I need to start by thanking BJ Drye and the Editors at the SNAP for affording me this opportunity.  Hopefully they will not be disappointed..
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Does it ever seem to anyone else that the Panthers and Bobcats are forever caught in a game of "anything you can do...." 

So the Panthers decided to a couple of years ago to throw in the towel early in the season in hopes of getting the first pick in the NFL draft.  This lead to the firing of  popular coach, John Fox, but allowed the Panthers to draft Cam Newton with the first pick. 

Not to be outdone, the Bobcats managed to record the worst winning percentage in the history of the NBA much to the dismay of popular coach Paul Silas who was told he would not be returning to coach the Bobcats next year.  Let's hope that the Bobcats can land Anthony Davis to be the Bobcats Cam Newton.
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I am pleased for the most part with this year's Panther draft but I am left with some questions as always.
It seems as though the Panthers are determined to draft the players that they like without any regard for the strategic part of the draft that teams like the Patriots thrive on. For those who may have forgotten, the Panthers wanted Armati Edwards so bad that they traded a second round pick that turned out to be the first pick in the second round (and the first pick of the second day of the draft) to the Patriots.  Not a great move and a horrible one the day Edwards gets cut this summer. 
This year, the Panthers drafted Brad Nortman,  a punter in the 6th round of the draft.  Pretty good punter out of Wisconsin.  He was rated somewhere between 5th and 10th in the pre draft rankings by multiple sources.  Problem is that only one other punter was drafted this year by another perennial poor drafting team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. 
My main problem with this pick is there is no chance that this guy gets picked if the Panther do not pick him.  So he would have been available as a free agent for the Panthers to sign after the draft.  He and about ten other punters would have salivated to sign with the Panthers as Jason Baker had already been cut prior to the draft. 
I am not sure that the Panthers second round pick, Amini Silatolu,  a Division II  star would not have been available later in the draft as well. Perhaps like other teams, we could have traded our slot in the second round and still gotten Silatolu later.
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Cole Hamels is a great pitcher and a member of my fantasy baseball team (you will hear a lot about my various fantasy teams if you are the one or two who chooses to actually read my blog).  I have been following baseball for too many years and I can not recall a pitcher actually admitting to hitting a batter on purpose.  But Hamels admitted to hitting Bryce Harper this weekend and Cool Cole received only a five day suspension which amounts to him missing only one start.  Great for Cole and great for my first place fantasy team.  But not so great for justice.  How does a guy admit to compromising the integrity of the game and get a slap on the wrist.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would probably have suspended him for the rest of the season....
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I love the Yankees.  And I love Derek Jeter.  Jeter is a throwback.  He says the right things, plays the game hard and has remained with one team, just like great players used to do (hey, Lebron!).  Jeter turns 38 in June and is now hitting .397.  He has five home runs and has been crushing the ball.  Last year he was batting .260 for the first part of the season and could not get the ball out of the infield.  Why in the name of Ryan Braun am I worried that its too good to be true? (Stop smirking David Ortiz...I have no doubt about what you've been up to).
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Speaking of the Yankees and classy athletes.  I think Mariano Rivera may go down as the most popular Yankee ever outside of New York, which is saying a lot as long as Yogi is still around.  I can not think of anytime that he has ever been anything but friendly, respectful and gracious.  Its a shame that his career may end on a fluke injury as he was shagging fly balls before a recent Yankee game in Kansas City.  He says he is coming back and I for one hope he does.
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Finally, I am not sure there are many (any?) who enjoy NHL hockey. But I will go on record as saying that no other sport is as exciting as playoff hockey.  I love the NCAA tournament, and I love NFL football, but this years NHL playoffs have been a series of close games with many going into overtime where the first team to score wins.  And, they play on until someone scores.  Last week, the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals played three overtimes which is equivalent to an entire extra game before the Rangers prevailed.  The intensity and fatigue was evident and the entertainment value unmatched!