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SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2006
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO/CHRIS GARDNER
Carolina Panthers tight end Kris Mangum, right, congratulates teammate Steve Smith after Smith scored a touchdown Sunday
against Baltimore. The Panthers are 4-0 since Smith returned to the lineup. Carolina went 0-2 without the receiver.
It’s full Speed ahead
Surging Panthers look like contender with Smith at top form
By Mike Cranston
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Steve Smith has reached
top speed, and so have the
Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers started 0-2
while Smith nursed a ham
string injury. He returned to
the lineup in Week 3 and
Carolina hasn’t lost since,
although it was appai-ent
breakaway speed hadn’t
returned, and he had three
drops in a win over
Cleveland.
The old Smith returned
Sunday as the Panthers beat
Baltimore 23-21 for their
fourth straight win.
Smith had eight catches for
189 yards, including a 72-
yard touchdQwru.catch that
grab Jake Delhomme’s
imderthrown ball over the
middle and then take off. He
beat speedy Ravens comer-
back Samari Rolle to the
right comer of the end zone
for the decisive touchdown.
“You’ve got to remember
Steve went through two
hamstring pulls, missed
most of camp as weU as the
teason games and two
regular season games,” coach
John Fox said Monday. “No
matter how good you are, in
this game you have to get
into condition to play it. I’m
not just talking about
weightlifting and cardiovas
cular work, I’m talking about
playing the game. At this
level it’s a certain speed.
Until you’re out there doing
Please see WITH TOP/3C
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Charlotte Bobcats center Emeka Okafor is
slowly working back into condition after
missing most of last season with an ankle
Injury.
Bobcats
bigs on the
monHone
day at time
Okafor, May rebounding
from injury-plagued season
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Bobcats Arena was jumping on Monday as
an estimated 17,000 middles school students
from around the region screamed, danced, and
cheered on the’’ Charlotte Bobcats at the Cool
Schools morning game. But the energy in the
Arena did not always translate onto the court,
as the Bobcats looked slow and sluggish, right
from the beginning. This “slow motion” bas
ketball, some blamed the early TOam game
time for, was especially evident with the play .of
forward/center Emeka Okafor.
Okafor, who missed 56 games last season due
to an ankle injury, was itching to get back on
the court to play in real game situations, since
he had not played since January. For the pre-
season Okafor is averaging about four points
and five rebounds, compared to the 12.9 points
and 10 boards he was posting before his injury.
Yet, the low numbers so far are no concern to
“Meek.”
“I feel good,” said Okafor. “Right now it’s just,
fine-tuning everything. You can do all the off
season stuff you want to, but you can’t ever
repheate actually getting in the game and the
speed and the adrenaline, and all that stuff.”
The idea of not being able to replicate or sim
ulate the real NBA experience was seconded by
Forward Sean May. May has also not been on
Please see BOBCATS/3C
Black managers
in jeopardy; so
are players, fans
By Tim Dahiberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dusty Baker is gone. Frank Robinson is fin
ished.
Cito Gaston won two World Series for the
Tbronto Blue Jays but hasn’t seen the inside of
a dugout in years. And Don Baylor suffered the
same fate a few years ago that befalls losing
managers everywhere - he was fired.
So now there is one.
One black manager in baseball.
One.
The same number there was in 1975, the
year Robinson made history by becoming the
first of his kind in the major leagues.
One.
Not a token one, to be sure. Willie Randolph
has some serious credentials, and he just
might have his New York Mets on the way to
the World Series.
But, in a sport that has hked to pat itself on
the back in recent years for opening the way to