Featured stories, Panthers

Panthers say the bye week was helpful in preparation for Dallas and the rest of the season

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The Carolina Panthers are coming off a bye week with a 1-4 record and, with the Dallas Cowboys on the horizon this Sunday, the team things the week off was helpful.

Fullback Mike Tolbert said, “We obviously have a sense of urgency. The week off definitely helped us; I think it helped everybody. We’re ready to get back to work. We don’t have any more bye weeks. We’re here throughout the rest of the year. We have to come out and get wins. It’s crunch time.”

He added, “We know we’re so much better than what we’ve been putting out there. This team is better than 1-4. We have to show it every day.”

Defensive end Charles Johnson said, “If we want to do something special we’ve got to win now. We’re back at it. We’re on our grind trying to get this ‘W’, trying to get this streak going.”

He added, “Every game is a must win game, but I feel there is extra pressure on us for this game. We need a win bad, especially at home. We want to start the new quarter (of the season) with a 1-0 start.”

After practice Monday, head coach Ron Rivera said, “Mentally, they were into this week already. Physically, they looked refreshed.”

Featured stories, UNC

Late Night with an emotional Roy features Hairston, Paige

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I’m not sure what the biggest story of the night was at Late Night with Roy, the 2012-2013 UNC basketball team’s coming out party. Was it P.J. Hairston scoring 12 points? Was it Dexter Strickland sitting out, not totally healed from last year’s injury? Was it the smooth, confident play of freshman point guard Marcus Paige? Was it the surprising maturity of freshman big man Joel James?

Probably a tie. But the thing that struck me most was the emotion Roy Williams showed. As soon as he came out and gave a big bear hug to MC Stuart Scott of ESPN, a 1987 grad, it showed. He whispered to Scott that he was so glad to be there.

Repeatedly throughout the night, especially when he got an extended ovation from Carolina fans after he was officially introduced, Williams took deep breaths. Even after a live ESPN interview, he exhaled seemingly to indicate that he got through it without crying.

It’s probably fair to say that Williams thought he might die from kidney cancer when he got word from his doctor that both of his kidneys had tumors. Surgery on one and a biopsy on the other proved that the tumors were benign.

“It rocked me worse than anything ever has,” Williams said about learning he had the tumors. He admitted to thinking bad thoughts and having to fight to change them to good thoughts.

But he got a lot of support from family, players, former players, Carolina fans and the coaching community. He tears up when he talks about that.

He says the scare has changed him. I imagine he is thinking more about his mortality. I have a feeling Williams, who is starting his 10th season as Carolina head coach, is going to enjoy or at least appreciate life a little bit more from this season on.

I know that when the players pulled him out on the court to dance during a team dance routine, he got into it and actually danced better than he ever has at one of these Late Night with Roy events.

As far as the event itself, the night started with the marching band impressively filling up the court and blaring out fight songs.

Next, probably in an attempt to remind people of the pre-NCAA investigations reputation of Carolina, every UNC sports team came out in Olympic style with the fanfare playing in the background.

With Scott giving the impressive accolades of each squad, the teams formed the letters UNC on the court. Former UNC soccer player Heather O’Reilly brought out the lit torch.

Then Dexter Strickland led the Tar Heel basketball team out.

The over-the-top production took a more somber turn when there was a moment of silence for former University President William Friday, who passed away earlier in the day at the age of 92.

The Clef Hangers a capella group sang the national anthem as well as some other songs including James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind.

The program dragged a bit during the slow introductions of the women’s basketball team. Danielle Butts did make a bit of a butt of herself with her show-off mentality. To the crowd’s credit her lengthy, extreme dance antics seemed to fall flat.

Of course the 17,000 plus fans weren’t there to watch the women’s team. The night got a boost however when long-time women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell was introduced and she pulled embattled and retiring Chancellor Holden Thorp out of the stands to join her on the court. Two of the women even briefly picked up Thorp on their shoulders.

After some creative layup drills that included hoola hoops and tied ankles, the night finally turned to the men’s team.

A video review of last year’s team, which obviously was meant to inspire the fans, was probably more painful to watch than anything because Carolina fans were reminded of a team that underachieved due primarily to injuries to Kendall Marshall and John Henson.

The 2012-2013 players were introduced to dimmed lights. The freshmen were introduced first and, with the exception of Joel Jones, came across as a bit ostentatious and too big for their britches, especially being introduced to Carolina fans for the first time.

During the coaches’ introductions, the Carolina crowd gave a loud ovation to new coach and former player Hubert Davis. The biggest ovation of course was for Williams, who, again, breathed deeply and found back the emotion of the moment.

The silliness of the evening came back however as the players did dance routines which included the freshmen doing ballet complete with leotards and tutus.

After that, it was finally time for a 20-minute, clock running scrimmage. Unfortunately, the increasingly annoying Jump Around song is still cued up for the beginning of games.

As for the game itself, James Michael McAdoo started things off quickly with a dunk for the White team but the Blue team came back with its star P.J. Hairston who drained a couple of threes from the right corner to put the Blue team up for good at 9-7.

McAdoo went cold (missing everything twice) and Hairston stayed hot (passing, driving and even drawing a charge).

Marcus Paige, playing for the Blue team, popped in a three from the top of the key, drove in for a layup and floated in a runner in the lane.

Leslie McDonald and Reggie Bullock, coming off injuries, managed to each hit a three pointer but both looked rusty.

The Blue team easily won 37-27. The Tar Heels begin the season at home Nov. 9 against Gardner Webb.

Featured stories, UNC

UNC offense rolling but has much more potential, Fedora says

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North Carolina’s offense has been clicking the last couple of weeks but the Tar Heels still have a ways to go, UNC coach Larry Fedora said. They’ll need to continue to adjust to Fedora’s uptempo offense to defeat Miami, a team that is undefeated in conference play.

“We know that we’ll have our work cut out for us, and we’ll have to play a complete game,” Fedora said.

“I know we’ve had some success in the last couple of weeks, but we’re not even close to our potential,” he added. “You can go back in this last game, and wow. You look at it and go, golly, that’s not very good. So I know that we can get a lot better and will be a lot better in the future. The best thing about it is our team has improved each week.”

Fedora, running back Gio Bernard and quarterback Bryn Renner all give a lot of credit for the offense’s success to the offensive line.

“We’ve kept people off the quarterback,” Fedora said of his line. “We’ve kept him up right as much as possible, and they’ve done a good job in the running game.
So I think that those guys have probably been the most consistent group on our football team at this point. I think that’s why you’re seeing the results that you do.”

The leader of the group is Jonathan Cooper, an All-ACC and even All-America candidate. “I can’t imagine there being that many guards in the country with his kind of skill level. I’ve never had one, actually,” Fedora said. “He’s a 300-plus pounder that can really run, has great feet. I mean, he has phenomenal feet. He’s got feet as good as tight ends out there. So he can stay on blocks. He can pull. He can move. He’s very intelligent. He can pass block with the best of them.”

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Predictions: It should be clear football weather for high school games

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Most area high school football teams are playing their seventh or eighth games of the season. If you haven’t been to a game this season, it’s time to get out there and support high school athletics. It should be about 60 degrees at game time with no chance of rain. Most games start at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. Last week I had my worst week of predictions at 12-4. For the year I stand at 76-11. Game predicts are as follows.

Athens Drive at Middle Creek
Broughton at Heritage
Cardinal Gibbons at North. Vance
Cedar Ridge at Carrboro
Green Hope at Lee
Holly Springs at Fuquay-Varina
Webb at Chapel Hill
Knightdale at Garner
Millbrook at Leesville Road
Northern Durham at Apex
Panther Creek at Cary
Person at Jordan
Ravenscroft at N. Raleigh Christian
Sanderson at WF-Rolesville
SE Raleigh at East Wake
Southern Durham at E. Chapel Hill
Wakefield at Enloe

Duke, Featured stories

Duke’s Cutcliffe pays attention to new kickoff touchback rule

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Duke kickoff returners have shown great restraint by downing the ball in the end zone and giving the Blue Devils the ball at the 25 yard line – as opposed to the 20 in years past.

It’s not by accident that you don’t see Duke returners coming out from a couple of yards deep in the end zone and getting tackled before reaching the 25.

“I’ve paid a lot of attention to the new rule,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. “We did a lot of work on this in spring practice and in camp. Really I go into every game with a plan and if I see a kicker that has hang time and a unit that can run, we’re not bringing anything out of the end zone.”

In looking at other games, Cutcliffe said he sees “knuckleheads” coming out three yards back in the end zone and getting tackled at the 12.

In addition, Duke wants its kicker to get the ball inside the 5 on the kickoff without the ball going in the end zone.

“We’ve got a freshman kicker, and he’s going to get better and better at putting it where we want it,” Cutcliffe said of Ross Martin. “If we can put the ball where we want it, and put it at the 1, or 2 or 3-yard line, we think we can tackle you inside the 20. Why would we give you the ball on the 25-yard line?”

He said the Blue Devils work very hard at this aspect of the game. “How great an advantage is it to go back-to-back if you can pin somebody at the 12-yard line, go out there, play great defense, go three-and-out and put a score back on top of that. You can take a team out of a game.”

He said it’s a big rule change and his team has made a big deal about it. “Our return men have strict orders one way or the other,” he said. “I don’t even like them catching it if they know it’s deep, because there is no reason. The only thing that can happen if you catch one in the end zone and drop it, it’s a live ball. People don’t know that. So if I put them in a spot and it’s over their head, just leave it alone and leave it at that.”

Featured stories, N.C. State

State coaches working on individuals during bye week

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Coming off an emotional win over powerful Florida State, you’d think NC State would just want to heal up and get ready for the next opponent. But Coach Tom O’Brien wants to use the time wisely… and work on each individual player.

“We’ll coach everybody, scout team guys, the guys that are red shirt freshmen that — or the freshmen we’re looking to red shirt,” O’Brien said but he admits the week will also be about getting healthy. “The key to us is trying to get some guys healthy and back. We lost Forrest West for the season probably on Saturday night with a broken ankle, so he and Zach Allen both are now out for the year. Just try to get to be a better football team this week.”

Having lost to Miami and then beating Florida State, it’s been an emotional couple of weeks. Is O’Brien worried about that roller coaster ride taking its toll on the players?

“I would be if we had to play this weekend, but thank goodness we don’t,” he said. “Hopefully we can get off that and be solid the rest of the way. Certainly you would like to think that this win will give us a lot of confidence, but we’ve got six conference games left. Each game we treat as we’re playing for the Conference Championship. We’ve put ourselves back into the race by beating Florida State. I think that we can be, with our senior leadership, hopefully not be so up and down.”

Canes, Featured stories

There will be some hockey at PNC Arena as Checkers host Admirals Jan. 6

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Tickets for the Checkers’ game against Norfolk on Jan. 6 at PNC Arena will go on sale to the general public on Thursday, Nov. 1. A presale for Hurricanes and Checkers season ticket holders will begin on Monday, Oct. 29.

There are four price categories for the game, ranging from $15 in the club corners to $100 for front-row seats. Center ice seating in the lower level and club level is set at $35, and seats in the north and south end zones are $20. Tickets will be available for the general public beginning at 10 a.m. on Nov. 1 at the PNC Arena box office and all Ticketmaster locations.

The password-protected presale for Hurricanes and Checkers season ticket holders will begin at 10 a.m. on Oct. 29, and provides a $5 discount for all available seating categories with the exception of front-row seats. Season ticket holders will be emailed a password and link for the presale, and purchases may also be made at the PNC Arena box office using season ticket holder identification cards.

– News release

Featured stories

ACC unveils 2013 ACC Tournament logo for Greensboro

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The Atlantic Coast Conference on Wednesday unveiled the logo for the 2013 ACC Tournament, slated for March 14-17, 2013. This year’s event will mark the 24th time it has been held at the Greensboro Coliseum.

All 12 league teams will participate in the tournament, with the winner receiving the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The bracket will be seeded according to the final regular-season standings with the top four finishers receiving first-round byes.

First played in 1954 at Reynolds Coliseum on the NC State campus, the ACC Tournament quickly grew into one of the premier events in all of college sports. Of the 12 conference teams that have captured NCAA titles, seven – North Carolina in 1957 and 1982, NC State in 1974 and 1983, and Duke in 1992, 2001 and 2010 – rode the momentum of an ACC Tournament championship to the national crown.

The event is known for classic contests, including NC State’s 103-100 overtime win over Maryland in the1974 finals that is regarded as one of the greatest games in the history of college basketball. Large media contingents are synonymous with the ACC Tournament, and ESPN and the ACC Network are once again set to provide national and regional television coverage.

Close to two million fans have attended the previous 23 ACC Tournaments at the Greensboro Coliseum, and close to five million have made their way through the turnstiles at 11 total venues over the past six decades. The 2001 tournament, held at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, established NCAA conference tournament records for total attendance (182,525), per session attendance (36,505) and single-session attendance (40,083).

Eight ACC teams have claimed at least one championship, including defending champion Florida State, which captured the ACC Tournament title for the first time in 2012.

– News release

Featured stories, Redskins

Former Panther Mare doesn’t make the cut as Redskins pick new kicker

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The Redskins gave Billy Cundiff another week after he missed three field goals in a win at Tampa Bay, but after he missed a key 31-yarder in a loss to the Falcons the Skins cut him.

On Tuesday, they tried out former Panther Olindo Mare and another experienced kicker in Josh Brown but they finally decided on a player who has never attempted a kick in the NFL – former UCLA kicker Kai Forbath.

Forbath kicked a 57 yarder in high school, a 51-yard game winner in college and a 55-yard field goal during preseason with the Tampa Bay Bucs. But he failed to make the roster as former UNC kicker Connor Barth held on to his job.

It’s been a kicker merry-go-round for years for the Skins since Chip Lohmiller held down the position from 1988 to 1994. Some of the names of kickers since then are Eddie Murray, Scott Blanton, John Hall, Jose Cortez, Brett Conway, Kris Heppner, Nick Novak, Michael Husted, Chris Jacke, Cary Blanchard, Ola Kimrin, James Tuthill, David Akers (big mistake letting him go) and Shaun Suisham.

Graham Gano, last year’s starter, and Neil Rackers, the former Packer, battled it out in preseason only for Cundiff to be signed when he became available.

Mare, considered one of the NFL’s most accurate field goal kickers in recent years, signed with the Panthers for the 2011 season. Mare led the NFL with 53 touchbacks but his field goal accuracy was only 78.6 percent. He was cut in August. Mare, 39, who has spent most of his career in Miami, is trying to hook on with a team for his 17th season in the NFL.

Featured stories

NCCU coach Frazier speaks at Raleigh Sports Club meeting

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Henry Frazier, head football coach at North Carolina Central University, will be the guest speaker at Wednesday’s Raleigh Sports Club meeting.

Frazier was hired Dec. 16, 2010 after finishing a seven-year stint at Prairie View A&M, where he compiled a 43-30 record. Prior to Frazier, Prairie View’s program had endured an 80-game losing streak – the nation’s longest from 1989 to 1998 – and struggled through back-to-back 1-10 seasons in 2002 and 2003. After starting in 2004 with a 3-8 record, Frazier coached Prairie View to four consecutive winning records in 2007 through 2010, including consecutive 9-1 records in 2008 and 2009 and a Southwestern Athletic Conference title.

In 2009, he became the first coach from a historically black college program to win the Eddie Robinson Award given annually by The Sports Network to the top coach in the Football Championship Subdivision. Frazier is 69-54 overall in 12 years as a head coach, including five seasons at his alma mater, Bowie State University, where he compiled a 26-24 record.

Lauren Saxby, a volleyball player at Wakefield High School, will be honored as the Student Athlete of the Week.

The meetings emphasize friendship, fellowship, weekly door prizes, pick sheets, and great food. This is the 49th year of The Raleigh Sports Club.

The Raleigh Sports Club weekly Wednesday luncheon meetings are from 11:30 -1 p.m. at Highland United Methodist Church at 1901 Ridge Road in Raleigh. The Forks Cafeteria caters a Southern Buffet with lines opening at 11:30 a.m.

Member attendance fee is $15 while guests are $25. For more details go to www.raleighsportsclub.org.