Thursday, April 28, 2011

Panthers make big news in Big Apple

It's relatively calm today in New York, as the NFL prepares for tonight's 8 p.m. draft and everyone finds different ways to wait around.

I took a walk through the streets of New York -- have long loved the place, like so many others. And in Times Square, you know where they have the huge news crawls that have letters about 10 feet high?

Two of them were scrolling simultaneously in one place -- one with news, one with sports. On the top it said: "Storms kill more than 200 in the South."

At the same time, scrolling across the bottom, it read: "Sources: Panthers narrow possible No.1 draft picks to four."

I'm not equating the news value of those two items by any means, but I did find it startling that they were scrolling across the board at the same time. The Panthers, for once, are big news in New York by virtue of holding that No.1 pick.

As for Cam Newton, A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson, Marcell Dareus (the four finalists, although I still think it will be Newton) and the rest of the 20 or so NFL draft prospects here, some have visited a children's hospital today. Many will enjoy an early reception at the NFL Players Association headquarters hotel with their families from 2-4 p.m.

Then they start drifting into Radio City Music Hall around 6 p.m. or so, walking he "red carpet" along with some former NFL greats like Barry Sanders and Jim Taylor.

The draft itself is scheduled to start at 8 p.m., and the Panthers' No.1 pick will be made shortly after that -- unless, of course, they trade it. Most media members in and out of New York still expect them to pick Newton, who was the subject of my somewhat controversial blog post yesterday.

2 comments:

Rboggs81 said...

For the love of God Marty Hurney, if the Panthers can not find a trade partner select Peterson or Dareus, build up the team then worry about the QB! Especially considering that there are much better QB prospects next year....Luck, Barkley, Jones, Foles, etc...Go Defense please!

Unknown said...

Here's hoping the Panthers take Marcell Dareus #1 overall. A safe pick. A dominant pick. A need pick.