Happy Half Hour Episode 59: The Mixon Hybrid Attack

Kristen Balboni. Mother and child, healthy and resting well. Dad still a little shell shocked, as one is, as one is. The it's awesome. The pictures are great. It's a beautiful baby, boy, I mean it's and it's a great family. Kristen is gonna be an awesome mom. And I told her that about a year and a half ago, before anybody knew she was even thinking about it. But I was like, whenever you do it, you're gonna be great at it.

She's just got that, she's just got that vibe about her that, uh, Jack's gonna be in a lifetime of smiles and happiness. So the Dot com staff around here looks everywhere, under every rock, so to speak, for stories and story ideas and feature ideas. Is it true that Kristen declined your offer to have life streaming of her delivery on Panthers dot com. It was. It was a

group decision that we came to. You know, we we wanted to provide as much coverage as possible, but but also you know, we we had to talk to a couple of people in the room, and you know, we weren't sure of the technology hook up in there. You know, we didn't want it to When I was approached about doing the play by play a bit, I thought, okay, what, oh my gosh, I use for this kind of thing. But anyway, so since pure class man, this is great, fantastic.

So we're looking forward to having her back here and here in a couple of months, and hopefully she gets some well deserved rest. Maybe maybe we'll see I don't know. I hope jackson good. I think Jack's gonna be a good boy. Yeah, he's got the look I was going for Jake, But Jack works too. Sometimes you can look at a baby and say that one right there, he's trouble.

He's got that Glinton is not this one. So the biggest news that we'll start off with on this beautiful Wednesday, that the greatest three point shooter in NBA history is from Charlotte Davidson, Wildcat and a Carolina Panther fan. How about that? There you go. When I was a kid, young broadcaster, just starting out in the mid eighties. I started out before that, but it was the mid eight it became the mid eighties, and this picture for Virginia

Tech named del Curry. He obviously was had a beautiful three point stroke, a willowy six five forward swingman, but on the baseball diamond, this effortless deliver and then the bologists exploded out of his hand. I mean, just an incredible athlete. And of course Steph Curry is whom you're you're speaking of. And Darren, I don't know how this. I don't know how he does it. Really, what I'm speaking of is the without altering his motion he can

he can hold perfect form from thirty five ft. I mean, just to get the ball, it's just a he just flicks it up there. And the thing about it is, and I think most people have shot basketballs in the driveway and stuff like that. It's hard for most normal human beings to throw a basketball, you know, I mean basketball big and it's not a natural motion to it.

A lot of people will shoot as hard as they can, and and he can stand out at half court and just shoot form jumpers and look like it's something he's been doing all his life, which you know he has been. And it has been neat watching him in in this business and being at old Hornets games in the old Coliseum and seeing little staff running around with dad and

being at games and stuff. It You've literally watched this kid grow up into the greatest shooter of all time in NBA history, and and having his dad around the whole time and being part of the Hornets organization. Now, I was just sitting there last night watching it, and I'm just hoping against all hope, and I can't imagine it would ever happen other than maybe some playing career cameo.

But I would love one day, one day to see this man walk back into that building as a home player and as a member of the team his dad played for from the expansion days and you know, became a fixture in this city. You know, I would just look one day, even if he's thirty nine years old. I can't run anymore. If you can't play defense, don't cares. Daddy never played that much defense anyway. Just come home. Isn't there a brother or brothers? Yes? He plays for

the Sixers now. Um? And how about this? His sister Saddel played at Elon with our very own photographer, Chanelle Chanel. Yeah, they're they're they're good friends. I did not know that. The world shrinks down again? How about that? That's good until christ and abub Bunny's gonna have a hard time getting her gig back. Will Brian much more than just an egghead statman? I don't know about that. I I have some more stats, but that's later in the show.

We had some big news at practice today Wednesday practice the Panthers. Right before practice, Darren Gant might have sent out a tweet that the Panthers are designating for return quarterback Sam Donald. New people on the field, new people, new quarterback on the field on the practice field. Yeah, and and we'll see what it's all about. I mean, he's not on the roster yet, he's not gonna play this week or anything like that. But I think after the shoulder injury. He's healed up. I mean, I've seen

him out there working out. I mean in the bubble during practices. He'll be out there working out and stuff. And Sam has been itching to get back on the field, and we'll see I mean he's just out there kind of doing some light through and now obviously not in contact or anything like that. But um, yeah, Sam back on the field. We'll see what it means. I mean, I think because you've got such an investment in him for next year, one way or another, you you'd like

to see what he's got left. You'd like to see, you know, in a system where Jeff Nixon's calling plays and maybe some things are getting streamlined and simplified a little bit, can he get back and have a better result? I mean I I will always be confounded by the way this season has gone for Sam because you know, all off season it was like what are they doing training for Sam Donald? And then you see him in minicamp.

You see him in training camping it looks all right, and he's running two minute drills and he's putting teams in position for field goals and stuff. And then the seasons arts team plays really well. I mean Sam was good the first three or four weeks, and even in Dallas when they lost, he threw a couple of picks, but he played all right. And then just it was like when Christian got hurt, the wheels fell off of everything all at once, including Sam, Darnald and things. He

was doing well. He stopped doing well. And he's got it in him, and I think that talent that they talked about all offseason is still there. It's just a matter of how to tap into it and where they can. I mean, we'll see what happens, but it was definitely interesting having an extra quarterback out there, for sure. I like this a lot on a variety of levels. Level number one, to Darren's point earlier, he himself, Sam Donald himself wants to get back out there, so he's itching,

to use Darren's words, that speaks well. He's a prideful athlete. He wants another shot. Number two. You need depth of that position. Number three. When things started to go poorly after the three and no start, some of what happened to Sam Donald was his fault. Someone was not his fault. The Panthers during this time lad the free world in drop passes number four. I think I'm up to number four. The things that some of the things that went wrong

are fixable. It should be black letter law. Just don't hold the ball, just get rid of it, get it snapped. In twenty thousand, one thousand, two thous three, Bengo do something either, run, which we've seen he's a nimble runner of the football. Number two of course throw it so um, I don't know. That's that's four things I said that that I like it. And you could I mean, you could put it for sales, sign on it. You could wash wax at arm or all the tires, park it

out front of your driveways. See if you know a willing buyer comes along. But he's he's our guy for he's under contract for another year and it is possible that he could be a meaningful member of this ups and we'll we'll see how it all works out. I mean I was looking earlier at some numbers, and I mean of the three quarterbacks who have played for the Carolina Panthers this year, all nely enough, Sam's got the highest passer rating of the three of them. I mean,

Cam has come in and played acceptably well at times. Um, but he hadn't thrown the ball particularly well, and it's been a it's been a struggle for him. So I don't know, it's weird to see. I mean, Rules said earlier in the week he was planning on using Cam and p J Walker a little bit and having roles for both of them, and you know, maybe you do some kind of platoon and and I don't know how

that's all gonna work. And again, I don't believe Sam's gonna be out there on the field this week necessarily, but he's probably a couple of weeks away, just to get him ready and healthy and grease back up again. But I'll be curious to see how they do it. I mean, do you try to turn it into a salmon cam platoon? I don't know. We'll see Will the

stat guy, so he would be expert at this. But I'm pretty sure that going into last week's game, the Panthers had thrown more picks fifteen than any other team in the NFL except for the Jets twenty. It's not like Sam Donald is replacing a quarterback right that has demonstrated great decision making an exceptional ball security. They've all

made poor decisions. They've all thrown it up for grabs and times, and and as you said, a lot of that is, you know, if you if you can get just another second of protection, if you can get you know, one side or the other side, not to break down if you don't have third and longs because you got a holding on the first time. I mean, I think there's a lot of and then obviously the drop balls,

there's a lot of things that go into it. Obviously you still need a quarterback that can that can do well in tough situations, you know, when when his backs against the wall, when it's when there's pressure coming, when you know the defense knows what to do. He needs to be able to handle those situations. But you're right, it's been a factor of a lot of things, and Sam Donald's far been not the worst out there for sure.

One thing it's irritated me greatly for a good chunk of my adult life, having grown up in an Atlantic Coast Conference dominated state. But yet with enough Washington Redskins, Baltimore Colts, Atlanta Falcons, and of course I love the Chiefs and the Raiders and and the Jets and the old AFL, is that this notion, this crazy notion that if you don't that if you play two quarterbacks is because you don't have one. That sounds like a sentence that has some balance to it, and probably an old, crusty,

old ball coach said it forty years ago. But in the modern NFL it should not make sense. And it does not make sense. What defenses are capable of these twitchy, angry pass rushers that are snorting and pawing the earth, ready to rush in with X marks the spot Darren again right here here, here's the pocket. All you gotta do is get here. And you've got an immobile quarterback. The whole pyramid, a two and a half billion dollar pyramid,

is set on its tip. And if that quarterback gets hurt, oh sorry guys, sorry, sponsors, sorry fans, well and especially I mean, listen, if you've got the reality is in the NFL, most teams, when you're starting quarterback gets hurt. That team is a lot of bad words, um, but most teams are gonna go through that. I mean, just because seventeen game season is mix says it is so physically challenging, and it's getting more physically challenging, and just

the simple breakdown of a body. Over the course of a four month plus season, most teams are going to go through a couple of these guys or need a couple of these guys for sure. And and again, I mean, is the situation here ideal for any of these quarterbacks. No, it's not, not necessarily. But I think everything over the last four weeks. You know, they're still gonna be trying to game plan it up in scheme and win games, you know, each and every week, go one and oh

every week. But the reality is a lot of this is geared towards seeing what you got for two with the rise to prominence. Two of the shotgun formation, the one the two back pistol centers are are good. Now it's snapping the ball. Teen years ago I told John Fox we had a break shooting the TV show. I said, Foxy, why not play two quarterbacks? And he said, oh, Mick, you know you only played two if you don't have one.

So just hear me out. These quarterbacks that are playing high school football right now in Texas, Florida, Philadelphia, that are the starting point guard on their basketball team, they're the starting pitcher on their baseball team, and they can sling it. But the NFL is too stupid to make those athletes quarterbacks. It wants to convert. If they don't get converted in college, they get converted to dbs and

receivers in the NFL. Ty Murray and Sean Payton has done is close to what I told John Fox to do in two thousand six or seven, which is played two quarterbacks in the game and have them both in the game at the same time. Now, he hadn't done it in the way that I've envisioned because with Drew Brees you got a more traditional pocket who can make place from the pocket, and then Taysom Hill. But imagine if you had Lamar Jackson and Taysom Hill or Kim Newton and p J Walker in the game at the

same time, both in the shotgun flexed out. Now, those d lineman rushing in, they don't know where. They don't know where to rush in because they don't know if the ball is gonna be snapped at this quarterback for this quarterback in the mixing hybrid attack. And but it is the the The NFL doesn't, you know, doesn't want to. No one wants to be the one that does it. And it doesn't work. No one wants to be the one that that goes just a little bit too far outside of the norm of what NFL teams do until

everyone kind of does it together. I mean, right, I mean, isn't that kind of what this league is. It'll be like that cat at Presbyterian who never punted. Um, you know, it's gonna take some renegade to try this, and and Matt flag the tape when that happens. You know, we can go back to the time capsule twenty years ago, to the Happy half hour on December one and say Mick called it um, Alexander Graham Bell they laughed at

him right over the telephone. Well, we've certainly spoken a little bit about Donald today after practice, head coach Matt Rule spoke to the media. Um, and we'll hear his thoughts right now. Yeah, I mean, he can't really practice yet. He's throwing, he's able, he's clear, but he's not he's not clear. He's not clear to play. Um, So I'm not sure when that will be. Um, you'll have to make sure that he's gonna have to throw move around.

We can't take contact yet, so that'll come down to a CT scan probably in the coming weeks, so he's still the ways. So Donald may not be part of the game plan, but Darren Ganton mcmixon certainly are. We talked about this a little bit last week, but heading to Buffalo, New York this weekend, I have on my phone the top ten list of coldest games in Panthers history. This one would have to get down under thirty two

degrees just to crack that list. I think, Mick, you talked about that Minnesota game where that one's number three was the number one Green Bay NT Championship three degrees fahrenheit, a kickoff, a whole three, and then I think it got much lower after that. It got colder as the day went on, and once it got dark, you did not want to be outside. It was it was like Hoth. It was the frozen ice planet that I never thought I was gonna escape from. I I don't know that

I've ever been that cold in my life. I recall one camping trip I went on with my father and some friends when I was a young scout, and we had coolers and the eggs inside the coolers froze. It was so cold on that trip, and I don't remember what it was that was before we carried around cell phones new to the temperature every minute of every day. But that Green Day game was as cold as I've ever been in my life. Do you I don't think we've told it on on this medium before, But the

Mark Carrier story from that game? Have you told that one?

Wasn't it? Mark? Which one? I'm trying to remember? I mean, there were there were so many, I mean guys were just guys were freezing, and guys were trying to There were a couple of them who ran out and wanted to be tough guys and sleeves and everything, and some of them just turned right round and went back in the locker room, like nope, what was it him that put I don't remember the substance, but put it on his feet and then it didn't take until that is right?

That is right, Mark Carry, or thank you for jogging my memory. This happens with age. Mark Carry put chayenne pepper in his socks. They thought that was gonna help keep his toes warm during the game, and it apparently didn't fully activate until after the game and when he had changed into his dress shoes for the flight home to Charlotte, and he was rather uncomfortable for the entire flight. I could just imagine steward us, Can I get some bucket of ice back here? Have you boys not had

enough of that already? Um? But yeah, Mark tried putting Kayenne pepper in his socks and that didn't quite work out. So we will remembers my material. Better not remember my material. I remember that paragraph from that story he did. It was fantastic. I mean, I'm just trying to think of what it was, the pepper still in like in between his toes, or like he was he wearing the same socks, or he just didn't watch at all. I guess when

he I guess when he showered off. You know, I wouldn't linger in a shower in a situation like that, uh so I would be trying to get in and out. But apparently it stayed on his skin and became more and more uncomfortable as day went on. Something to google up. We won't do it now, but something to google up

is a scientist named Jane Gustator. She wondered years ago why some people sweat, why they perspire when they eat spicy foods, and so there's a type of perspiration known as gustatory sweating that can occur when you eat hot peppers and things. Yeah, haven't your wondered about that? I think it's fascinating. Do you sweat when you eat hot peppers? Back? Well, no, because I solve that problem by not I don't. I don't sweat a lot in general. But I'm not cold tolerant.

I love hot weather, love hot weather, and can I stand cold with cold weather? Just it just hurts. And that Minnesota game, so the Ice Bowl was thirteen below right Green Bay, Dallas. Yeah, I got no interest in it. I have these cats on the YouTube and all the Facebook. They throw the boiling water, the kettle of boiling water up into the air and it just becomes snowflakes. I mean,

it's it's pretty amazing. I there there is something you know in this very nice, pleasant southern town of Charlotte, where you know, people think we're too soft for cold NFL football? Did they have the Iron night? Maybe it's true. The little packets, the handwarmer, a little hand warm packet.

They load up on those things and and listen, Donny Toner and his guys are gonna have every device, knowing the man to keep these guys warm and just glancing at the forecast, I think it's going to be cold, but not necessarily heroically cold, just regular garden variety cold, which there's no fun in that, Like, if you can't set a record, what's the point of being cold? Well, I mean, I used to you talk about that list

of top ten games. I used to giggle with David Monroe. Uh, there was a time in this franchise's history where one of the tin coldest aimes was forty degrees at kickoff. Years ago working for the Atarhol Sports Network, North Carolina had a night game at Keenan Stadium and I had this and it was gonna be cold night, and I don't like cold weather, and I can't stay warm, and I'm ectomorphic and not a lot of body fat and

just don't like cold. I got so. I had this heating pad that my parents got for a wedding present, and this heating pad got hot. I plugged that thing in about an hour before kickoff, and I see this little lightning bolt and this puff of smoke it's arked against this aluminum power strip in the press box at Keenan Stadium. And then I hear this while I saw that.

I hear this, and the whole bank of lights on the other side of Keenan Stadium went out and I created a brown out over half a Chapel Hill plugging this heating pad in never told anybody. I'm telling this now for the first time. I almost had to delay kickoff trying to get the power back on because she

blew the breaker on Chapel Hill that night. So you're saying that the Super Bowl with the Niners and the Ravens was really because someone got a little chili up in the press box and the super Dome and plugged in a eating path could happen. I wish I had a story that good, because I was in that press box when that place went dark, and that was concerning because Superdome being what it is, you can't see out, you don't know what's happening outside, you don't know what

calls it. All I know is there a bunch of people in a press box who no longer had electricity or the internet. Yeah, because when the WiFi went out, we were all literally in the dark. So we're trying to everybody's trying to text home and see what's going on. But uh, yeah, hopefully, hopefully Mick is able to stay warm, and we don't short out the We don't short out the lovely people of Brown County, Wisconsin. And congratulations you

use literally correctly, unlike will generation. Yeah, what what did I do? I just woke up this morning. Well, your generation has crushed the English language in a variety of ways. I don't even think it's my generation. Okay, I generation under you. Thank you. There you go where I'm engaged now. Kids, these days literally like driving by the seat of my pass and stuff. And I mean because it was literally

like raining cats and dogs. You never know, there could have been some some dogs animal from Yeah, you gotta be careful on days like that. You can step in a poodle. So finally, Mick, we used to do this thing called like the crazy question of the week. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I wasn't ready for it ready and I'm trying to do my best year. I'm no Kristen and you you just do that, And now I'm I'm the guy that just stomped all over it. Yes, that was funny. It was the year all week. It was good. I

can't even do it now. Last night, Charlotte F's the MLS team ready to kick here in February and in our our fine uptown Charlotte Bank of America Stadium, they had an expansion draft to help build out their roster. Unlike the Panthers, they were only drafting themselves, so they didn't have anyone to really draft against. But I wanted to kick it back to you guys for any Darren has some memories of covering the very first draft. It was.

It was quite a day. I mean, the Jaguars and the Panthers kind of going back and forth at each other, and there were different philosophies at play. Bill Pollion wanted to build this thing from the bottom up and and he used a lot of those picks on special teams guys and people who were going to fill in the roles. The jack Quires wanted some names, and they go out, they had the first pick. They take Steve Burlin, you know, and find them a quarterback with their first pick, and

that's how they were gonna do business. Well, I think Bill had in mind that the draft was gonna be where he found his and build with a young quarterback that way. Um, So he started filling in around the edges of roster. Rod Smith, cornerback from Notre Dame, and uh longtime Charlottina. I don't know if Rod's still in town or not, but uh, I used to do some radio with him. Great guy, um and a pretty good

cornerback for a while. Was the first pick. But there were all kinds of guys through that process who became, you know, not necessarily household names, but staples of the Panthers. Mark Carrier was an expansion draft pick, Howard Bob Christian, a couple of fullbacks who were key parts on some of those early teams, you know, all the way down to Paul Butcher, who was like the Frankie Luvu of his day. He was special teams guy, lineback or running

around with his hair on fire all the time. But it didn't was literally like on fire, literally like on fire. Have this, have this in front of me right now, and you're doing a fantastic job. All I know is the Panthers had eleven draft picks this past year. In April, yes, and that felt overwhelming to me. Trying to update all of I was just I was dead. By the end of the weekend, there were thirty five picks. Thirty five picks.

I can't imagine that. And there got to a point in the draft where if you look at the list, you'll see him going back and forth, back and forth. Jacksonville, Carolina got to the point where the Jags were like, yeah, we're good, Well, we don't need anybody else in Panthers took another four or five dudes, and one of those last four picks was a gentleman named Bill Goldberg who stopped going by Bill, shaved his head and started wrestling for a living and turned out to be all right

at it. How did it work back then? Didn't other teams have to open their rosters? Yeah? Basically, other teams left an unprotected list of five or eight guys that you had to pick from, and the list never got completely necessarily out there. But every team had to make so many guys, and most teams tried to get rid

of bad contracts or you know stuff. You know, one of the one of the guys the Jacks took Desmond Howard, you know, the old Heisman winner who never really turned out to be much of an NFL player and bounced around and got paid and never really did all that much.

But you know, and they you know, people wanted you to take their bad contracts or old dudes on the fringes their roster, and and Paulian largely avoided that and took a bunch of guys, you know again like Carrier and Griffin and Christian and Tim mccaire, Tim mccuire, t mac um. Wasn't gonna be a backup to a bunch of backups. And um, I'm trying to think who Mark Rodenhauser. I believe the original long snapper was an expansion Draft pick. How about this? The former Super Bowl winning coach of

the Eagles, Doug Peterson. Peterson's right, pretty amazing that the Panthers had success so quickly to turn all that around into that season. Yeah, I mean, and and that was you know, like I said, Bill wanted to use the expansion Draft to kind of fill in the blanks on a roster because early on he was going to draft his quarterback and got one in Carry Collins with the fifth overall pick after trading down, and you know, really comes in in nineties six in free agency and brings

in so many guys. I mean, he already had a base with Sam Mills and Lamar Lathan and then you add a Kevin Green to the mix, you add Eric Davis at cornerback to the mix, and and really filled that team in in free agency and made it something, you know, something pretty special. Caught a bunch of people off card and and that was a team that started a little slow and caught hot at the end of the year and just went and got on a roll. And it was very It was very back to basics football.

They weren't carry wasn't slinging it all over the yard. I remember there were stats from that time that if carried through for three hundred yards it was a bad thing, not a good thing. But if he could manage the game, run a good bit, throw for two yards and not turn it over, they had a pretty good chance of winning because they were playing some hard defense back in those days. Was Dom Caper's a good head coach? Yeah,

he was. I think you know, Dom, like a lot of guys, when he got more on his plate than he can handle, and then he ended up being GM that's where some mistakes were made. But Dom as a coach was the kind of guy. Don was very detail oriented, very uh precise. I mean, he couldn't lay out notebooks and show you what his plan. I mean in September. He could tell you what the practice schedule was gonna be in December, and and he knew in his mind exactly what it was gonna look like. And and I

think he was a good He was a strategist. I mean he was an old um zone blitz guy Dicklebo, this disciple uh from Pittsburgh played that defense and knew how to press your guys from a lot of different angles. Don's a Don was a good coach. Don was a good man. Uh Dom got undone when he got asked to be g M two and things got away from them a little bit. Well, this week, I now have in my possession one of the most prized T shirts that I've ever owned. Mick, do you have a Friend

of the mail Bag shirt? No? Do you have any in athletic cut? Actually there, we may be out of exhales honestly, because we have sent these out to the Friends of the mail Bag. We did hit get some custom T shirts made. H Were they caught with the Yah? Yeah of course, yeah, Okay, I'm in right there. We can make this happen. Yeah, we can make this happen. I've got a secret vault near my office where these things are safely stored, because you know, the the thieves

in this office don't look at me. Don't look at me. Well, maybe at some point we'll have to have some friends of the podcast too, but I think they're largely some of the same people. Since I'm retiring and heading to my golden years in four more games, I would not be too proud to have one of these shirts and have both YouTube joders sign it for me. Oh my goodness. I I really hope that. I would love if you were friends of the Mailbag shirt for the final Happy

half hour, and we'll get Kristin Bobbo. We'll get Jack Harrold to do a footprint or a handprint on it. Fantasistic and two guys too. That'd be great. Well, before we get there, we've got to go to Buffalo first, So everyone will be watching Sunday one o'clock and listening, listening on Panthers Dotter, Panthers dot com, mcmisten, listen to that's where it is front page, just to see if Mick calls is another blackout could happen. On that note.

On that note, thanks for listening to the happy half hour. We'll see you next week.