Recharging the Batteries
Posted July 30, 2006, 8:24 PM ET

Man, I feel great. A week in San Diego was the perfect recipe for getting ready for the upcoming football season.

I had the chance to spend a few days in Dallas before heading off to the West Coast. It is enjoyable to read the Dallas Morning News...a great sports page, plus "Big D" always has something going on in the world of sports.

Like many other teams in the NFC, the Boys believe their time is now. I like the moves that they have made in the off-season, and Bill Parcells is usually dangerous when he's in his fourth year as the Head Coach of a franchise.

The ongoing saga that is T.O. will put the Cowboys in the national news constantly during the 2006 season. I'm sure players and coaches from around the league will be keeping an eye on Dallas, but everybody in the NFC East could cause trouble....same goes for the NFC South, too.

As we get closer to the first pre-season game, keep in mind that the Cowboys haven't won a post-season game since 1996. To make matters worse, the Dallas Cowboys are 40-56 during this century...only Arizona and Detroit have worse records since 2000. It is time for the Cowboys to show signs of life....if the Cowboys find themselves watching the playoffs at home again this year, Jerry Jones might be looking for Tuna Helper.

While I was vacationing in San Diego, I understand that a Charlotte sports TV-hairdo was terminated from uttering a vulgarity on the air. NBC6's Chuck Howard evidently let a no-no slip while recording a promo for the next morning's sports recap. Howard wanted to redo the piece, and in the process let out a cuss word...some producer erred in airing the mistaken piece as opposed to the correct one that Howard had later finished for the morning show.

I can assure you that I do this on almost every "Packman on Sports" TV commentary (of course, they don't air the screw-ups on WJZY-TV, but the blooper reel is pretty funny)....and I can assure you that most "hairdos" have done the same thing regardless of the size of their television markets or inflated egos.

NBC6 should be ashamed of the way they treated Howard. What about the lackey that put the wrong video on the air? But what do you expect from the NBC6 suits? ....They suck. Howard has been at NBC6 for the past 11 years and he deserved a break on this one.

Did I read this correctly? ....The professional jockey (Paul O'Neill) that pulled a "Zidane" and head-butted his horse after a race last week apparently apologized for his actions. Is their any confirmation that the horse accepted the apology?

When I returned to Charlotte, I noticed the picture in the Charlotte Observer sports section of an injured Steve Smith being carted off the practice field with a strained hamstring. I can assure you that every player, coach and fan associated with the Panthers had their heart skip a beat when they saw the photo or heard the news.

The Panthers are loaded and are the favorite in the NFC to make it to the Super Bowl in Miami....and as good as this team appears to be on paper, the loss of a playmaker like Steve Smith makes the Panthers just another team with a chance.

I couldn't help but laugh at the photo of Dan Morgan carrying some type of contraption into Spartanburg....it was reported to be a portable hyperbaric chamber. What was amazing is that Morgan didn't get injured getting it up to his dorm room.

Finally, Atlanta Braves fans can put away any hopes of catching the Mets in the National League East. The three-game sweep by New York in Atlanta officially ended the Braves' streak of 14 consecutive division titles. It was the Mets' first sweep of the Braves in Atlanta since August of 1979...and it also put the Bravos 15 games behind the Metropolitans.