OnlyPantherFaninMaine

Definitely one of the better player interviews I have heard in a long time. Beason is hungry and if he can return and play at a high level this season will make this defense very formidable.

Jon Beason gave an interview on the Mac Attack on 5/10/13. Searched for a previous thread on it but couldn't find it and somehow I don't believe it has been posted. Great interview and worth a listen. About 20 minutes long in total. Summary below. Beason about his charity event that took place on Monday night. Gave out prizes and some vacations and a Panther's fan package for a great cause and a charitable donation (MLB Foundation). Involved people buying tickets and going to The Palm restaurant in Charlotte and Beason and some other Panther's players including Gross, Kalil, Luke, Olsen, CJ, Hardy, Godfrey, Stewart, Steve Smith, and Thomas Davis would serve as waiters for the evening. Beason said its tough asking people for money and the event was nearly sold out but he was happy the roll out the red carpet for people. Beason thought that himself, Gross, and Kalil would make the best waiters because they have previous experience. Said DeAngelo would be the worst tipper and that DeAngelo would appreciated being nominated by Beason as the "worst tipper." Asked how pumped he was about the Panthers drafting two defensive tackles in Star and Short. Beason was excited about the picks and said it directly benefits him and the rest of linebacking corps. Loves the rotation and potential of the defensive line unit. Says he will be in there hiding behind that front four and ready to make plays. Believes the defensive line didn't get enough credit for what they did last year by the national media. Says we are extremely excited on the second level of the defense. Beason said he realized and had total respect for Luke Kuechly when he was in college. Watched him play at BC as a fellow ACC alumni and talked about him prior to the draft. He said he knew he was special right away with the way he studied, prepared, and worked hard. Said he knew he was an immense talent right away at the Mike position and that Luke was glad to be back in the middle and he was totally comfortable there from the first snap. Said he has the "it" factor and is grounded enough to be as good as he wants to be and that he still wants to get much better. Beason said its tough as an athlete trying to recover from injury because you have to live in the moment and realize your time in this league is limited. He said he now wants to make the most of this opportunity and win championships. When the game was taken away from him, he found a new appreciation for the game and it isn't about the personal accolades but about wining championships. Beason said football is about right now. Said it hurt hearing people say that we should trade him and that he doesn't have it anymore and when he lays that first big hit on someone next season he will just be thinking "I told you so, I told you so." Says he pities the guy who will be on the receiving end of that hit and will try to take his head off. Says its nothing personal, but someone has to pay for him missing time due to injury. Asked about his various injuries in different places and if he ever had a doubt that he could get back to form and come back stronger. Beason said the achilles and shoulder injuries are soft tissue related and it is all about what he put into it and putting the effort into rehabbing as quickly as possible. However, the micro fracture on his knee is bone related and just needs to be healed in time. Mentioned it was frustrating just waiting around for the pain to cease and lately he has been able to run around and says the injury is out of his hands and he is basically just waiting to wake up and have the pain gone. Says he feels good and hasn't lost anything in terms of strength and stamina. Asked by the interviewer "what Jon Beason will be lined up against Seattle week 1?" Beason says he appreciates the doubters and they mean the world to him. Doubters have helped him turn into a man and the doubters have gotten him to where he is today. He always overcomes and always wins because of the doubters. He says he will be slightly upset, highly motivated, and eager to prove to the world who he is and who he can become. Believes he can still be the best player at his position. 52 will give everything he has got. Interviewer says he doubted Thomas Davis getting back to form after three injuries. Beason is highly motivated by Davis and they went through rehab together and that they competed against each other in rehabbing and getting back to where they were. Wanted to win each day. Thomas Davis set a benchmark by coming back from three ACL injuries on the same knee. Beason said Thomas Davis has just scratched the service of his potential and that he is driven by Thomas. Asked how good this 2013 Panthers can be. Said first and foremost we are healthy. Said offseason moves have helped both sides of the ball and we got deep at some positions where we were previously pretty shallow. Really loved our draft and said it undoubtedly made us better across the board. Ripped on Adam Schein and wants to buy him lunch because he woke up everybody in the locker room and motivated everyone in the building and Beason thanked him for doing so. Guys know what is being said about them and it is just fuel for the fire. No one will speak of it but it is in the back of everyone's mind and the team and staff know what was said. Mentions the last two years and setting team highs/records for the number of guys that went on IR. Jon and Thomas Davis have always competed and they sit around with Luke and joke about how no one can break tackling records this year because there aren't enough tackles to go around and they don't care about individual stat lines. They just want to be dominant as a unit. They want to be the best unit every Sunday and thats the level they plan to play at consistently and he is confident they will do so. Interviewer brings up how Beason has been on NFL.com talking about 89 and Luke on the top 100. Says Beason is a really classy guy and deserves a tip of the hat. Beason said he wouldn't say things about Steve Smith and Luke if he didn't mean it. It isn't just because they are teammates and he says he is very very critical of other guys in this league. Said its a shame that Luke didn't get voted into the Pro-Bowl because its clear people didn't watch this defense and Luke go to work. Aside from believing Luke is already the best MLB in the game, that there is nobody close to Luke right now in terms of the potential he has and what he can be as a player. Listen here! http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2013/05/10/jon-beason-adam-schein-provided-motivation-for-the-entire-building/ Click here to view the article

Wonder if any of these kids will actually stick.

I'm not positive this is how it works but because he was already brought in as an UDFA I believe he is signed at the moment. I believe this list is guys that tried out and now have a chance to compete in camp and throughout the off-season.

According to their Twitter, the Carolina Panthers have signed 8 players from their Rookie Camp. Carolina Panthers ‏@Panthers2m The #Panthers have signed eight players following their participation at the team’s minicamp this past weekend: http://pnth.rs/11zbQFF Carolina Panthers ‏@Panthers1m The #Panthers have signed WR Brenton Bersin (Wofford), TE Logan Brock (TCU), C Brian Folkerts (Washburn) and DT Linden Gaydosh. Carolina Panthers ‏@Panthers1m We have also signed WR Taulib Ikharo (Louisiana Tech), LB Ben Jacobs (Fresno State), DE Louis Nzegwu (Wisconsin) & WR R.J. Webb (Furman). Carolina Panthers ‏@Panthers1m The #Panthers have waived WR Trey Diller, LB Damario Jeffery, DE Thomas Keiser and OL Zack Williams. These players will have a chance to compete for a Carolina Panthers roster spot. Click here to view the article

Just an observation that is all.

I know he wore the same one in college but that is a pretty interesting face mask choice/preference for Star. Looks more like something a skill position player would wear but he must like the visibility it provides. I'd love to see him throw a visor on so he doesn't get any fingers to the face during the season and he would look even more like a monster.

Damn Barner and Star are impressive physically. It's unusual for a guy of Barner's size to be as yoked as he is. Star is just on another level...look how massive his arms are compared to guys that even outweigh him Right now I'd say Lester makes the squad. I can see him providing some pretty good depth as he is coached up. Thanks Zod!

charles johnson ‏@randywattson1h http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000167664/article/carolina-panthers-going-nowhere-with-ron-rivera-cam-newton … <<<<<<

All I hope is this article is posted in the locker room and in the weight room at the stadium. If this can't light a flame under this team heading into the season I don't know what will. If I was Ron Rivera I would bark out quotes from this article all training camp long and in the days leading up to our season opener. There is no way we come out flat week 1 after this.

Yup he is older and the market is drying up on a lot of these guys. I really think we can upgrade some key positions with 1 year deals via free agency for cheap.

In crafting his roster and molding it to his preferences, General Manager Dave Gettleman brought in players via free agency and the draft that are able to compete for playing time right now. In years past, under John Fox, training camp seemed to be a time where the usual suspects in the starting roles got into playing shape knowing their jobs were secured while the bottom half of the roster and depth guys tried to splash an earn a roster spot. These days are long gone. Head Coach Ron Rivera has shown a tendency to make players earn their playing time. Unlike Fox whom often seemed loyal to certain players almost to a fault, Rivera has experimented with different lineups...particularly in the secondary. The days of struggling players getting the nod week in and week out are over and I believe this will be more noticeable this season as we have brought in experienced veterans at positions of need and greatly improved the bottom half our roster. Dave Gettleman, in one of his earliest press conferences with the Panthers, said this was one of his primary goals. I believe he has succeeded and am cautiously optimistic going forward. The free agents brought in coupled with the five players selected in the 2013 NFL Draft have greatly improved the roster overall even if a select few are starting week 1. Here is an inside look at some of the great camp battles that will be heating up in the following months and especially on the fields of Spartanburg: The wide receiver position will likely be the biggest battle of camp. I suspect we place six guys on the active 53 man roster. Excluding the any UDFAs, there are currently ten receivers on the roster. I'd say only four of them are locks going forward. Joe Adams Lamont Bryant Armanti Edwards David Gettis Ted Ginn Domenik Hixon Brandon LaFell Kealoha Pilares James Shaw Steve Smith Next up, the secondary. Between safety and cornerback excluding UDFAs, there are currently thirteen players on the roster. Corners are listed first. I could see another safety added in free agency, potentially. James Dockery Drayton Florence Nick Hixson DJ Moore Captain Munnerlyn Josh Norman Josh Thomas ___________________ DJ Campbell Charles Godfrey Colin Jones Mike Mitchell Haruki Nakamura Anderson Russell In Spartanburg I will have my eye on possibly the most important camp-competition that is essential to this team's success: Guard. I suspect we may bring in another veteran with some of our remaining salary cap. A name to keep in mind is Brandon Moore. Geoff Hangartner Hayworth Hicks Edmund Kugbila Amini Silatolu Justin Wells Zack Williams After our first two selections in this year's draft, the competition to get in on our defensive tackle will be worth a watch. We know several of these guys are locks to make the roster: Nate Chandler Colin Cole Dwan Edwards Sione Fua Frank Kearse Star Lotulelei Kawann Short It is no secret the linebacker position has several locks as well heading into the season. It is a strength of this roster but we cannot keep them all. Jon Beason Chase Blackburn Thomas Davis Doug Hogue AJ Klein Luke Kuechly Jordan Senn Jason Williams Carolina surprised everyone by selecting Oregon running back Kenjon Barner in the sixth round of the draft. Running back has long been a strength on this roster and this year it will be no different. Mike Tolbert is a lock at fullback. I see us keeping four going into the season and we all know the locks to make the final roster: Kenjon Barner Tauren Poole Armond Smith Jonathan Stewart DeAngelo Williams Final Word/TLDR: Gettleman is looking to improve the depth and bottom half of this roster. I believe with the pieces in place he will be successful in just that. Camp competitions should be exciting and the best man will win out and earn a spot. All season long players will be battling in practices to take one another's job and that will improve this team on its own. I really believe our special teams will see great improvements this season if Adams makes the roster along with Barner, and they both are taken under the wing of Ginn. Senn will lead the special teams unit and I am anxious to see Klein out there with him laying the boom. When this team is trimmed down to the final roster of 53, I am confident the 53 will be much better at the top...and throughout the roster to the very bottom. This team can compete right now and competition at some key positions will bring out the best in the 2013 Carolina Panthers. We are due for a healthy, and winning season and if the coaching staff has grown and bettered themselves...we are destined to do some damage. Click here to view the article

Are any of you guys familiar with baseball cards and their values? I posted a new thread in the lounge but figured I would come here as well. My uncle has every complete set, in mint condition, from 1974-2013 made by Topps. I assume this includes every player to play between those dates and many rookie cards of some hall of famers and baseball greats. Any chance you know an approximate value of the whole collection together? Are any years particularly worth more than the others? Are there rare cards that Topps would add to the complete set to possibly make it more valuable? Thanks!

RIP Gramps.

HOUSE takeover.

Man this one girl from Cali I can't get out of my head.