The Carolina Panthers lost their third game in a row Sunday in an overtime nailbiter against the Vikings. With just under six minutes to go in overtime, Minnesota came out on top, 34-28.
“It’s a really tough way to go out,” The Charlotte Observer’s Langston Wertz Jr. told WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn on this week’s installment of Time Out for Sports. “After just being excited just minutes before that.”
Coach Rhule dissects overtime loss to the Vikings pic.twitter.com/IN5QmxPyMk
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) October 17, 2021
One particular ex-Panther keeps making headlines. Former Carolina quarterback Cam Newton finally got his COVID-19 vaccine. Wertz says that might improve Newton’s chances of signing with a new team after the New England Patriots cut him last month.
“Once he finds that right situation, he will come back. Cam Newton’s not done playing football. ” Wertz said.
There’s big basketball news, too. The Charlotte Hornets’ regular season starts this week, and Wertz has high hopes.
“I do like the team on paper,” Wertz said. “... I think they’re going to win 40-plus games.”
And on the college level, University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, who led the gold medal-winning Team USA at this year’s Olympics, got a seven-year, $22.4 million contract. The contract makes her not only the highest-paid Black women’s basketball coach but the highest-paid female coach in the Southeastern Conference.
“She deserves it,” Wertz said. “She talked to some NBA teams this year and I’m sure that had something to do with it. But she’s led South Carolina to three Final Fours in six years and she’s been open about the pay disparities between men and women — athletes and coaches.”
“Today is a big day for me … the game of women’s basketball and gender equity across the nation.”@dawnstaley on her 7-year, $22.4 million contract extension with @GamecockWBB
— ESPN (@espn) October 15, 2021
(via @SECNetwork) pic.twitter.com/r1pxykwlyE
In Charlotte, Myers Park and South Mecklenburg High are set to face off this week in a big matchup.
You can listen to the full Time Out for Sports conversation above. Here’s a quick look at a few other things Glenn and Wertz covered.
- There’s more analysis of the Panthers’ loss on Sunday.
- N.C. State’s football team beat Boston College 33-7.
- The defacto ACC Atlantic Division title game is next month in Winston-Salem, and Wertz shares his thoughts on which teams might take the field.
- Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is leaving after the season, and tickets to February’s Duke-UNC Chapel Hill game are going for a lot of money.
