I read in Pro Football Weekly about what a bad guy Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is and how even his smile is fake. But I only believe everything I read in daily newspapers.

I know a guy who knows Newton a little, and he likes him. But I don't know Newton. I spent time around him at Auburn's pro day and was exposed to his smile inside a little room at Jordan-Hare Stadium. I couldn't tell if it was fake.

Perhaps the Carolina Panthers can. They've dined with Newton and with his parents, have watched him work out publicly and privately. They feel as if they know him. They'll know him better after they fly him to Charlotte on Tuesday. Perhaps Carolina's welcome committee will include a dentist.

Because of the labor impasse, the April 28-30 draft will be the sole source of NFL activity. So a nation hung up on an absent sport turns its lonely eyes to the Panthers, who have the first pick. We also turn our eyes to Newton, the most intriguing player in the draft and, even though he doesn't live in Charlotte, the most talked about athlete in our city.

I wrote that Carolina will invest the No.1 pick on Newton, or would like the NFL to think it will.

The column was the best-read piece in the Observer that week, a testament to interest in the quarterback and the sport. The response was a testament to extremes.

Readers said:

We love Cam and of course the Panthers are going to take him because who else would they take, you moron.

Or:

We can't stand Newton, the Panthers would be dumb to take a quarterback with their top pick two years in a row, and if they do we'll sell our season tickets, or would if we had some, you moron.

Newton is not the only player the Panthers love. There are at least two others, and they, too, played in the SEC. One is Georgia receiver A.J. Green, a certain NFL star. The other is Patrick Peterson, a Louisiana State cornerback and a new friend of Deion Sanders.

An excellent return man, Peterson said he loves to run back kicks. Then he got advice from Deion. Kick returners can get hurt. Peterson announced he might not love to run back kicks.

The impact of Peterson's reversal was muted when owners decided during late March to move kickoffs from the 30-yard line up to the 35. Next season a front-row fan will be as likely to receive a kick as a returner. So it will matter less whether Peterson wants to run them back.

Blaine Gabbert, the quarterback out of Missouri, has supplanted Newton as the No.1 pick in many mock drafts.

Every time somebody puts him No.1, I get email from Newton detractors that say, "See!" (They insist on exclamation points).

If Carolina trades down, and Newton, Green and Peterson are gone, it could take Gabbert. But I swear that's the only way.

Last season the Panthers chose Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen in the second round (they didn't have a first-round pick). Are they crazy to take a quarterback with their first pick again? Would the Panthers be crazy if Andrew Luck, everybody's No.1, had left Stanford for the NFL and they took him?

The draft is in 25 days. As it approaches, interest will skyrocket, mock drafts will become more outrageous and draft boards will change.

This won't.

The quarterback is the most valuable player in football and Newton is the only franchise quarterback in the draft. Take the man, and check the faces of his new teammates.

Their smiles won't be fake.