Moving On Up
Posted April 26, 2009, 9:03 PM ET

The Carolina Panthers gave us something to talk about, after all.

Evidently, John Fox and Marty Hurney were getting bored watching everybody else have all the fun, so they decided to make a move.

The Panther brass, much like last year, decided to get aggressive and roll the dice. They dealt their first round pick for 2010 to San Francisco in order to pick up defensive end Everette Brown. Brown was projected to be a first round selection, but his stock was dropping and in the meantime he was catching the eyes of Fox/Hurney.

Given the unknown future of Julius Peppers, the move appears to make sense on the surface. Of course, there are some assumed points such as:

There is no doubt that the Panthers are built for winning right now. They proved that point late last week, by over-paying and extending Jake Delhomme's contract, and freeing up some salary cap room.

Delhomme is always a fun topic of conversation on the show. I have no doubt that he gives the team their best chance to succeed. Last year, Jake's contract was the 6th largest among NFL quarterbacks. The new 5 year, 42.5 million dollar (20M guaranteed) deal puts Jake in exclusive company. Not bad, for a guy that is looking for his first playoff win in four plus years.

I like Delhomme, and I consider him one of the best 15 QB's in the league....I would never confuse him as one of the best half-dozen signal callers. Given his horrific effort in the Panthers' latest playoff game, it is vitally important for him (and the team) to jump out to a quick start.

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Since the Panthers were without a first round pick, and the Julius Peppers potential trade story was on fumes, I watched even less of the NFL Draft than I normally do. In the past, I could stomach about 15 minutes....given the great Carolinas weather and lack of interest in the first round, it was easy to find something better to do.

Even though I missed watching him, I'm sure my man Mel Kiper, Jr. was failing miserably. I've documented his ability to confuse America by pretending to have a clue or any insider info about the NFL Draft. I've charted his amazing ability to butcher the first round of the Draft for the past five years.

Last year, he was impressive...he correctly selected 7 of 31 opening selections. That's a nice, tidy 22.6% success rate. Kiper actually selected 8 of the first 135 picks in 2008.

This year, Kiper was back to his consistent self...7 of the 32 first round picks were right on the money by ESPN's most famous hairdo. In the last 5 years, Mel Kiper, Jr. has correctly picked 37 of 159 first round picks. That's just over 23%....impressive.

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The PGA Tour comes to town this week at Quail Hollow. Late on Friday, the world's greatest player, Tiger Woods, announced that he would be returning to Charlotte. It will be good to have Tiger back in town. The PGA Tour really lacks a buzz when he decides to chill out and disappear from the links.

While it's good having Mr. Woods, I'm more excited about the return of my favorite PGA Tour player, Boo Weekley. For the past few years, Boo and I have really it hit off on the show....the guy is not only a terrific player, but he's even a better person. If you don't like Boo, you don't like people.

On Tuesday night, Boo and I will be emceeing an event at the Gaston County Sportsman's Club. On Wednesday, I'll be looping for Boo in the Quail Hollow Championship Pro-Am. As of this date, I don't know what time he's scheduled to tee-off, but I will announce it on the show, and you can follow all the action on my twitter address: twitter.com/MarkPacker.

I can't speak for Tiger or any other Tour pro, but nobody will have a better time than me and Boo on Wednesday. If you're lucky enough to have a ticket, be sure to check us out....we'll be easy to spot.

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Last week, I attended my first Carolina Hurricanes game. All I can say is that I've been missing out. The "Pucking Brothers" for years have called into my show and jumped my case for not giving the sport a chance.

They were right.

I still don't know the sport very well, but I can honestly say that the Hurricanes Playoff experience at the RBC Center was nothing short of fantastic. The crowd, the game, the tailgating...you name it...it was first-class. It's not every day that you see a hockey game decided in the final two-tenths of a second. In fact, it was the first time in the history of the NHL that it's ever happened.

I'm looking forward to going back to Raleigh. Who knows? It might be for the next round of the playoffs. The deciding game 7 of the opening round series with New Jersey is on Tuesday night.

Let's go, 'Canes.