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It seems ridiculous to even suggest the possibility of the Carolina Panthers making the playoffs after their 1-7 start, and after they lost their best receiver, two best running backs and all-pro defensive tackle for the season.

But, here it is. At 4-7, the Panthers are just one game out of a wild-card spot. Minnesota or Green Bay -- whichever doesn't win that division -- will take one wild-card berth. Only the Giants and St. Louis, at 5-6, are ahead of Carolina for the other, though a handful of teams are tied with it at the moment. Only one of the Panthers' five remaining games is against a team with a winning record, and Atlanta, which the Panthers visit Dec. 18, isn't the most impressive 9-2 team in NFL history. The Rams come to the Panthers in two weeks, which by then could actually be a make-or-break game.

So, three questions: 1) Will the Panthers make the playoffs? 2) Do they have to run the table to make it, or is 8-8 good enough? 3) What does it say about the lack of quality teams in the NFC that I'm even posing these questions?

What a sweet, sweet irony it is that John Rocker is trying to revive his baseball career with the indy-league Long Island Ducks, who play a relatively short train ride away from Shea Stadium, where he six years ago compared riding the 7 train in New York to traveling through Beirut. And worse.

Now 30, the xenohomophobe says he's matured and hopes New Yorkers have matured enough to forgive him, according to this New York Post account. He'd even be willing to pitch for the Mets.

Through all Rocker's turmoil, I'll always best remember him for threatening to beat me up in the Danville Braves' clubhouse in 1994, when I covered the rookie-ball team for the Register & Bee. I'm not the most confrontational guy in the world and certainly wouldn't write the rip job he claimed I'd written in a game story. OK, I might have written that he was shelled. But he was. Anyway, Rocker, who could have pulverized me, didn't. So it turned out OK.

And his career looked promising for a few years. It all seemed to fall apart, though, after an unpleasant train ride through the city. After the Braves' bullpen meltdowns the last few days, maybe Rocker should put a call in to John Schuerholz and stock up on MARTA tokens.

Unrelated to any sports subject in particular, I was wondering if anyone else out there has noticed that the temperature reading atop the JP building in downtown Greensboro seems a tad off in recent weeks.

I couldn't help doing a double-take when I saw a couple of days ago that it was 101 degrees, according to our local insurance company. It felt more like 80. Today feels quite summerlike, but 98??? I don't think so. Jefferson Pilot has apparently moved its official thermometer to Venus.

To truly appreciate a Rob Daniels rant on any of many sports-related subjects, one should hear it, not just read it. So, we turn your attention to our first Radio Free Sports podcast, taped this morning and the first of many online sports discussions with our sports reporters.

Today, we talk a little NBA lottery, Tobacco Road recruiting, NASCAR crew-chief firing and US Open qualifying. Go here to hear it.

As those hockey fans among us try to overcome our NHL playoffs withdraw, it's important to turn our attention to other distractions. Like the replay of the European Cup final I'm watching right now on ESPN Classic.

Alas, my adopted Euro team, AC Milan, blew a 3-0 lead against Liverpool and I know all too well how it's going to turn out in PK's. The first OT just ended, and Milan took it too them throughout but couldn't finish. Kaka and the boys let me down. But, when it goes to penalty kicks, it's pretty much a coin flip anyway. A dreadful way to end a championship match, in my mind.

That's one reason I'd rather be watching a sudden-death hockey game right now. Just one overdramatized, hair-raising Gary Thorne call of a game-winning goal is all I'm asking for. Anyone remember: "Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! And the Rangers have one more hill to climb!"? Yeah, I hated that one, too.

Those are the two dogs who won me a few dollars at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track this weekend. I won't mention the eight greyhounds who I picked to win, yet didn't. They chased a chase rabbit named Sparky who looked nothing like a rabbit. But they flew around the track regardless, and the retirees flew (well, waddled briskly) to the betting window.

I mention this not to promote gambling, which is why I won't explain quinelas and trifecta boxes. It's just that there is no dog racing in North Carolina. Nor horse racing, jai alai or lotteries, for that matter. Florida has all of that, but no state income tax. Go figure.

Other things I learned during my holiday-weekend visit to my mom in Punta Gorda, the town Hurricane Charley tried to wipe out a year ago:

Hockey is alive and well on the outskirts of the Everglades, where temps are well into the 90s lately. The Florida Everblades -- get it? -- lost Game 5 of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals at Trenton, but still have a chance with Game 6 being Wednesday night back in Ft. Myers -- they have a nice building a few miles from the dog track. Here it June, and the ECHL playoffs are still going somewhere far, far away from Greensboro. They're even televising the games on a local network and you can keep up with the series on Andy Kent's Blades Blog at the Naples Daily News site.

Boating is still the No.1 sport in Southwest Florida. The intracoastal waterway looked like Wendover at rush hour as I flew in.

Annakin Skywalker fashions a killer Jedi mullet in "Revenge of the Sith," which I saw with the family Tuesday when our golf outing got rained out. A precursor to Luke's 1977/galaxy far, far away 'do in Star Wars, part IV.

Oh, and I learned that the Droid leader has emphysema even though he's allegedly robotic, and the chancellor is evil -- didn't see that coming. Hope I didn't ruin it for anyone.

In events that played out elsewhere, I learned that the Red Sox can still humiliate the Yankees (won 17-1 Saturday) but not whether Duke could humiliate UVa twice in one year in lacrosse (beat 'em 17-2 early this year but Johns Hopkins humiliated the Cavs in the NCAA semis instead, denying us a Duke-Virginia final Monday).

We also learned that FBI honcho W. Mark Felt was "Deep Throat" -- the newspaper industry's all-time greatest unnamed source -- and that the French don't like, or trust, the EU Constitution.

Down in Charlotte on Thursday, at the Panthers "voluntary" summer-school practices, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins was in a very forthcoming mood about his shoulder injury last year, about his weight issues, about hitting the bottle too much while he was out and about how much he despises Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

In case you missed it, the former Pro Bowler from Maryland told the gathered media (I was one of the stunned bystanders):

"I hate him. Everybody says I'm supposed to be polite when I talk to y'all, but I hate him. He talks too much, he doesn't make sense, he's fat, he's sloppy, he acts like he's the best thing since sliced bread. He's ugly, he stinks, his mouth stinks, his breath stinks, and basically his soul stinks, too."

Wow, he can smell another man's soul. Tune in to the "Radio Free Sports" podcast today (after 11 a.m.) to hear more discussion on Jenkins and Sapp.

Meantime, RB Stephen Davis seems to be recovering cautiously from his knee injury. He's confining his running to the treadmill at this point and is basically gunning for the start of training camp to get back on the field.

You can now catch N&R staffers Jeff Carlton, Rob Daniels and Jim Young in the studio talking about ACC football, Larry Brown's travels and ESPN's poor choice of "50 states in 50 days" theme music on our latest Radio Free Sports podcast. The last two weeks of podcasting have belatedly been posted, too.

Dangerous minds come together to talk steroids, pucks and fantasy football as we close out the week at RadioFreeSports. The crying you might hear toward the end is not Rob after being zinged by Jim Young. It's actually Jim's daughter, Julia, weighing in from the Durham bureau.

Let me preface this by saying, generally, I don't like mascots at sporting events. They're basically a needless distraction from the game, like cheerleaders and dizzy-bat contests. I realize I'll probably feel differently when I have kids.

That being said, I've got to give it up to the Phillie Phanatic for his rightful induction into the new Mascot Hall of Fame. Of course, how could he not get in? Dave Raymond, the first Phanatic, is running this hall. I grew up with the Phillies and now, just as when I was an easy-to-please 10-year-old, find his antics genuinely funny (even with a new guy in the costume).

Also entering this goofball Hall of Fame were the San Diego Chicken (not so great, but a mascot original) and the Phoenix Suns Gorilla, who probably got in for his dunking ability.

Who got unfairly snubbed? Mickey Mouse? Nah. Ronald McDonald? Overrated. Harvey Hound, the Calgary Flames dog who had his tongue famously snatched by Oilers coach Craig MacTavish? Maybe next year.

The two I'd like to see get in: Hoops, the former Washington Bullets mascot who was ejected from an NBA game by thin-skinned ref Steve Javie, and Youppi! -- Le Grand Orange -- who rattled around cavernous Stade Olympique all those years for the Expos. He didn't head to Washington with the Nationals. So, s'il vous plait, Hall voters: throw Quebec a bone, induct Youppi!

Jim Young joins us in the studio this week in Radio Free Sports. Jim and fellow News & Record sports writers Jeff Carlton and Rob Daniels reveal their first-ballot selections for the Mascot Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class this week. Not that they were asked to. Why should the Expos’ Youppi! get some consideration? Who are the best and worst of college mascots? We have the answers. We also tell you why the Padres are proof baseball shouldn’t allow sub-.500 teams to make the playoffs and debate whether the NHL should be so gung-ho in sending its players and coaches to the Olympics in the middle of hockey season.

Give it a listen and feel free to blog your mascot favorites. And forgive us for any over-the-top Jeffrey Dahmer references you might hear.

On this week's edition of Radio Free Sports, News & Record colleagues Jim Young, Jeff Carlton and Rob Daniels explain why Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny observed this week that baseball will give you a 10-game suspension for using steroids, and six games for drinking milk. Also, the performance-enhancing drug EPO is at the center of a controversy that, thanks to a French sports publication's report this week, continues to hound 7-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. Is this a genuine "Gotcha" situation? Or just a bitter nation that can't win its own bike race?

Rather get into a back-and-forth blog debate with colleagues Jim Young and Bruce Buchanan over the meaning of "free pass," I'll let you listen to us discuss the Braves, manager Bobby Cox and the point I was making at this week's Radio Free Sports podcast.

Listen and understand that I was not arguing the NL East is weak. Just that other teams who should have challenged the Braves underachieved or faded after showing early promise and, thus, the Braves don't get 100% of the credit for their 11th straight (not 14th) division title as Jim seems to want to give them.

We do agree Cox is the NL manager of the year, just as Andruw Jones should be MVP. But, if Jimbo is going to talk up the NL East and rip the NL Central for being full of chumps, does that not mean the Phillies had a more treacherous road than the Astros, whom they trail by 2 games for the wild card?

News & Record sportswriters Jeff Carlton, Rob Daniels and Jim Young talk this week on Radio Free Sports about this weekend's Virginia-North Carolina and N.C. State-Wake Forest games while looking back and considering the significance of the yellow flag thrown at the feet of Chuck Amato by a fan, and the letter from State AD Lee Fowler asking fans to be more supportive of their embattled coach. Also, would you do 33 years in prison because your favorite athlete wore that number?

Find it here.

This week at Radio Free Sports: News & Record sports writers Jeff Carlton, Rob Daniels and Jim Young discuss what makes Clemson-South Carolina and Auburn-Alabama football rivalries worth spilling blood over while other state rivalries fall short. Where might N.C. State go bowling? And will Navy blockade them out of San Diego? Most importantly, who besides the former A-Team star would we like to do voice-overs for our in-car GPS systems?

He's been away for a while, or I just haven't been around for his late-afternoon wacko fits: But today marked the return of Crazy Bicycle Guy to Market St., where he delivered one hell of a fist-pumping rant at the News & Record offices as he walked his bike up the street. Not to be confused with Duke's Crazy Towel Guy, this rumpled character apparently harbors some longstanding grudge against the newspaper, which for those of us next to a window in the sports department, is at least good for entertainment purposes.

CBG once told me: "Those turkeys can't prove anything." I'm still trying to corner him for a follow-up interview. Prove what?

Oh, and on that note, happy turkey day.

If you're nearly as enthralled by the Sopranos saga on HBO as I am, you'll get a laugh out of SI's Sopranos-sports parallel universe here.

So I'm just back from Las Vegas, a few dollars lighter in the wallet, and thought I'd report on a) the World Series of Poker main event, and b) the slowest week of the calendar year at the casino sports books.

I'll keep it brief on the WSOP because, well, if you're like me and watch the main event religiously on ESPN's delayed broadcasts, you don't want to know too much too soon.

Based on a few poker-celeb sightings at the Bellagio Wednesday night, though, it was pretty clear that, by Day 2b, two-time main event champion Johnny Chan and T.J. Cloutier were gone. Chan was ousted on the first day, it turns out, right along with TV celebs Jason Alexander (George Costanza) and Ray Romano. Tobey McGuire lasted a little longer.

There were still a good 800-1,000 players left in the Rio Pavilion when we took in some of the chip-pushing action Wednesday night. We watched Daniel Negreanu bust out a young player at the featured table but learned that Negreanu was himself eliminated before play wrapped up that night. Gus Hansen was close to the chip lead at the time and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was alive.

I won't say who remains contention as tomorrow's final table approaches, but you can check here for updates if you can't wait for the tape delay. They were down to 17 players as of last night's dinner break. ESPN will show the final table live Tuesday at 3 p.m. on a pay-per-view basis.

Being a sports writer, I refrain from wagering on sporting events myself aside from the occasional horse or dog race. No Betting On Humans is my rule. But I thought I'd check out some of the Vegas sports books while in town to see what was drawing betting action on arguably the three slowest days of the year in sports.

Well, Monday at Planet Hollywood, they posted odds on baseball's home run contest. Exciting. Not many bettors in the room for that. Horse races from across the country dominated the big boards at most sports books this week, but you could also find odds on WNBA games (the Mystics were 6-point faves over Minnesota on Tuesday and won by 8 in OT), the upcoming John Deere Classic (NC State alum Tim Clark was going off at 30-to-1 and finished 1 stroke back; he was 70-to-1 in this week's British Open while Tiger would only pay 5-to-2) and, of course, the All-Star game.

The AL was favored, with a bet of $13.50 winning $10. And, just like the previous nine years, the AL won the midsummer's classic. If a true gambling degenerate, you also could have bet on who hits the game's first HR (A-Rod was a 5-to-1 pick), which team scores first or last, etc.

Southern Cal is currently favored to win the BCS title, at 13-to-5 odds. Virginia Tech (22-to-1) is getting the heaviest action among ACC schools, with Wake Forest at 150-to-1, N.C. State at 200-to-1, UNC and Duke among "the field" at 50-to-1.

No bets taken on Wednesday night's Triple-A All-Star game, so that truly was the deadest of days at the sports book.

That allowed me to turn my attention to a couple of no-limit hold 'em tournaments where I could toss away my own money. If you're looking for a good poker room, you should get off the Strip and give the Orleans a try. Really enjoyed the $80 buy-in tournament there despite finishing well out of the money.

Just to give you an idea of the random e-mails sports writers get during an average day, here's the best so far today, from some random PR outfit:

TEAM USA WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FLAG FOOTBALL JUNIORS IN AMSTERDAM

Lelystad, Amsterdam, September 23, 2007 –- The world championship flag juniors international tournament held September 21-23, 2007 was hosted by the IFAF (International Federation of American Football). Mo Steel of JCC (Jewish Community Center) in North Miami Beach, reigning national champions, were asked to represent the United States in this first year tournament representing USA Football and the NFL. The competing teams were from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Finland, Spain, Japan and Italy. The teams were 15 and under, older and bigger than most of our team.

This was a very long day as we had to play all our games this morning and the other teams in our pool only had one game today as they had played most of their matches yesterday. The tournament committee was very gracious in accommodating us for Yom Kippur yesterday (all teammates are Jewish and fasted for Yom Kippur on Saturday). Fasting on Saturday however only made our boys hungrier for a victory!

The boys really took it to another level today as the offense could not be stopped. Our offense was stopped ONLY two times all day! We found out that unlike the NFL tournament, where the teams are "club teams", these teams were national teams composed of tryouts throughout their respective countries.

It's good to see the Jewish Community Center of Miami representin' for the U.S. in its own sport ... without getting tackled once! Those Austrians never knew what hit 'em. Of course, Yom Kippur only made them hungrier for victory. Gotta love PR prose.