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Randy Cross and The Sporting News Don’t Acknowledge the Panthers

By Brinson | August 26, 2008

I’m a big fan of The Sporting News; they once gave me money to write it’s an old school establishment with good writing that recently relocated to Charlotte and should have a pretty good finger on the pulse of Carolina-styled athletic coverage.

Or, perhaps not. The most recent list that Randy Cross compiled for TSN of the 101 best players in the NFL (which I can’t find anywhere on the freaking internet, probably because the PDF-styled new not-really-a-newspaper of the the site doesn’t register anything in terms of SEO) apparently has zero, count them, zero Carolina Panthers on it.

So did The Sporting News simply forget that the Carolina Panthers, those same Panthers who slipped by the Redskins 47-3 Saturday night, exist?

The magazine published its list of the top 101 NFL players in its Sept. 1 issue, and not a single Carolina player was found.

No Steve Smith, although he’s been in many top 20s of various publications in the past. Not Jake Delhomme. Not Julius Peppers.

Nobody.

The list, written by former NFL center Randy Cross, is called by Cross “a starting point for discussion about the best players in America’s favorite game, this year.”

Well, then, Mr. Cross. I challenge you to a duel. Or perhaps you just enjoy getting punched in the face. Obviously there’s some sort of error involved in Cross’ calculations, and I would expect a retraction/addition. Either that or a fumbling explanation that Steve Smith just doesn’t have “the intangibles, coupled with his suspension” that causes him to drop. And that Julius Peppers has to prove he’s worthy of the top 101 again. Or perhaps, Jon Beason. He’s relatively good.

Either way though, it’s fairly ridiculous — Smuff has to be in the list if we’re talking about starting a discussion for the best players in the NFL. So, we’re waiting.