Tom Talks: Ready (and I am) or not, soccer and MLS coming to Charlotte

There are a lot of reasons to dislike soccer. You can’t use your hands, you didn’t grow up playing it and the over-under usually is 2.5.

I was with you once. Soccer hadn’t made its way to the Upper Midwest when I was growing up, and neither of my sons played. Also in the 1980s, there was a pretension to it.

If you don’t like soccer, the beautiful game, then something is wrong with you. So you better like it, and you better like it now because the rest of the world already does. That made me like soccer less.

Then I talked to people who loved the game. Out of town on an assignment, I watched with a friend a Premier League game that featured his beloved Liverpool F.C. He had played in college, and he knew the sport, and soccer became interesting because, for the first time, I knew what to look for.

I watched the World Cup with my older son’s friends who were from Ecuador. They were so excited. And then, after the loss, so crushed. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so strongly about the outcome of a game.

I talked to Steve Clifford, the former coach of the Charlotte Hornets who is now with the Orlando Magic. He, too, had come to soccer late, became a Manchester United fan and he loved it. I listen to friends talk about the soccer fantasy leagues they’re in. And I went to the international matches at Bank of America Stadium.

To get in the mood, I’d go to Mint Street hours before a game and walk around. Fans were eager. They were eager to see their countrymen, their colors and their fellow expatriates. It was like homecoming.

When Mexico’s national team played in Charlotte, I encountered an Aztec warrior in full battle regalia and a large luchador mask on Mint Street. Teams represent their country inside the stadium. Fans represent their country outside.

I’m true to the sports with which I grew up, and will never like soccer the way I like the NFL, NBA, college basketball and boxing. But through osmosis, through fans and friends, I’ve developed an interest.

When Major League Soccer made official this week David Tepper’s purchase of a team that will play in Charlotte, fans of soccer became excited. So did fans of Charlotte.

The NBA came to town in 1988, the NFL seven years later and now, for the first time in in 31 years, we’ll get another major league team. So many people focus on the price. Charlotte will kick in $110 million, money raised through tourism that is designed to promote tourism. The money will be used to twist Bank of America into a big-time soccer stadium, and for a practice facility. I hope the facility is, as has been indicated, at the site of the old Eastland Mall, a part of town long ignored.

Tepper, who owns the Carolina Panthers, will pay $325 million to get the MLS team. Some of you believe that, because Tepper is a billionaire, he should pay more. In fact, you believe that he should pay for everything. If you have dinner with the man, you’d probably expect him to pay for that, too.

What Tepper is paying is fair. What the city has offered him for his quest also is. This is good for us. I promise.

Big time soccer is an investment in every way. When fans show up for the Charlotte team’s home games, they’ll spend money at bars and restaurants. Those bars soon will be turned into pubs.

If you want a sample, go to Brevard Court and Hooligans. I went during the World Cup and it was jammed. Watch a Premier League game there. Listen to the accents. There’s a great mix of fans from all over the world rooting for the team, and the sport.

I feel bad for Bruton and Marcus Smith, the owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway and the president, respectively, who tried to buy a team. They did nothing wrong. The city wasn’t as pragmatic with its money then. All that was wrong was the timing. Tepper, in turn, also did everything right, he already has a stadium and his timing is impeccable.

Let’s hope he gets the name right. I want Charlotte Town FC, and I want Charlotte in the name, not Carolina. The idea that Carolina needs to be part of the name is outdated. Charlotte is all grown up now, and if people don’t know where we are, it’s their problem, not ours.

Don Garber, the MLS commissioner, said he’d be disappointed if Charlotte’s team does not attract more than 30,000 fans a game, and I believe he’ll get it.

My only fear is that the team will be like a new restaurant. You go to the restaurant the week it opens and you need to know somebody to get a seat. A month later you walk in, have your pick of seats at the bar or a booth, and ask: Didn’t you used to be popular?

That fear probably is unrealistic. Charlotte grassroots soccer groups have for years been working for and waiting for a team .

We need to congratulate them. I like a movement that starts at the bottom, and not at the top. The reason the Charlotte 49ers are on Paradise Island in the Bahamas this week is because Charlotte alumni and students pushed for it before the administration embraced it.

So many parents learned soccer the sport watching their kids play. Those kids might be grown now; perhaps their children play. Soccer-playing kids will want to watch the new team, and parents will be thrilled to have the opportunity to take them.

I believe that the MLS team will become part of our culture, and that their impact will supersede games. Players will put on clinics for kids who play the game. And if somebody holds a remedial class for those of us who admit we don’t know the sport the way we know the sports with which we grew up, that would work, too.

It would especially work if the class were in a pub.

So who picked the Falcons?

How many of you picked the Atlanta Falcons, an 11-point underdog at San Francisco, to beat the 49ers? Sure you did. If you picked Atlanta on Sunday, I bet you pick them every week. So, take that.

The Seattle Seahawks were my Lock. The Seahawks played the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. A 6½-point favorite, Seattle toyed with the home team. Then the home team, to its credit, rallied for two late touchdowns. Seattle won by six. I lost.

Last Week: 10-6

Season: 134-65-1

Lock of the Week: Lost it.

Season: 8-7

This week’s picks, with the home team in CAPS:

Saturday

Houston 3 over TAMPA BAY

NEW ENGLAND 4 over Buffalo

SAN FRANCISCO 6 over Los Angeles Rams

Sunday

New York Giants 1 over WASHINGTON

MIAMI 4 over Cincinnati

New Orleans 6 over TENNESSEE

Pittsburgh 6 over NEW YORK JETS

Baltimore 7 over CLEVELAND

ATLANTA 7 over Jacksonville

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS 4 over Oakland

DENVER 8 over Detroit

SEATTLE 6 over Arizona

PHILADELPHIA 2 over Dallas

Kansas City 4 over CHICAGO

Monday

MINNESOTA 3 over Green Bay

Lock of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS (-7) 11 over Carolina

Hey Hornets, about those starts

I wonder what Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego tells his players before a game.

“Guys, look. We have a habit of falling behind by 20 points, and then coming back, which, I don’t have to tell you, is tough to do.

“So, I have a great idea. Let’s go out there, play hard and smart, play stick-to-them defense and rebound, be physical and tough, and fall behind by only 10.”

The Hornets trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 22 on the road Wednesday, and then made the fourth quarter theirs. Guard Terry Rozier, a Cleveland native, made the fourth quarter his. He scored 19 of his 35 points in the quarter, and had an opportunity to win the game for Charlotte.

When he let the shot go after an open look from the top of the key, the trajectory looked familiar. The shot looked like all the 3-pointers he had made. This one was in. And then it wasn’t.The ball cruelly rolled around and out, and the Cavaliers won 100-98.

I like this edition of the Hornets. I like the hustle and I like the poise. I’d like to see more Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, but by Hornets standards, MKG is old. He turned 26 in late September.

The great conundrum is guard Malik Monk, whom the Hornets selected 11th in the 2017 draft.

In a victory against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, Monk, a reserve guard who averages 9.4 points, scored 23. And he did it despite taking only 12 shots. Maybe he was moved going against his former Kentucky backcourt mate, D’Arron Fox, who plays for Sacramento.

The problem for some of us is that every time Monk plays a superior game, we believe he’s a superior player. He’s figured it out! When Monk goes to the hoop and jumps to the roof, he suddenly finds room for his jump shot. Monk is a tantalizing talent.

Monk also is an inconsistent talent. This season is his third, and it’s tough to envision him starting for anybody. What is he, then?

He’s a reserve. He’s a substitute. If Borrego sticks him into a game, and his jumper and mojo are working, Borrego will find a means to leave him on the court. He played 27 minutes against Sacramento. He played 12 against Cleveland, scoring five points.

When his jumper and mojo fail, Monk will make a guest appearance, play a few minutes and, better luck next time.

Meanwhile, the Hornets have won 13 of 31 games. They are better, and more entertaining, than I anticipated.

The Hornets have, since their inception, been a testament to failure. If you fail to win a single playoff series, you’ve failed as a franchise. But we now know where they are. They’re young, and they’re establishing an identity, and they’re fun to watch. They’re well coached and, behind general manager Mitch Kupchak, well run.

If they could quit falling behind by 20, who knows where they’d be. I swear, if I were playing a big game, I’d ask Borrego to come by and talk — to my opponent.

Cam’s influence runs deep

Cam Newton is the most divisive athlete in the history of Charlotte. He’s flamboyant, he dresses unconventionally — I might be the only sportswriter in the Southeast who doesn’t describe his clothes — he has fun and wants everybody to know it. Many fans feel as if they accompany him on his ride.

There’s also the foundation he runs. I’ve seen what his foundation accomplishes, and what he puts into it. About that, there can be no controversy.

This is a great time of year to celebrate foundations large and small, to acknowledge the impact they have.

Several Carolina Panthers, players such as Greg Olsen, and former Carolina Panthers, players such as Steve Smith Sr., Josh Norman and Thomas Davis, run foundations. Davis was the Panthers’ two-time nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and won it in 2014. The award honors excellence on and off the field.

Before the award was presented, I went to Davis’ house, and talked with Thomas and his wife, Kelly. Their Defending Dreams Foundation is brilliant, and the Davises invest money and time.

The first draft of what I wrote felt too gushy, so I called some of the beneficiaries of Defending Dream’s work. The column was not gushy enough.

Newton is Carolina’s nominee for the award this year. The Cam Newton Foundation offers support to middle school students’ academic support. It refurbishes parks and playgrounds in under-served communities. Although he works with adults, kids are the essence. He tells them: You’re OK; you have a future; we’ll help you get there.

Newton donates money to Second Harvest Food Bank, a wonderful organization, and has volunteered there. He provides and he serves meals at a men’s shelter. He offers gift cards to teachers at some schools.

I’ve attended functions the Cam Newton Foundation sponsors. The foundation will invite kids from middle schools to an auditorium, and the kids will sit and fidget as they wait. The kids are impatient, just as we were at that age.

Then Newton walks onto the stage and it’s as if he has a deed to the room. He is a kid, albeit a tall one, and he moves and talks and jokes and encourages and implores.

It’s almost as if Newton likes the stage. And every kid, and their teachers, likes him up there.

I’ve written this before, but Newton played a role in an event that moved me.

The Panthers sponsor a Challenger Flag Football League. Kids with challenges play, and family and friends root from the sideline.

At a game I attended, a kid scored a touchdown, and celebrated by stopping at the goal line, and borrowing Newton’s post-touchdown Superman routine.

How did people respond?

Teammates cheered. Opponents cheered. Family on the sideline cheered. There was laughter, and there were tears. The scene was powerful, a moment that drew in everybody on the field.

It was a celebration of an accomplishment, and a sport, and the opportunity to play it.

About the Superman celebration: three words encompass what happened that day.

Hey, Cam. Thanks.

Short takes: CLT, CHA — whatever

▪ Does anybody really care if a Charlotte team’s jersey says CHA instead of CLT? I think somebody needs a hobby. Or some spiked eggnog...

▪ I have a rule. I can’t pass a bell-ringing Santa without dropping a few dollars into the pot. I carry more $1 bills than a regular at men’s clubs.

A few dollars isn’t going to change a life or save the world. But the donation feels good. And the bell-ringing Santa is always appreciative. So far this December, I’ve met a bell-ringing dancer and a bell-ringing singer and a bell-ringing singer and dancer. I had $100 in ones. I’m down to four. Bank, here I come…

▪ What’s the best sports gift you’ve ever received for Christmas? My candidates would be a baseball glove, a regulation NFL football and a little Mickey Mantle statue.

A few years ago, I bought one for myself. I went to a store at Concord Mills and found an old electronic football game. I don’t care if it qualifies as an antique. Oh, man, this will be so cool.

I bought the game and brought it home, set up the offense and defense and plugged it in. The formation I had my offense run was, I must say, incredible. I attached the scoreboard and applied the stickers, picked a guy who looked fast and made him my quarterback, picked some guys who looked big and made them my offensive line.

The board began to vibrate and I ran my play.

The phalanx of blockers took off as if they didn’t like each other and moved in different directions. Perhaps to avoid injury, my quarterback moved 2 inches forward and then straight toward the sidelines. When I played golf, that’s how I hit my drives.

The runner hit the sideline so quickly it was as if he was looking for an embassy at which to defect.

Players did this every play. The team was so bad that Washington’s Daniel Snyder could have owned it, and Washington’s Bruce Allen could have run it. After six plays, I put the game away, and I haven’t used it since.

I wrote a column about finding the game, and several readers went to the store to buy one. The store said it didn’t have any and denied ever selling me one. Hey, store, it’s not your fault the game has not improved the last 60 years. PS: I kept the receipt...

▪ All praise to the Charlotte 49ers, who open the bowl season Friday in Nassau. They were 7-5 this season, and now they’re on Paradise Island, Bahamas. If I got to play in the Bahamas Bowl every season, I’d tell my team not to win more than seven games.

The 49ers had a good coach in Brad Lambert. He was a smart choice to start the program. He coached from 2013 until last season.

Any new program will take some punches, and the 49ers did. But Lambert provided a base, and first-year coach Will Healy expanded it. His team is energetic and alive and, man, do his players appear to have fun.

The idea of starting a football program was criticized heavily from the outside. You, Charlotte, want a football team? You? Football teams are for the ACC and Appalachian State and East Carolina. You can’t keep up. You’re in too deep.

But Charlotte refused to let outsiders decide who it would be. The school decided. And now the 49ers are in Paradise…

▪ I’ll be gone next week. Just want to thank you for reading. I love this time of year, and hope the holidays are great for all of you.