Monday Morning QB: No More Televised Panthers Games this Season, Please

I'm a Carolina Panthers fan. Been one since I was a kid growing up in Rembert, SC and it was announced that the Carolinas would be getting an NFL team placed in Charlotte. But as a fan, I don't want to see any more Panthers games on TV the rest of this season.

Panthers games, which air each Sunday on FOX, have become painful to watch. There's practically no offense, and it's offensive to me that I now have to watch the Panthers each Sunday at 1 p.m. because no other games will be shown in our region while their game is on. Yesterday while the New Orleans Saints were beating the hell out of the Panthers, better games were on that FOX, home to NFC games, could've shown such as the competitive match-up between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (both teams entered the game with 5-2 records and the Falcons went on to win 27-21). And because of the powerful NFL television rights deals, when the Panthers games are on FOX, we, locally, don't get a 1 p.m. AFC game on CBS (we get infomercials or some movie no one really wants to see). Fortunately, we got the 4 p.m. game on CBS, which was the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Indianapolis Colts.

This is not a rant on the Panthers. At the halfway point they're 1-7, and their season is all but over, so there's no need to beat a dying horse. This is a rant on how the NFL chooses to televise games. When the TV schedule was created, at the time it looked like a good match-up for the home-viewing audience to watch the defending Super Bowl champs play their usually tough divisional opponent. But we've all known for about a month now that this game wasn't going to be much of a game. And because of that, the NFL should've revised the TV schedule and broadcast the Falcons/Bucs game in our area--fellow NFC South rivals in which both teams are currently on pace to make the playoffs.

Dallas Cowboys games shouldn't be televised the remainder of this season either.

I know what you're probably thinking, "Jarvis why don't you just get the NFL Sunday Ticket package through DirecTV?" I do have DirecTV, but I'm not that much of an NFL fanatic to shell out extra cash to watch all those games, when I prefer to just see the highlights for most of them anyway. I'd be content if every Sunday at 1 p.m., I'm given an AFC game on CBS and an NFC game on FOX. And for the latter, that game not be the Panthers the rest of this season.

Or even if they are showing the Panthers game, in the case of yesterday, FOX should've cut away from the Panthers/Saints game at the start of the fourth quarter to show us another game. That's what networks do when broadcasting NCAA basketball games during March Madness, for example. Once one game is virtually decided because of an insurmountable lead, they switch to a different, more compelling game. All FOX does with NFL games is take us to another game once one has ended and if the other has a couple of minutes left and is close. I'd prefer they do a full-on switch during the fourth quarter (if not halftime).

The Panthers are struggling right now and probably will the remainder of the season. The NFL and FOX should spare them the embarrassment of broadcasting their trouncing into millions of homes. And both entities would be better served for the switch--the NFL would continue to give fans a compelling product, and FOX would get better ratings--because I'm sure many people, like myself, have stopped watching that 1-4 p.m. Sunday time slot.

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Underground Hip-Hop: Brody & Choch Live Tonight

If you're a supporter of Charlotte's music scene and/or a fan of underground artists, you'll want to see Brody & Choch perform tonight at The Evening Muse. The hip-hop duo have been bubbling of late--as much as their bubbling personalities. Their playful, witty, yet lyrical rhyme style is like Digital Underground meets Gym Class Heroes.

Brody & Choch (pronounced broh-dee and chah-chee) are re-releasing their album, The Boys Will Be Boys, and tonight you can witness the energy they bring to the stage. The Evening Muse (3227 N. Davidson St. in NoDa), where they've performed before, is a great venue for this type of show, which will feature opening acts The Beast and One Another. And a very cool element will be live art by John Hairston Jr.

The show starts at 10:30 p.m. and tickets are $8 at the door.

Listen to Brody & Choch's music at brodyandchoch.bandcamp.com. And below is a video for their song "4am Smoke."

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Johnson C. Smith's Commemorative Classic to Tackle Minority Male Crisis this Week

When the football teams for Johnson C. Smith University and Livingstone College, who have a rivalry that dates back more than 100 years, play in the annual Commemorative Classic this Saturday, November 6, the game will be preceded by a two-day symposium on the black and minority male crisis.

This Thursday and Friday, November 4 and 5, JCSU and Livingstone are hosting “Black and Minority Males Taking Flight through Personal Development, Knowledge Sharing, and Commitment to Community.” Topics to be covered during the symposium include health and wellness, relationship development, leadership development, and gang and violence prevention. The goal is to address some of the problems currently plaguing young black males, particularly the staggering high school dropout rates (53 percent nationwide). Scheduled keynote speakers include Dr. Maya Angelou, Stedman Graham, Captain Barrington Irving, Donnie Shell, and Mike Minter.

The two HBCUs are also collaborating on a two-year research project on "The Black/Minority Males in America: Identification. Impact. Diversion. Redirection." They plan to present its results at the 2012 classic.

The symposium is open to the public and is being held at the Park Expo and Conference Center. The game will be played at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. For more details and ticket information, visit www.commemorativeclassic.com.

And in related news, you can read my profile of JCSU President Dr. Ronald L. Carter, "Answering the Call," in the November issue of Charlotte magazine, where you'll get a background on why the university is tackling such important community and societal issues.

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Music Review: Sunshine Anderson's 'The Sun Shines Again'

Sunshine Anderson has a new album out today. The Sun Shines Again is her third and it pretty much conveys what her life's been like since she released her last album nearly four years ago.

Sunshine grew up in Charlotte and graduated from North Carolina Central University before eventually hooking up with another Charlotte native, music exec/producer Mike City, and seeing her career as an R&B singer take off (she was managed by Macy Gray). Most people remember her from her 2001 debut album, Your Woman, which spawned the hit single "Heard It All Before," on its way to selling more than 750,000 copies.

She seem destined to be a part of that new breed of soul singers who were bubbling around the new millennium. But her second album, which took more than five years to come out, didn't register on most people's radars. So Sunshine began focusing on her family life--getting married and having a kid. Unfortunately, her marriage hasn't worked out and three years into it she's going through a divorce.

But her failed marriage has spawned an entire album. The Sun Shines Again is all about cheating/lying men, bad breakups, rediscovering yourself, and trying to trust and love again. While it might be a reflection of Sunshine's personal experiences, I'm sure it will resonate with many women.

I was given an advance copy of her new CD a couple of weeks ago, and I've listened to it all the way through about four or five times. I would usually play it while I was driving somewhere, which is the best way I get a feel for music.

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Crown for Best Halloween Costume Goes to...

...Anthony McPherson of MAZ Entertainment. His company threw a Halloween party Saturday night at Maggiano's in SouthPark that drew more than 1,000 people. Many of them wore costumes and competed in the costume contest. In the spirit of the event, Anthony came dressed as Precious. The first photo below is him in costume, and the second is how he typically dresses at parties. Dude deserves a prize for going all out. I've looked at hundreds of photos from Halloween parties thrown over the weekend in Charlotte, and his takes the cake (or should I say the chicken--he carried around a bucket of chicken to complete his ensemble).

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