Return of the Kool Aid man.

Stop the presses



Panthers resident Kool Aid man and beat writer Gantt has awakened from his slumber to offer another tall order of monkey crap and pro-Fox fluff.

What do you have to say?

First things first, I haven't been fired, or left for greener pastures (as if that's possible). Just took some time off, at a time when not much is happening. Of course, that came at the expense of turning into a contractor/landscaper for a week or so, but hey, the place looks better.

Oh no we all knew EXACTLY where you were all this time. On vacation, that's good. ...See this is why I don't really respect these Carolina writers all that much. In New York sports journalists don't get to take prolonged haitus from writing short posts just because there's "nothing going on". Giant's beat writer Ralph Vacchiano even has a fucking TWITTER set up! The Panthers' writers, on the other hand, get weeks, months off to do whatever the fuck just because John Fox burns pictures of Saints in the hands of newly hired organization executives so nobody knows we talked to a fucking practice squad WR until they cut a deal.

Maybe it's that New York attitude of the unquentiable pursuit of career advancement. Or maybe it's the fact that the further and further south you go, the more people become kinda.... slower. Me, I could drive 70 miles down to South Jersey and people there can't keep the fucking pace up with me.

And in reality, there's not much going on right now. There's a lull between the draft and June OTAs (which start May 27), but there are a few odds and ends to address:

-- Peter King ranks the Panthers 18th in offseason power poll

Frankly, this borders on asinine. I'm not saying the Panthers are a top five team going into 2009 (their history points to bad luck and 7-9 after a good season), but to say they're in the bottom half of the league doesn't make sense.

Really, Darin? How fucking petty can we Panthers fans be? Who gives a fuck what Peter King has to say? We're getting pissed because an ESPN writer ranked a small market team in the lower half of the league? I hope you realize that we've followed up every single season we've made the playoffs thus far in franchise history with a .500 or below record the next year. So don't get all pissy at the guy because Carolina's not his favorite team and that history agrees with him and,... who gives a fuck? Seriously Darin if this is all you had to write about you could've stayed on vacation.

-- Mike Minter mulls run for Congress

The former Panthers safety is kicking around the idea of becoming a public servant.

Is this really breaking news?

Minter's as forthright as any player I've covered. He could have hung on in 2007, and collected checks, and been beloved as a player. But his knees were shot, he knew it, and he wasn't able to do his job. He's also a man of principle, who agonized over an early free agent decision, coming within hours of boarding a plane for Cleveland and more money to stay where he started.

Lol. Minter had many good years in a Panthers uniform, but alas, he aged and couldn't play anymore. ...just like every other player. He actually made a good decision for the Panthers as well as himself. His retirement led to the acquisition of Chris Harris for penny candy in order to fortify Safety.

They repaid the favor later, hanging onto him past his expiration date as an impact player. Professional teams don't extend that courtesy to many, but Minter deserved it.

Nice, so we sacrificed talent replenishment, <=== a characteristic of good football team management, and suffered through the inadequacy of an aging, past-his-prime player because we owed it to Minter? Are you fucking kidding me? We might as well give him a plaque on the front door and a pension while we're at it. Gantt this isn't a fucking GM manufacturing plant this is the fucking gridiron. The more we put these players on a pedestal and make decisions in the best interest of them, instead of the team, the longer we are going to go nowhere.

(Although, I am intrigued at Jason Taylor signing a cut-rate deal with Miami, not New England. The Pats would love to have Peppers, but it sounds like they're struggling with the two-pronged compensation required to get him. Know this, they're lurking.)

Okay, first of all, New England does NOT need Julius Peppers by any stretch of the imagination. Their defense is well-talented and well-coached, they have no room for a spoiled crybaby prima donna defensive end who wants to play in a position where he doesn't have much of an assignment to take on blockers so he can roam free because he's pretty much all brute force and little technique to beat LTs which is why he is so hot and cold on the field.

Second of all, do you know what Kraft and Belichick will do to get Peppers? They will fucking rip Hurney off if they wanted to. I don't want to see the Patriots trading with us because they are some conniving cunning bastards, ...and they're good because of the way they do business.

Otherwise, if anybody wants to come help pull weeds and rocks out of the garden, let me know.

Ugh.