Mobile
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
College Football Screw the turkey, Auburn's hosting Alabama!
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 11:57 AM
I think there's a holiday tomorrow, but I really don't have time to worry about it. It's rivalry week in college football and all of my thoughts are with the Auburn Tigers. As an alum, I root for the Tigers every weekend of college football, along with whoever's playing Alabama. This week, those teams are one in the same.
To say the Auburn-Alabama game, commonly referred to as the Iron Bowl because of the steel-town history of Birmingham, Ala., is a huge understatement. This year, people are calling it the "mother of all Iron Bowls," as No. 1 Alabama travels to No. 4 Auburn.
Holy crap, is it Saturday yet?!?
Monday, November 25, 2013
NBA Newish colors for next season's Charlotte Hornets
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 2:50 PM
The Charlotte Bobcats-soon-to-be-Hornets announced Sunday the team will sport familiar hues - purple and teal - when the name returns home next season, but the new color scheme will be accented by secondary colors of black, cool gray and light blue.
The original Charlotte Hornets sported purple and teal during their tenure here from 1988 to 2002. The new/old colors chosen by the most unnecessary survey in history, in which locals were asked which colors the team should use.
"It was important to us to acknowledge the heritage of the Charlotte Hornets when bringing the name back to the market," said owner Michael Jordan in a statement. "The purple and teal color scheme was instantly recognizable as being associated with the original Hornets and we felt it was only appropriate to utilize the colors once again with this historic brand."
Read the full statement here.
NBA Bobcats Week(s) in Review: The Era of Despair Dies; Long Live the Era of Mediocrity!
Posted By Jeff Laughlin on Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 12:01 PM
Beating the Charlotte Bobcats-Hornets use to mean so little that teams would purposefully bench their starters in an attempt to keep them fresh for more important games. In media circles, they called it a "scheduled loss."
During Charlotte's quest for mediocrity, they stumbled headlong into the Era of Despair.
As Charlotte entered one of the toughest parts of the early-season schedule last week - games against perennial contenders and an upstart Suns team - fans learned a little about the Bobcats-Hornets. We exited the Era of Despair, despite our sub-.500 record.
In losses to Chicago (pre-Derrick Rose injury), Miami and Phoenix, fans learned that Charlotte could not beat good teams. In a blowout win over Milwaukee, we learned that bad teams could not compete with us. And, perhaps most importantly, in a win over Brooklyn, we learned that teams could not play without stars and still beat us.
Charlotte does not suck. We have entered the Era of Mediocrity.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
NFL Did the Panthers really win again?
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 4:43 PM
My wife hesitates to ask me for the latest score when the Panthers are playing. I've told her they're winning so many times, only to disappoint her a few minutes later. She's not a diehard fan, but she loves to hear that they're doing well. As a Charlotte native, she feels obligated to pull for the home teams.
She's been happy this season. Instead of months of heartache and heartbreaking last-minute losses, the Panthers have strung together six wins in a row. Sure, they got off to a rocky start, but Carolina sits with a 7-3 overall record. Throughout the season, talk went from "Could they be a wild card in the playoffs?" to "Could they actually make it to the Super Bowl?"
I think it's still too early to tell, but the boys in blue and black are undoubtedly playing some solid football these days. Well, except for the last minutes of Monday night's game against the Patriots.
As my wife sat in bed watching the latest episode of Homeland, I was on the couch watching the final minutes of Monday Night Football. I'd keep her updated from time to time by calling out things like, "Cam just ran 15 yards for a first down!"
- Wikipedia
- Newton during a 2011 game
While the seconds ticked away on the game clock in the fourth quarter, I finally ran to the bedroom to watch the final minutes of the game. Just two days earlier she watched the final moments of the Auburn-Georgia game with me - I went to Auburn - which included the "Immaculate Deflection." So, I figured I should go watch the end of the Panthers game with her, hoping we were about to watch Carolina have a last-minute win of their own.
Friday, November 15, 2013
NFL / College Football / Open For Debate Open to debate: Should grown men wear jerseys?
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Fri, Nov 15, 2013 at 3:30 PM
Open to debate: Should grown men and women wear football jerseys?
One school of thought says, "Hell yes! Support your team!" The other school of thought is, "Hell no! You're a grown-ass man wearing someone else's name on your shirt while you're at the grocery store. Have some self respect!"
Regardless of your stance, I think we can all agree on a few simple rules:
NBA A brain divided, but the Bobcats-Hornets won my heart
Posted By Jeff Laughlin on Fri, Nov 15, 2013 at 1:14 PM
My childhood household cheered for Boston sports. My grandfather raised my father on Ted Williams stories and my dad raised my sister and I on Larry Bird legends.
When Charlotte and Boston traded blowouts last year, I felt fine about it. The games were essentially meaningless. I had an affinity for my local sports team and an intense love for the Celtics, so seeing them split games late in the season suited me just fine. Charlotte had fallen apart and the Celtics older players had taken nights off prepping for the playoffs.
Monday, November 11, 2013
NBA Bobcats Week in Review: Pizza and the Personal Fouls
Posted By Jeff Laughlin on Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 3:38 PM
The biggest knock on the Bobcats-Hornets for the past few years centered on their lack of scoring. So much so, that Papa John's offers pizza at half the menu price any time the team scores 90 (!) points or more.
Drafting Cody Zeller and getting Al Jefferson in free agency showed that this organization wants to fix their biggest problem. With Jefferson missing the week's games after reaggravating an ankle injury, the assumption would be three low-scoring contests and at least two losses - both to the New York Knicks.
Before Friday's game, you could have taken up Papa's offer during two games, both of which the team won.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
College Football Big weekend for college football's elite
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Why do I love college football? Because every week and every win means something. If your favorite team is at the top, it's got to win every week to keep its spot or hope to move up in the rankings. If your team is at the bottom, you're watching for other teams to lose in order to help your position.
This is a big week for just about everybody.
If you're a Florida State or Ohio State fan, you're praying for an Alabama and/or Oregon loss this weekend. There's a good chance for an upset and you'll need one if the Seminoles or Buckeyes are going to have a chance to get into the BCS Championship game. Not everything is riding on this week's games, but there are tough battles going on that could determine who's playing for the fancy crystal football.
Things get interesting starting tonight.
- Daniel X. O'Neil (flickr Creative Commons)
Monday, November 4, 2013
NBA Bobcats Week in Review: Rough first week still leaves promise
Posted By Jeff Laughlin on Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 3:02 PM
It would be easy to write about the players that dominated the Bobcats-Hornets last week. Anthony Davis deserves 300 words for his performance, CJ Miles looked like an MVP candidate for a game, and Dwight Howard looks good again. Even easier, I could attack Charlotte's start to the season as a recalculated version of last year's team's efforts.
Because really, last year's team played last week's games.
Friday, October 25, 2013
NFL Have the Panthers quickly turned things around?
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 4:08 PM
After last night's win against Tampa Bay, the Carolina Panthers are above .500 for the first time since 2008. That was 70 games ago. Is it too soon to say the 4-3 Panthers have finally turned things around?
Just a few weeks ago, we were wondering if the Panthers were choking and in need of a new coach.
Now, sitting in second place in the NFC South, Carolina is behind the 5-1 New Orleans Saints and above the 2-4 Atlanta Falcons and 0-7 Buccaneers. Just think, at this time last year, the Panthers were 1-6 and on their way to a 7-9 season. In 2011, the team was 6-10 and back in 2010 - the rock-bottom Panthers were a miserable 2-14.
While chatter about the playoffs is sure to start making its way around town, you have to look at Carolina's schedule to bring you back to reality. Look, I'd love for the Panthers to make a run for the Super Bowl, but I'm not so sure it's going to happen this year.
