Here Kitty-Kitty
Posted November 8, 2005, 7:39 AM ET

The Carolina Panthers are at it again. This time it doesn't involve a player. Jerry Richardson has a new headache and PR problem and it centers around the "TopCats", the Panthers' rent-a-babe dance team.

Unless you've been out of town or living under a rock, the Panthers' dance team has been a bigger story this week than the football team....and that's a shame.

The Panthers are 6-2 at the halfway point, and they are starting to play like the team to beat in the NFC. Sunday's blowout of Tampa Bay was impressive and it looks like John Fox has the team improving every week....a sign of good coaching and a solid team.

Unfortunately, the hard work and great effort is getting lost in the shuffle this week, due to some lame dancing girls that couldn't keep their hands off each other and some of the bar patrons, too.

The TopCats at the center of the story are Renee Thomas and Angela Keathley. They were reported to have had sex with each other in a bathroom stall at a Tampa night club and later engaged in a fight with others at the establishment. The "ladies" were arrested and have since been dismissed from their duties as TopCats. Oh, the horror!

Panthers team spokesman Charlie Dayton announced that the two TopCats were dismissed because they violated a rule that bans conduct embarrassing to the team or organization. That's hilarious on a couple of fronts.

Obviously, the TopCats work under a different set of rules than the players...because there have been dozens of Panthers players that should have been eliminated from the roster based on that "conduct rule". And once again, Jerry Richardson hides from the public when there is a negative involving his team. Not only did the "BigCat" have no response, nobody has seen him.

But Jerry Richardson can make this matter go away in a second. He should get rid of the entire "TopCat" team. They serve absolutely zero purpose for the Panthers on gameday. Not one single person that has bought PSL's shows up at the stadium to see the TopCats.

Sundays in the NFL are about football. If your team is defined by the babes on the sideline, then you've got big problems. Jerry's franchise is ranked as one of the top 10 in football...some value the team at over $600 million dollars. Why would Jerry, or anybody else, allow some $50 dollar rent-a-babe to embarrass and humiliate a team and organization in this manner?

Come on, Jerry...most of the storied NFL franchises don't put up with the trash on the sidelines....Jets, Giants, Browns just to name a few. The steroid scandal is bad enough...now we're dealing with lesbian love in a bathroom stall?

Do it for the kids....your kids. The Carolina Panther football team deserves better. The guys are playing great and have fans excited about the possibilities of a return to the Super Bowl....to have their efforts in Tampa overshadowed by the TopCats "efforts" at Banana Joe's is pathetic.

It is one thing to have your Super Bowl appearance upstaged by Janet Jackson's right breast...now your potential Super Bowl team is being upstaged by these two "sweethearts"....Do the right thing and eliminate the problem....it should be about football, not a dance team.