Worst free throw in the history of mankind shot by an App State player

On Saturday, Appalachian State center Brian Okam launched the free throw seen 'round the world.

His so-bad-it's-funny free throw has already gotten close to 4,000,000 views on YouTube, going viral in a spectacular way. The humor is helped by the announcers, who say: "Second free throw -- my goodness!"

And: "I'm not sure what that was. Good Lord!"

For background, Okam is a 7-foot-center from Nigeria who transferred from Rutgers and doesn't play much for 1-7 Appalachian State -- about 10 minutes per game. He has made 2-of-5 free throws this season. A free throw is 15 feet, and his attempt arched high and got maybe six feet. You've got to see it, really. It's also ironic that it was the second of two free throws, and he had made the first.

The Bobcats' Gana Diop still holds the unofficial record for worst free throw in a pro game. It's on YouTube too -- of course -- and has gotten around 1.8 million page views. But it's better than Okam's attempt -- Diop's probably is only five feet short of the rim. Check them both out and see what you think.

Panthers stun Falcons 30-20 in Charlotte

For one Sunday, the Carolina Panthers were just what Ryan Kalil once predicted them to be. (UPDATE: Here's my column on Cam Newton and that remarkable 72-yard TD run).

Strangely enough, the Panthers looked Super Bowl-worthy for three hours, never trailing and beating Atlanta, 30-20, at Bank of America Stadium on a day that began with a drizzle and ended in brilliant sunshine.

The Panthers are only 4-9 and going nowhere except home in the postseason, despite Kalil's preseason "We'll Win the Super Bowl" prediction in a full-page Observer advertisement in July. But they absolutely dismantled Atlanta (11-2 and already the NFC South champions for 2012) in the first half, then held on convincingly in the second when the Falcons tried to mount a comeback.

Five amazing things about this game:

1) The Panthers won the coin toss, and it seemed symbolic. It was the first time in 14 tries this season they had done so, as Atlanta called the toss incorrectly. Carolina then immediately took the opening kickoff and scored on a long drive.

2) The Panthers outgained Atlanta 270-35 in the first half and led 16-0 at halftime. It was uncanny -- especially the play of Carolina's defense.

3) Cam Newton's 72-yard TD run in the third quarter. On a zone read option play, Newton kept and raced through a huge hole. He looked like he might be stopped around the 20, but slowed down to allow Steve Smith to throw him a block and then did a front flip into the end zone. Yes, a front flip. It had to be one of Newton's best five NFL plays ever. Also, for the fourth straight game, Newton did not have a turnover of any type and became the first Panther QB ever to have a 100-yard rushing game.

4) Carolina kept the Falcons down just enough late. Remember, Carolina had led Atlanta 28-24 in the fourth quarter the first time these two teams met in late September, only to lose 30-28. This time the Panthers led 23-0 and kept the Falcons down just enough (helped by a diving Thomas Davis interception. Ron Rivera gave a game ball to Davis after the game, then broke down talking about it in his press conference afterwards). The Panthers actually made Greg Hardy -- the Panthers' defensive end who had said flatly on Wednesday that the Panthers were a better team than Atlanta -- look like a prophet.

5) DeAngelo Williams. Behind some great blocking on a screen pass (and a perfect call by the coaches), DeAngelo sealed the game with a 53-yard touchdown that put the Panthers up 30-13 and clinched the game with 4:11 to go. Then Williams did something else unusual -- when Newton came to get the football to give it to a fan in the end zone (as is Newton's custom on most Panther TDs) Williams wouldn't give it up. The two playfully wrestled for the ball for a moment, but DeAngelo kept both hands on it and took it to the sideline with him. Newton said afterward that those are "good arguments to have."

Panthers-Falcons prediction and some pregame notes

If the Carolina Panthers are ever going to get to where they compete regularly for the NFC South title, they are going to have to start owning Interstate 85 instead of paying the Falcons a toll every time they drive on it.

Although New Orleans won a Super Bowl with Drew Brees after the 2009 season, the Falcons have been the most consistent team in the division since head coach Mike Smith took over in 2008. This is Smith’s fifth season, and he is 54-22. That’s ridiculously good. Ron Rivera, by comparison, is 9-19.

The Falcons have also beaten Carolina five times in a row.

The Falcons (11-1) have a collection of great skill players and enough good players everywhere else that they are in every game and win most of them. The only real blot on their team’s resume is the lack of a Super Bowl win. And it might happen this year.

I thought Carolina (3-9) actually outplayed the Falcons back on Sept.30 in the Georgia Dome, but Atlanta made the plays at the end to win. That game was a huge part of each team’s season, sending them in far different directions.

-- Atlanta will be quite a test for Cam Newton, who hasn’t committed a turnover in any of the past three games and has actually raised his quarterback rating to slightly above the level that it was during his rookie year of 2011. The Falcons intercepted Brees five times last week.

-- Newton said something interesting this week when I asked him how the team will find motivation the rest of the season. “First, personally, nothing’s in stone right now,” Newton said. “We know what’s going on in this franchise, and we know that the head of the franchise [Panther owner Jerry Richardson] is in search of the formula to win. With people knowing that, you better start putting something successful on film, personally, or the hourglass will be cut short for a lot of people. Nothing’s safe -- not even myself.”

-- Matt Ryan threw the ball 40 times the first time the two teams played. Michael Turner – who almost always creams the Panthers – only had 13 carries. Turner gained 103 yards on those carries, and if I’m the Falcons, I’d feed it to him at least 20 times Sunday. That would also help Ryan stay off the ground – the Panthers sacked him seven times in September.

-- The Panthers have lost 13 straight coin tosses this season (12 for the opening kickoff, one in overtime). The odds of losing 14 straight coin tosses are 1 in 16,384.

-- After incorrectly picking the Panthers to beat Kansas City a week ago, I’m no better than a coin flip myself on their games, with a 6-6 record. My prediction for Sunday: Atlanta 24, Carolina 21.

Cam says no Panther job is safe -- not even his

Panther quarterback Cam Newton knows that there are a lot of people playing and coaching for their jobs in this 3-9 Carolina organization right now. He even considers himself to be one of them.

When I asked Newton during his press conference Wednesday how he and the team will find motivation for the final month of another largely irrelevant season, the quarterback said: “First, personally, nothing’s in stone right now. We know what’s going on in this franchise, and we know that the head of the franchise [Panther owner Jerry Richardson] is in search of the formula to win.”

Newton continued that theme by noting that the final month of the season will be heavily evaluated by whomever is doing the judging at that point (it’s unclear whether Rivera will be fired or not, but the team certainly will have a new GM).

Said Newton: “With people knowing that, you better start putting something successful on film, personally, or the hourglass will be cut short for a lot of people. Nothing’s safe -- not even myself.”

Newton is actually as safe a bet as there is to return for Carolina in 2013, when he will enter Year Three of his original four-year rookie contract (with a club option for a fifth that will certainly be exercised). Somewhat lost in the debris of this 3-9 season is the fact that it’s been three games since Newton has committed a single turnover of any type.

The Panthers’ quarterback has had one of the best trio of games of his brief NFL career, throwing for six touchdowns and zero interceptions and running for two more TDs in the last three contests. Still, the Panthers have only gone 1-2 in those games.

His point about the roster churn is very valid. It’s generally accepted in the NFL that about 30-40 percent of a team’s roster changes over every season. But Sports Illustrated’s Peter King noted in a recent story on the Indianapolis Colts – who have been one of the biggest success stories of the 2012 NFL season – that the Colts’ overall roster is actually 69 percent different than it was in 2011.

Newton had a key fumble in the Panthers’ 30-28 loss at Atlanta on Sept.30 – a defeat Ron Rivera said Wednesday that Newton took very personally. Because Newton is from Atlanta and was a Falcons fan growing up, he places particular importance on beating the Falcons (11-1).

“It’s a rivalry game,” Newton said. “…. With me being from Atlanta, it’s even a more added dimension to the game. I want to win this game.”

Time to change back to Charlotte Hornets now that New Orleans will become the Pelicans

Now that the New Orleans Hornets are expected to become the New Orleans Pelicans, it’s time to solve the Charlotte Bobcats’ own name issues.

The simplest solution is the best: The Bobcats need to rebrand themselves as the Charlotte Hornets.

Michael Jordan told The Observer in a group interview I was part of a month ago that he would consider changing the nickname if and when the New Orleans franchise gave up the “Hornets” nickname.

“It's definitely an interest down the road, but right now it's the New Orleans Hornets," Jordan told us. "We would definitely entertain the opportunity. That's as much as we can say right now. We've heard the community ask the question, and we would listen.”

“Down the road” is apparently here, according to a Yahoo Sports report that cites numerous sources in saying that New Orleans will rebrand itself as the Pelicans, perhaps as early as the 2013-14 NBA season. The team has planned to change its nickname ever since New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson bought the team earlier this year. The report isn't official yet, but no one has stepped forward to deny it from New Orleans.

The Bobcats were named in part for previous owner Bob Johnson, who was widely unpopular in Charlotte. Although Jordan was once Johnson’s minority partner before buying the team from him, I don’t think MJ likes the nickname at all. He often refers to the team as the “Cats” in conversation, dropping the “Bob” entirely. And “Bobcats” has always sounded like the name of a middle-school basketball team to me, one whose varsity was named the “Tigers” or something more ferocious.

So here’s a chance to remind people of the glory days of NBA basketball in Charlotte. The name was so deeply embedded in the culture that even now people accidentally call the Bobcats the Hornets, and it’s been a decade since the Charlotte Hornets existed.

So why fight it? Embrace the change. Become the “Charlotte Hornets” once more. Sure, it will cost several million to do this, but it will be money well spent and the new Charlotte Hornets will eventually make it up via jersey and memorabilia sales. This makes sense from both a financial and an emotional standpoint. Bring back the buzz – let the Charlotte Hornets live once more.

How is it possible to blow an 18-point lead in 5 minutes? Bobcats show us how

How do you blow an 18-point lead in the last five minutes of an NBA game?

The Bobcats showed us all how Monday night, losing a 97-79 lead in regulation in the final five minutes and ultimately losing, 118-112 in overtime.

In those last five minutes, the Bobcats kept jacking up difficult shots and couldn’t get a single rebound. They never got to the foul line, while Portland did a lot by driving the ball, slowing the game down and then grabbing offensive rebounds on its (rare) misses.

It was remarkable, really, to see the Bobcats fritter it away in person. They did so much good work. Byron Mullens slammed home the most spectacular dunk of his NBA career – a vicious one-hander from the free-throw line to posterize LaMarcus Aldridge. If you saw it, you won’t soon forget it. Ben Gordon had a rare four-point play as part of his 29 points. Walker scored more points in the first half (17) than his season average (16.3).

And still, the Bobcats messed it up.

The defeat also means that the unfettered feel-good era of these 2012-13 Bobcats is over. It lasted a month, which was enough time for the Bobcats to win as many games as they did all of last season.

But now reality has intruded. Once 7-5, the Bobcats are now 7-9 with two more likely home losses on tap for this week (the New York Knicks and San Antonio) unless they start playing a lot better.

That 7-9 mark is still far better than 7-59 – their mark from a season ago that set a new NBA standard for futility. The Bobcats could lose 49 more games in a row and still not get there.

But even with all the new players in the rotation, these Bobcats aren’t a .500 team. They are destined to slip further below that line of demarcation as the season progresses. They are a young team that is all over the place, closing games like a champ on one night and giving up huge leads the next. Eighteen points in five minutes? That’s a hard lead to lose even if you were trying to lose it, and the Bobcats weren’t. But they also weren’t the same team – almost complacent until the last couple of minutes, when they got jittery.

“We got sort of calm once we got the big lead,” guard Ramon Sessions said, “instead of attacking like we did to get the lead in the first place.”

Kemba Walker said Portland “out-toughed” the Bobcats late, which sounds about right. Aldridge (25 points, 13 rebounds) was dominant on the glass, and the Bobcats were as fragile as glass, and in the end they got handed one of those losses that is going to sting for quite awhile.

Lessons we (re)learned from Panthers' nasty loss to Kansas City

In case anyone needed a refresher course on how bad the Panthers can be after some of the false hope provided by Carolina's win over Philadelphia on "Monday Night Football," it came on Sunday in Kansas City.

The Chiefs -- who had lost eight games in a row, had the NFL's lowest-scoring offense and were 1-10 entering the game -- simply outplayed Carolina for a 27-21 victory.

Carolina (3-9) still hasn't won two games in a row all season.

Three things I saw over and over from my vantage point at home in front of the TV:

1) The Panthers never could bother Brady Quinn. He ate the defense up with one completion after another. They made Quinn, whose NFL career has mostly been one of disappointment and unrealized potential, look like Tom Brady. They even let him scramble for what was basically a game-ending first down on third-and-long. The Chiefs hadn't scored more than 16 points in their last seven games, but they had 17 at halftime. Cam Newton was pretty darn good in this game -- although he failed once again to lead a game-winning touchdown march at the end when he had time and a great chance on the Panthers' next-to-last possession. But Quinn was even more accurate. The Panthers' defensive secondary left much to be desired, as did the pass rush.

2) Ron Rivera was out-coached. The Chiefs took a huge gamble and made it work on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on the final play of the first half, as Romeo Crennel skipped the sure field goal and went for a TD. The Chiefs also looked like the far more disciplined team, drawing far fewer penalties. Rivera, on the other hand, punted the ball back to Kansas City and relied on a defense having a bad day to stop the Chiefs on a three-and-out late in the game, which it couldn't do because of Quinn's scramble.

3) The Panthers really just aren't that good. Their offensive line has problems, as we know. But so do a lot of other places (wide receiver, secondary, D-line and on and on). This is not a team that looks to be "trending up," as Rivera said Jerry Richardson told him it needed to be to keep his job after this season. This looks more like a team that is legitimately a 3-9 team. Not a particularly unlucky team. Just a bad one.