unverified report: gettleman cut steve smith because in 2013 he punched cam newton in the face twice in the locker room after practice

[KillerKat]

It's not a coincidence 2 years after his release our locker room was one of the best if not, the best in the league. Just ask Charles Tillman and Jared Allen. 

[Proudiddy]

1 minute ago, GOOGLE JIM BOB COOTER said:

i think gettleman did him a solid by eating the fan backlash for cutting him if this story is true. you can't be worrying about honoring him or whatever while cutting him for attacking your franchise quarterback

Yeah, I could see that now as well.  It's just hard to get the mind around who it was they were releasing...  to that point, he was the best player in franchise history.  For the front office to decide he was so divisive that there was no chance of resolving the issues present, even considering his beef was with the franchise QB and essentially the face of the franchise/league...  knowing the lengths they went to cover it up and keep up the aesthetics, why not at least give a sort of "thanks for all you've done," presser whether Smitty would go along with it or not.  It would at least have kept up the same facade we saw during the season...

Then again, like you said, if he was that big of a divisive force, they may have just been tired of coddling Smitty and we're just ready to move on.  It's a lot to process now in hindsight...  I just don't see why DG would want to feed into the idea that he made it personal by making it about performance rather than classify moving on from the old guard?

Just thinking through it out loud...

[PhillyB]

3 minutes ago, enikville said:

I agree but, at the same, a lot of people have come and gone since 2013. You'd think someone somewhere would have spilled the beans. Not sure what to believe.

valid point.

[Saca312]

1 minute ago, PhillyB said:

valid point.

Well my source said the main reason this never really got out was due to how tight-lipped JR made sure everyone was. It wasn't that hard to cover up.

Pretty much why this franchise is the hardest to report on anything.

[Peppers90 NC]

Were these one of those "funny" cigars?

[Mr. Scot]

16 minutes ago, PhillyB said:

if he broke cam's nose yes. if cam tried to drown him in the ice tub yes. if it was cam and smith jawing in a sea of guys trying to pull them back and smitty through a few punches while their arms were locked?

absolutely believable and absolutely cover uppable.

Completely.

Practice is generally closed to the media and the Panthers are notoriously tight lipped about even the most seemingly insignificant details. For a story like this - one that would have blown up to nuclear levels I'm today's sports media obsessed world - Panthers brass would have initiated a cover up that even the Watergate conspirators would admire.

It's not farfetched at all.

[SCP]

Why do people find this so hard to believe? It's not a big deal IMO. I got in a fight with a CB in college in our dorm. Teammates don't mean you have to kiss each other's ass 24/7. poo happens. You deal with it and move on.


Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

[Proudiddy]

8 minutes ago, PhillyB said:

knowing what we know of jerry it's well within his pattern of behavior to demand a moratorium on the story and tell gettleman that smith is untouchable. not hard to imagine tension between gettleman and richardson starting right then and there, if gettleman thinks he's being hired to run a ship independently and keeps finding jerry tangled upside down in the topsail riggings

Yeah, but that brings up another interesting point about all this that I've always been fascinated with and we, as fans, never really had a definitive feel on...  where was JR during all of the Smitty release stuff?  Previous reports over the years described their relationship very much like a father-son type of bond...  and yet, it didnt seem like there was any blowback from up top when it happened.  And from how Smitty acted afterwards, i just always assumed he considered the entire organization dead to him.  So, I always wondered if JR was okay with it and he and Smitty were no longer close...  I guess recent events kind of confirm that wasn't the case.

[frash.exe]

6 minutes ago, mrknowitall said:

 

I just feel like the whole those-situations-were-different-argument seems like a reach. I can agree with the first situation you presented. A typical scrap in a locker room between players, a la Cam/Norman, where both players are scrapping (and are thus, both at equal fault) and Smitty gets two licks in. But if that's the case, I can't see that as being the primary reason for Smitty getting cut. If the situation wasn't serious enough to warrant at least a one game suspension, then I can't buy it being the main reason that Smitty was released.


Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

 

here's what they would have to do to hold smith accountable:

- suspend smith and publicly announce the incident as reasoning in a press conference

- now you have the press asking a million questions and doing all this speculation

- a league-wide scandal that will be a huge distraction to an otherwise successful season

- jerry richardson is basically a father figure to the guy and if i'm ron i'm assuming that i will be opening pandora's box by exposing a player

*or*

sweep it under the rug, downplay it as not that big a deal but at the same time, swiftly restore order to the team. smith punching a teammate in the midst of a 6 game winning streak in the middle of the season is way different than any of the other physical altercations he had gotten in as they all happened prior to the regular season

 

guess which option ron is incentivized to go with

[PhillyB]

Just now, SCP said:

Why do people find this so hard to believe? It's not a big deal IMO. I got in a fight with a CB in college in our dorm. Teammates don't mean you have to kiss each other's ass 24/7. poo happens. You deal with it and move on.


Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

that's what happens when you make fun of peoples' classically junky cars imo

[FattyFatFat]

Well, smitty does have a track record of punching guys in the face. I'm curious to know what cam did after he was punched. Did he get a lick in?


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[KillerKat]

1 minute ago, FattyFatFat said:

Well, smitty does have a track record of punching guys in the face. I'm curious to know what cam did after he was punched. Did he get a lick in?


Sent from my iPhone using CarolinaHuddle

He went to a Super Bowl while Steve was on a couch somewhere.

[frash.exe]

13 minutes ago, Your GFs favorite huddler said:

Page 3 lol ....nah but in 2013 after we beat the Giants at home 38-0 smitty went off and destroyed the locker room to an extreme extent because he didn't get the ball enough. Took it out on Cam, and coaches.

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and if you need any better argument for proving that smith was a detriment to the team than ripping the locker room after a 38-0 blowout win, iunno what to tell you lel

[SOJA]

I 100% believe you Philly.

 

But hey guys let's keep pushing the narrative that Gettleman was a douche