Tom Talks: Dan Snyder finally made a smart move by hiring Ron Rivera in Washington

Daniel Snyder, who owns the NFL team in Washington, made a great move this week.

That’s a sentence I’ve never written, and I don’t think anybody else has, either.

Snyder hired former Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera. Snyder identified him and pursued him and signed him.

Rivera isn’t flashy, despite the Riverboat Ron moniker he earned. He’s solid, and an organization he runs also will be. He’s accountable. He’s honest. And even though his job is special, I never saw him act as if he was.

His players like and respect him. They believed in him because they had no reason not to. Many were upset when David Tepper, who owns the Panthers, dumped Rivera with four games remaining. The move is the worst Tepper has made since buying the team from Jerry Richardson.

Tepper said he wanted to fire Rivera because he didn’t want to lead a coaching search behind Rivera’s back.

The explanation does not hold up. Except for a few outliers, the candidates to replace Rivera were going to be working for NFL teams, and Tepper could not approach them until the coach’s season ended.

If Tepper had asked Rivera if he wanted to finish the season, Rivera would have said he did. He’s a man who finishes what he starts.

I ran into Rivera a few days after he was canned. I told him how badly I felt; I don’t remember being affected by a coach’s dismissal the way I was by his.

Rivera told me he was in a good place. Instead of ripping Tepper, he praised Perry Fewell, who would replace Rivera for the final four games, and Scott Turner, who for the final four would be promoted to offensive coordinator. Gandhi in team colors.

Being a nice guy doesn’t mean Rivera can coach. But it’s a great bonus. Rivera can coach. He is a leader. Players want to play well for him. As poorly as Carolina performed this season, players, especially veterans, were hurt when he was dumped. On losing teams, you often don’t see that loyalty.

Carolina was Rivera’s his first job as head coach. He came into his interviews with what was tantamount to a playbook. General manager Marty Hurney had pushed for him.

But Rivera, like many first-time coaches, wasn’t ready. If there was a rule, he followed it. He didn’t take chances and he didn’t trust his instincts.

When Rivera finally acquired the confidence to disdain the book and trust himself, he became a very good coach.

That’s the coach that Washington is getting. At 57, he won’t be the same coach Carolina hired. He’ll be better.

A decade of memories

When I look back at the decade in Charlotte sports, I see mainly the small stories. You could contend that’s because Charlotte’s major league sports teams don’t win championships so there aren’t any big stories.

But I’m attracted to the smaller stories. The guy from the small school in Mississippi who makes two great catches at the same practice in the Carolina Panthers’ training camp. The boxer who works a full-time job but, after stopping his opponent in the third round, believes he’s on his way to riches and fame. The undersized high school player who always arrives first at practice and leaves after everybody else does because can’t you see how badly he wants to be good?

Surprising Hornets

Some memories of the last decade, Part I.

I went to the Hornets’ opener this season against the Chicago Bulls. We all knew that the Hornets were going to be bad, and accepted it. Yet on opening night, at Spectrum Center, they were good enough. Led by rookie P.J. Washington, whom I did not want them to draft, they beat the Bulls 126-125.

One quality that draws us to sports is surprise. The Hornets won. They beat a mediocre team, but they won. They were undefeated. Walking out of Spectrum Center, I’m not sure you could do anything but smile.

I watched a lot of Hornets games, and often focused on Kemba Walker as he went one-on-one, one-on-two, and one-on-world. The Kemba versus the world play wasn’t selfish. Most times, Kemba’s best option was Kemba.

Sometimes I’d see a parent point to Kemba and a young son or daughter follow the parent’s long finger. Watch this guy, was the message. It’s what I said to my kids, when they were younger, about other players.

Kemba was often the smallest man on the court, which kids love. He also was the most fearless and the most entertaining. We got to watch him arrive with his New York City jump shot, a shot on which he worked tirelessly. Kemba’s game improved every season. That’s will, and that’s work.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was the first man to tell me that Kemba would be good.

I love Curry’s game. After Golden State played in a televised game on the West Coast, I’d see people in downtown Charlotte the next morning, red eyed and tired. I’d want to ask: “So you stayed up to watch Golden State, too?”

Curry and his teammates, especially Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, played joyous basketball, and Steve Kerr coached it. That boring, slow-motion, human time clock ball that, say, Carmelo Anthony played ensured that you got a good night’s sleep.

But the Warriors ran and played defense and were absolutely selfless. Players who were potential big-time scorers willingly gave the ball to Curry, and Curry willingly gave it back. Golden State basketball made you smile, especially when the Warriors won.

I got to know Davidson basketball coach Bob McKillop, and enjoyed being around him. He has the quality Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has. McKillop tells you something and you think, yes, you’re right, that makes sense, that will work. So if he tells young players that they can do this and they will do this, why wouldn’t they believe him?

I got to watch the Charlotte 49ers play football. Many outsiders, some in positions of power, told the school that football wouldn’t work. Man, were they condescending. Charlotte, know your role.

Charlotte’s role was to ignore them. A grassroots movement that pushed for football deserves credit. Chancellor Phillip Dubois and then athletics director Judy Rose deserve credit. They ignored the outsiders and believed in what they knew and what they had. This month the 49ers played in a bowl in the Bahamas.

They didn’t win the game. But the distance they traveled, not from Charlotte to Nassau but from where the program was to where it is, is one of the decades’ biggest victories.

Pulling for underdogs

Some memories from the decade, Part II:

I like going to baseball games at BB&T Ballpark. I like to watch the highly drafted new guys, the about-to-be stars passing through on their way to the major leagues. I like to watch the old guys attempt to prove they are worthy of one more shot. There’s not a bad seat in the ballpark.

The people who run the team care deeply about the sport and their place in it.

I pull for underdogs, which is one of the reasons I love boxing. Christy Martin, the former women’s lightweight champion who fought for Don King and who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, moved to Charlotte this decade. She taught at Vance High.

The mother of a student recognized her. Martin did not want to be recognized. She had begun moving away from her boxing past and her violent past. Her ex-husband had shot and stabbed her. A victim of domestic violence, Martin became a strong voice and advocate for victims.

She loved boxing and, as a promoter, returned to it. Martin is the best boxing promoter I’ve encountered in the 38 years I’ve lived in Charlotte. You could write songs about some of the fights and fighters I’ve watched.

Few will ever fight on your TV. But on the night everything went right, they were cheered as they moved from their dressing room to the ring. Music blasted, friends and parents shouted, and the unaligned joined the cause after becoming mesmerized by a combination or big right hand.

How many of us are cheered?

Panthers had their moments

Some memories from the decade, part III:

The Carolina Panthers brought coach Ron Rivera and Cam Newton to town in 2011. Also arriving that year were tight end Greg Olsen and, down the road and across the street, point guard Kemba Walker. It was a very good year.

Watching Newton play the way he wanted to play was never boring and often effective. Fans who had believed a high five constituted too much emotion learned to like Newton’s celebrations after he handed the ball with which he had scored a touchdown to a young fan.

There were so many Panthers to like in the last decade: Jordan Gross, Ryan Kalil and almost all offensive linemen; Olsen, Josh Norman, Captain Munnerlyn, Mario Addison, Steve Smith Sr. and Ted Ginn Jr; guys who slid off the roster before the season began even though I wrote about them at training camp (or because I wrote about them); coaches and general managers and owners; people in the team’s offices big and small whom you felt fortunate to know and remain friends.

There was the obvious stuff such as the Super Bowl season. And there was the subtle stuff. When was the last time you saw a Minnesota Vikings mascot go off on a Dixie scribe in a Marriott hospitality room? My money was on the mascot.

When the Panthers won, you could see it in people’s faces the next day. When they lost, you could see that, too.

The decade was when social media took off. You’d go on Twitter and realize how many people lack names.

The Panthers began the decade 2-14. They ended it 5-11. But they had some great moments between.

The Panthers never won a Super Bowl and the Hornets (and the former Bobcats) never won a playoff series. But can you imagine Charlotte without them?

Picking the playoffs

I finished the season well, and hit on a brilliant way to pick a Lock of the Week. My Lock was picking whomever the Carolina Panthers were playing to cover. The technique worked when the Panthers played the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. It should have worked against the Seattle Seahawks. But Kyle Allen drove the Panthers to two late touchdowns, and the Seahawks (-6½) won by a mere six.

This week:

Buffalo 2 over HOUSTON.

A 3-point underdog, I think the Bills are poised and well coached and ready to roll. I’d call them a team of destiny if there were such a thing as destiny. There’s not. I’ll pick them anyway.

NEW ENGLAND 2 over Tennessee

Based on the way the Patriots finished the season, I shouldn’t pick them. It’s as if they all got old the same Sunday. They’re 4½-point favorites. But they will have to be who they were to win this one. If this season is the end of the dynasty, it won’t end for another week.

NEW ORLEANS 7 over Minnesota

To win, Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins has to play well and fine running back Dalvin Cook has to run well. Cook says he’s healthy, and that he’ll play. But the offensive line is average on a good day. That, and New Orleans’ brilliant offense, will be Minnesota’s undoing.

PHILADELPHIA 1 over Seattle

Despite playing at home, the Eagles are 2½-point underdogs. Why are they an underdog? Because they have been wildly inconsistent, because their wide receivers run like nose tackles, and because they play in the NFC East. But I believe the team finally has come together. Quarterback Carson Wentz is capable of a big game, and the defense will make the plays that ultimately trigger the upset.