Inside Information

[Mr. Scot]

Last year about this time, I had a co-worker tell me that over the weekend he'd played golf with a lawyer that worked for the Panthers. During that golf game, this lawyer had been quite chatty and spilled a boatload of inside info about the Panthers, all of which my co-worker was more than happy to share with me and another fellow, also a Panther fan.

The info he shared was huge, and shocking.

After hearing, I took some time to question whether or not I should share it online. I asked one or two people who would have access to inside info whether they thought it was credible, but in the end they could "neither confirm nor deny".

Thus, it was pretty much up to me whether I wanted to 'break the story' or just sit on it. And in the end, I chose to keep it to myself. Now, one year later, I've decided to post it, and I'll leave it to those who read to decide whether I made the right decision or not.

Here's what my co-worker told me:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

- John Fox had sold his house in Charlotte. Word from the Richardsons was that anything less than a Super Bowl win and he was gone. Fox had looked at the prospects, realized this year was probably his last and was prepared to move on.

- Regardless of whether the season was a success or not, Marty Hurney would be gone the following offseason. The Richardson's were tired of him, and he was going to be asked to resign. If he refused, he'd be fired.

- Discussions had already occurred with Bill Cowher. He knew he was the heir apparent, and it was only a matter of time before he took over as either GM or, more likely, coach and GM.

- On the health front, Jake Delhomme was not recovering well from Tommy John surgery at all. He could barely throw the ball 20 yards, and anything beyond that? Forget it.

- Even worse news for Jonathan Stewart. There were complications resulting from his college injury that were so bad he might never play a single down for the Panthers, or anyone else.

- As to Julius Peppers, the team wasn't happy about his prior year's performance, so in response they'd put him on HGH :eek:

- And what of the camp fight between Steve Smith and Ken Lucas? turns out, per my co-worker, that it was all the fault of Lucas. Seems Ken had grown tired of being constantly burned by Smith in practice, and thus he deliberately goaded Smith into losing his temper and punching him.

- Happily, it wasn't all negative. On the bright side, 2008 was set to be Dwayne Jarrett's breakout year. In practice, Jarrett was proving to be an even better receiver than Steve Smith. By midseason, and maybe sooner, he'd be starting opposite Smith. Jarrett might even wind up having more catches on the season.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

All of this, per my co-worker, directly from a lawyer who worked closely with the Panthers, around this time last year.

Inside information :sosp:

Just for the record, this particular co-worker was fired just a few weeks later. His story was that he'd gotten himself fired deliberately because he was tired of working there and wanted to move on to somewhere he could make more money.

[AKPantherFan]

sounds like he is a weather man.....

[Mr. Scot]

sounds like he is a weather man.....

More like his person was filled with a rather unpleasant smelling organic substance.

So did I make the right decision keeping a lid on it?

[vorbis]

^^^ bingo. end thread.

uhh, bingo to AKpantherfan.

[AKPantherFan]

More like his person was filled with a rather unpleasant smelling organic substance.

So did I make the right decision keeping a lid on it?

I think you used good COMMON sense, and your knowledge of the team to make the right decision.

His suggestions are so outlandish that I would have just smiled and walked away laughing. lol lol lol lol

[Mr. Scot]

He did give a name to the lawyer. I searched online for the name he had given me and couldn't find a thing. Went back to him after and asked for the name again to be sure I had it right. He gave me a slightly different spelling than I had used before. Still nothing.

Some of the stuff sounded believable. Other parts made me wonder. The fact that I couldn't find any evidence this lawyer even existed, much less worked for the Panthers, made me wonder even more.

At the time he told me the bit about Stewart, Jonathan was being held out of practice and we hadn't seen jack from him.

A short time later though, the Panthers played a preseason game against the Washington Redskins...

(oops)

[Jangler]

More like his person was filled with a rather unpleasant smelling organic substance.

So did I make the right decision keeping a lid on it?

ummm, yeah. This was the only thing that seems like it is/was close to the truth...

And what of the camp fight between Steve Smith and Ken Lucas? turns out, per my co-worker, that it was all the fault of Lucas. Seems Ken had grown tired of being constantly burned by Smith in practice, and thus he deliberately goaded Smith into losing his temper and punching him.

[Mr. Scot]

ummm, yeah. This was the only thing that seems like it is/was close to the truth...

We know that now, but at the time, most of it was conceivable.

The notion that Fox and Hurney were on the hot seat and Cowher was waiting in the wings was rampant. Questions abounded about Delhomme's arm and Stewart's toe. There was plenty of "what's wrong with Julius" talk, as well as predictions of Jarrett's ascension (the only point that's being repeated this offseason).

I went back and forth on whether he got fed bad info by some blowhard or it was just him being a prick and trying to make us think he was hot stuff. After his "I got myself fired" story, I decided it was the latter.

My guess: He took some things people were already talking about anyway, added a phony detail or two (stuff that conceivably could be true) and created the golf course lawyer to give it all the air of legitimacy.

All that effort, and for what? :nonod:

[bleys]

def made the right choice keeping it in..

1st, the out lash it would have caused would have been sad, as you see now from other events..

2nd, obviously, Stewart performed great, Delhomme could throw well, Hurney hasn't shown he's a GM people get sick of (the opposite actually) and Cowher is never going to coach here.. lol

[Woodcookedbbq]

Why would they sign Delhomme to 5 more years if his arm isn't recovering?

[Matt Foley]

I've actually heard that it's still playoffs or gone for both Fox and Hurney.

[Peppers90 NC]

Ha, that is more information than a lawyer would know, sounds like what half the people around Charlotte were saying last year anyway. You almost did a good job of not posting it but posted it nonetheless.

[Speed]

Ha ha!! How much money did your co worker lose while pondering all this "inside info"? Ha ha!!

[QuasiYoda]

Ha, that is more information than a lawyer would know, sounds like what half the people around Charlotte were saying last year anyway. You almost did a good job of not posting it but posted it nonetheless.

Actually he did a good job of not posting it when people might actually believe it. At this point we Know several points were out right lies and other points were very likely lies. As far as posting it now, there is no harm, more of a lesson in deviant human nature.

Good of you to smother that sucker for a year, Mr Scot.