Cruise Control
Posted May 4, 2008, 8:58 PM ET

With the exception of Kyle Busch punting Dale Jr. into the wall late in the race in Richmond, the sports weekend was a snoozer.

I can only imagine what the race fans in Richmond did to Kyle Busch, as he decided to head back home after the race. For Junior, his winless streak now is two years old, and counting. While the stars were trading sheet metal down the stretch, Clint Bowyer grabbed the win and jumped into the Top 5 in points in the Sprint Cup standings. In the process, Kyle Busch jumped into the top spot.

At least the NASCAR boys provided some excitement, because the rest of the sports weekend was really lacking in the drama department.

Close to home, the Wachovia Championship had perfect weather, a great course, and a complete rout over the weekend. Anthony Kim blew away the field with an easy five-shot victory, to win his first title on the PGA Tour. The best prediction of the weekend took place on my radio show on Friday. During our remote broadcast from Quail Hollow, CBS broadcaster and PrimeTime co-host Jim Nantz declared at 3:44 pm that Kim would win the Wachovia Championship. At the time, Kim was on the practice range after completing his second round, while he was still a couple of shots out of the lead.

Evidently, Nantz took a page out of Billy Packer's playbook and predicted, "It's over. Anthony Kim is going to win this week". Last month, the old man caught heat by stating that the Kansas-UNC semi-final game was finished with over 7 minutes remaining in the first half of an apparent Jayhawk rout. Even though the Heels rallied, they never overcame the Kansas margin.

Back to golf: while Kim is 10 years younger than Tiger Woods, it is really critical for the Tour that some of the 20-something young guns emerge. Without Tiger in the field, the Tour lacks the normal buzz; but it was still great to watch the world's best players do their thing in person.

The highlight for me was caddying for Boo Weekley in Wednesday's Pro-Am and also hanging out with Nantz during our "PrimeTime with the Packman" show from the Quail Hollow grounds.

Weekley is such a cool guy, that I wish all golf fans...make that all sports fans...could enjoy his approach to his craft, life and the fans. The guy is terrific, and I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had walking around the course during Wednesday's Pro-Am. Evidently, I must have passed the audition, since Boo asked me walking up the 18th fairway if he can use my services again next year. I told him it's a done deal. After spending time with him this week, I feel like I've got a friend for life.....you gotta love Boo.

Speaking of Jim Nantz: I want everybody to go out and purchase"Always By My Side". It's Jim Nantz' new book, that deals with the ordeal that his family has had to address with the terrible disease known as Alzheimer's. Jim's father has been battling this terrible disease for 13 years, and the book deals with the amazing relationship between a father and son...and an entire family. It is a must-read. The book is released on Tuesday and can be purchased at every major bookstore.

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The Kentucky Derby, much like the Wachovia Championship, displayed a new star on the horizon. The four-legged variety gives us Big Brown. The three-year-old looks to be the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed did it 30 years ago in 1978.

While Big Brown was impressive, the race was marred by tragedy. The runner-up horse, Eight Belles, broke both ankles at the conclusion of the race and was euthanized on the track. It was hard to watch. Despite the great promise of Big Brown's performance, the horrifying end to Eight Belles in a runner-up role left everyone stunned and shocked.

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The Carolina Panthers conducted a mini-camp over the weekend, and the biggest news coming out of the practices involved quarterback Jake Delhomme.

I don't know how much you can take from the three days at the Panther practice fields, but you have to be encouraged that Delhomme was at least throwing the football to some of his favorite wide receivers. I know it wasn't a scrimmage, but just seeing highlights of Jake throwing the pigskin is a good thing.

I'm still upbeat about the Panthers' moves in the NFL Draft, and hopefully the team can surprise some people this season. On paper, it looks like they have improved themselves in the off-season...but Jake's arm is going to be a critical piece of the equation.

By the way, I couldn't help but laugh when I came across a post-draft special that I read on the website "coldhardfootballfacts.com". They did a great job breaking down the efforts and predictions of the "draft experts". I've been ranting about this for years on the air and on the blog.

Here is what they determined about my favorite guy(s) on the Worldwide Leader:

Mel Kiper, Jr. correctly picked 8 of the first 135 draft picks in the 2008 draft. His last correct pick was Felix Jones, going to the Dallas Cowboys with the 22nd pick. Kiper, with an entire year to prepare, was absolutely on the money on 7 of the 31 first round selections. That's a robust 22.6% accuracy rate.

I always get a kick out of the draft-geeks that put so much stock into this garbage.