We’re almost there, fam. As we mentioned last week, the North Carolina sports scene gave us a lot more to digest during the summer than usual….but still, it’s the dead of summer and as much as we like reading Dave Gettleman postmortems, we want GAMES!
The games aren’t quite here, but we’re getting close so we’ve got the next best thing: training camps!
The Reprogramming of Cam Newton, Sports Illustrated – Full disclosure: we’d probably link to Jonathan Jones’ work if for no other reason than to hope he keeps sending “reply chug” snaps to us from various golf courses near Charlotte. BUT we’re linking this one because it’s an outstanding look at what Cam’s been through the past few years (ups and downs), how he and the team around him might look different this season, and what it means for the “Cam Newton” era of the Panthers and their staff.
Let’s face it, Raleigh has the better MLS bid, Charlotte Agenda – SportsChannel8 supports all sports in North Carolina. If Raleigh weren’t in the running for an MLS bid, no one would be supporting Charlotte’s bid harder than yours truly. BUT, Raleigh and Charlotte are both in the running and, frankly, our staff is located a lot closer to one than the other. By all neutral accounts, the Raleigh MLS rally was substantially more impressive than the one in Charlotte. This story also points out what I believe is an underrated factor: NCFC owner Steve Malik is a a guy that genuinely loves, knows and is passionate about soccer. Marcus Smith seems like a guy who wants Charlotte to be in the mix because that’s what up and coming cities do. I think that will matter.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will go from the track to the booth for NBC next year, Washington Post – Tony Romo signing with Fox probably drew more headlines, but I’m not sure there is any athlete who is more beloved by a larger percentage of his sports’ fans than Dale Jr, who through twitter, his podcasts and other forms of media has proven to be a thoughtful guy with more personality than you might guess at first glance. The real question–as this piece points out–is how much (and how successfully) NBC will be able to use Junior at non-Nascar events. We know he likes football, we know NBC likes to take EVERYBODY on their team to the Olympics…how far will it go? Dale at the Derby? The British Open? The Penn Relays?
UNC has its date with the NCAA Committee on Infractions, News and Observer – that man Andrew Carter lays out a pretty clear update on things that have happened recently, including dates and personnel for a hearing and pointing out how the underlying issue of the case has become where the NCAA’s jurisdiction lies. In their most recent response, the NCAA seems to make clear it believes UNC’s rash of bad/easy/phony classes are very much part of their purview.
Tweet of the Week: Is the Drive By Dunk challenge a little hokey? Sure, but the alleyoop through the sunroof was a nice touch and WAIT A MINUTE IS THIS A CLEVER PLOY TO MAKE GRAYSON ALLEN LIKE-ABLE? That was a close one, I almost fell for it. Well played, @DukeMBB.
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cc: @GraysonJAllen and @DatGuy_Trey pic.twitter.com/npHwUr5mOR
— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) July 25, 2017
