For me, that sport was basketball; namely, the Charlotte Bobcats taking on the Los Angeles Clippers.

My christmas present had been two seats, fifteen rows behind the Bobcats bench. I entertained a wild fantasy where I'd show up, dressed exactly like Adam Morrison (pictured above)and, since Sam Vincent's just a first year coach, I could slip onto the end of the bench. Vincent, in his inexperience, would confuse me with the REAL Adam Morrison, and BAM! the next thing you know, I'm jawing with Sam Cassell.

Alas, the 'Cats didn't quite follow the plan and showed up in the Orange unis:

I always associate orange with winners.

The rest of my adventure in the center of Staples, after...

Nacho: So we got to our seats, and I immediately started looking around for someone to slap. Turns out he was off daydreaming about a Dreamboat. Go figure.

There was no Penny Marshall sightings, but Billy Crystal was in the house. He ate popcorn a lot:

He sits with his legs crossed all night.

Since Billy was nice enough to come out to see my boys, I thought I'd send him a shout out.

Cool people will recognize my last four digits.

Although we were totally acknowledging one another every time out, Adam Morrison blew me off. Even at the end of the game, when we moved really close to the bench and a section of fans kept taunting me. Morrison, I'm giving you one more chance: March 28th, 2008. Lakers, Bobcats. You blow me off then, I burn your bobblehead and demand a trade. Sorry.

But this story has a happy ending: after Morrison stalked away, Jeff McInnis, a true Charlotte boy, tossed me his headband. Jeff McInnis is the coolest pro baller I've ever met.

That thing is extremely sweaty. Extremely.

Naturally, I DVR'ed the game, so we drove straight home and scanned forward to the end. I think this image speaks droves because the Bobcats have just won the game, and no one is more excited than I.

This West Coast road trip is gonna go GREAT!

All in all, it was a splendid night. I really wish Adam Morrison wasn't such a jerk and took a picture with me. Jeff McInnis is awesome; and the Bobcats are on a roll!

Well, tomorrow night's a big night so we're gonna do some drinking. Hope to see you out there.

Pants Party! Pants Party! Pants Party!

2008-02-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

Nacho: As it's Friday, I reckon I should dole out a little more info about the upcoming Primary Pants Party. I'm sure we've all been following along with the Frolicking Foibles of Fearless Leader, so I'd like to take a moment to discuss another aspect of the evening that you might not be aware of.

There will be Guitar Hero. There will be The Wheel of Booze. There Will Be Blood. But, in addition to all that, there will be Primary results. This Tuesday ain't just some run-of-the-mill, following-Monday-like-oh-so-many-sheep Tuesday. This is fucking Super Tuesday. So get out there, rock the vote, and afterwards, come watch as the field of presidential candidates dwindles ever further.

All your questions answered, after...

Nacho cont'd: Lets take some inquriries, shall we?

Scott W. (Clemson, SC): I'm a soccer fan, and as such, I was wondering where Will Leitch's book signing is going down in Los Angeles.

SportsBrethren: Good question, Scott, and sorry to hear about the whole soccer thing. Will's book signing and Masterpiece Theater will be happening on Tuesday, February 5th, at Book Soup, at 7pm. Need a map of Book Soup? We've got you covered.

John S. (Plano, TX): At this book signing, will there be punch and pie?

SB: We can neither confirm, nor deny, the existence of neither punch, nor pie, at the book signing.

Lindsay P. (Gastonia, NC): I love dentistry almost as I love getting crunk. The last time I got snockered in a book store, I ended up distributing the What Happening To My Body Book For Boys to a group of elementary students.

There's a twist at the end.

SB Well, Lindsay, while I didn't hear a question in there, I will state that there will be an after-party. This Post Signing Primary Pants Party is going down at Big Wangs Wings Sports Bar in Hollywood. Need a map to get you from Book Soup to Big Wangs? Here ya go:

View Larger Map

Big Wangs is located at 1562 N Cahuenga Blvd, 90028 a scant 3 miles from Book Soup. Just head east on Sunset, turn left when you see the Cinerama Dome and Amoeba Music and it's in the strip mall on the right, one block up.

Guido J. (Patagonia): Yes, but what time will all this madness be taking place?

SB: Fearless Leader ballparks it around 8:30pm, so come on down. We'll watch some primary results, pontificate on the future of our country, then rock out some Guitar Hero. If this shit ends up silly, like Huckabee/Edwards silly, we're gonna need to blow off some steam. Muse should suffice.

Tiny (Compton, CA): I hate words.

SB: Well, then here's an awesome video our friend Alexis made for her own Primary Party, that we will gladly show you:

Bambi (Reno, NV) Why won't you visit your child, Nacho? He's got your fucking eyes! Why won't you talk to us?! What have we done to deserve this?!

/slaps a ho

SB: You know what you did.

So there it is folks, all the news that's fit to print. If you'd like to pummel us for more information, feel free to just send us an email at: SportsBrethren@gmail.com. We'll be happy to take any questions, comments, or paternity tests, so long as your not a filthy whore from Reno.

Have a nice weekend, and enjoy the Super Bowl, urrbody.

Come for the politics,
stay for the videogames!

Bobcats Gone A-Boykin'

2008-01-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

Nacho: All you folks jawing about my visit to Staples can pipe down for a short bit, I'll get to it as soon as I'm able. In other news, today the Bobcats signed Earl Boykins for the rest of the year. I, for one, greet our Boykin overlords and look forward to months of petty puns. I felt Herr Boykin got the shit end of the stick in the Allen Iverson trade, so it's good to see him land on his feet.

Besides, if Charlotte's gonna have professional basketball team, it damn well better have a diminutive point guard leading the squad. Can Earl be the second coming of Muggsy? We'll see. In the meantime, we'll just go ahead and ignore the fact that Brad freaking Miller put up 20+/20+ on us.

Brethren's thoughts a la carte, after...

Nacho cont'd: Thanks to our friend Doogz for the head's up that JJ's getting testy in Orlando.

Brethren: If we were going to fill that last open roster spot and it's not gonna be a big guy to help our thin front line, I'll take a 5'5 point guard any day of the week. Especially the Boynk. I mean, he's smaller than me! And he's in the NBA! What could possibly get better!?

Anyone who can invoke Muggsy is good in my book and helping mentor Ray Ray should be good, although I don't know if I want Earl's shoot-first mentality to rub off on Ray Ray. I do lurve me some Muggsy though. For a solid few years until I was about 16, I thought I could be a solid point guard despite the fact that I was 5'8 and a stiff wind could blow me over. I'm pretty sure Muggsy was the only reason I thought that. And if the Bobcats now have a diminutive point guard who inspires white suburban Charlotteans to think they too can have success in the game of basketball, well, that's just aces.

picture ht: SportsBastards. Nice name.

Hell's Coming With Me!!!

2008-01-27T16:00:00.005-08:00

Nacho: A quick reminder: Tomorrow night, Monday the 28th, "Charlotte is FREE." I'll be heading down to Staples Center, with some amazing seats.

My expressed, written goals include:

- A Bobcats win. (This will not be difficult; especially with The Caveman still injured.)

- Drink heavily. (This will be the only thing easier than beating the Clippers.)

- Get a picture with Adam Morrison. (I want this more than a Bobcats win.)

- To be Bill Simmons's huckleberry, and act like Daniel Plainview when his parenting is impugned. Simmons, if you don't recall, denies our existence like a Midwestern school board does evolution. Seriously, I'm gonna treat him like Kurt Russell does Billy Bob Thornton. You gonna do something, or just stand there and bleed?

Supercool video, after...

Nacho cont'd: I don't know who posted this, but god bless 'em. I'm fairly certain this is footage from the Hornets game I attended. I'll look over it a few more times to determine if my pixle-y ass is in there. (Update: nope. Opposite end of the court.)

The Calm Before the Storm

2008-01-26T09:21:00.000-08:00

Brethren: The Bobcats are not unlike Fievel at the beginning of his American Tail sequel, all anxious and ablaze about following the setting sun for the first time in the 2007-2008 NBA season. After taking care of the Bulls last night in Chicago (who were without their top two scorers), the Cats have pulled over .500 in their last 11 gaves, at a cool 6-5. The five losses came to teams at the top of league: New Orleans, San Antonio, Dallas, and bonus-basketball losses to Detroit and Cleveland.

The wins were of note, too. At Boston. Home versus Denver. Home versus Orlando. The other three were against teams they should be beating: New Jersey, Memphis, at Chicago.

So while I am enjoying the baby-steps success, and we're seeing some good things like quality wins at home, pulling out games on the road, the thing is I just think we've put ourselves in too deep a hole. We can dig ourselves out, we just have to prove that our recent stretch of play is more indicative than our season road record, a not-so-cool, 3-13.

A more in-depth look at the upcoming scheduel, and some Nacho toppings, desde

Brethren (cont'd): So while I'm uber-excited to see the ACC Tournament in its rightful home of Charlotte, NC, all the college basketball events we've got going on that take up Charlotte Bobcats Arena, it puts the team on the road for the majority of the rest of the season.

Of course, we start out tonight with a very winnable game at home versus Philly. The Sixers are actually worse than the Bobcats, sitting at 16-28 (versus the Cats' 17-26 record). Of course, winnable games and real wins are two different things, as if Philly hadn't played Charlotte this year, they'd only be 14-28 (clever way of saying the Bobcats haven't beaten the Sixers this year).

So after that, we have nine games before the All-Star break, six of them on the road (at Clips, Sacto, GS, PHO, Denver, and Detroit). And at the end of the day, we're 1 game out of the 8th spot in the Leastern Conference. So as we trek westward like young Fievel, which Bobcats team will we be bringing? The surging Cats, winners of 6 of their last 11, with wins over some quality opponents? Or the young team on the road who has amassed 3 road wins in 16 games away from home this year?

Nacho: I'm agree and empathize with Brethren: while our Cats are improving at the usual incremental place, I still don't see any leaps and bounds being taken any time soon. They've put together some impressive wins, but I don' have the confidence in them night after night. They're Jekyll and Hyde, and only one of those personalities wins games.

I will go out on a limb and gaurantee a Bobcats victory this upcoming Monday against the Clippers. The reason: I will be intimidating the eff out of every Clippers player. Riddle me this: the Bobcats are an even .500 when I witness games, and with that kind of science and statistics behind, they're sure to win. Take it to the bank.

As for the Bobcats, don't expect any post-season action any time soon, but as Simmons perpetually prophesizes, one of the years, the Bobcats are going to be a team to be reckoned with.

Primary Pants Party: Now With Video

2008-01-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

Nacho: Just a quick update, because our friend Alexis made up this video for a party entirely unrelated to the Primary Pants Party coming up in a few weeks. It's sports related because it's got the MNF music all up in it.

Don't forget to vote, now, kids. February 5th is Super Tuesday.

Pretty sw33t, right? Anyway, just a reminder: Pants Party's two weeks from tonight. Get yer salsa on, after....

I feel like I've been duped into a Jennifer Lopez basketball movie.