CHARLOTTE
THE CONVERSATION IN the Carolina Panthers’ locker room this past week began as quietly as the two-on-two game of Nerf basketball that prompted it.
By the time it ended, the room was louder than the infield of Bristol Motor Speedway during a Nextel Cup race.
Defensive end Mike Rucker and safety Mike Minter recently played defensive end Julius Peppers and cornerback Chris Gamble in a game on a small goal taped above the door at the far end of the locker room.
The two Mikes, according to them, were dominating until Peppers, a former basketball player at North Carolina, decided it was time to step it up. The rest of the game was a dunkfest, with Peppers taking Rucker to the basket the way he takes quarterbacks to the ground.
The more the players talked, the louder it got. Rucker began making excuses, saying he couldn’t lean on Peppers because of his sore ankle. Minter ragged Rucker about how Peppers, who also has a sore ankle, dunked on him three times.
The conversation escalated when Rucker and Minter began picking the five best basketball players on the team. Rucker questioned whether Peppers belonged, saying the Pro Bowl player wasn’t a starter at UNC.
He quickly was reminded that Peppers started several games for the Tar Heels and might have been a full-time starter, perhaps an NBA prospect, had he not given up the game after his sophomore season to focus on football.
Minter included himself on his starting five as a shooting guard, insisting he was asked to play at Nebraska. He said wide receiver Ricky Proehl would be his point guard.
“So he could pass it to me to score,” Minter said.
The debate went on for more than 30 minutes. Before it ended, Rucker and Minter were preparing for a charity exhibition in February at the Charlotte Bobcats’ new arena.
Asked if they should be more focused on stopping Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons today at the Georgia Dome, where the Panthers are 1-9, Rucker laughed.
“We’ve got plenty of time for that,” he said. “This is about fun.”
If the Panthers (10-5) are uptight about a game that likely will decide whether they play another game this season, they are not showing it. They insist this isn’t a pressure situation, even though it’s like a do-or-die shot in basketball.
“We win, we go on (to the playoffs),” Minter said. “If we lose, we go home. ... That’s not pressure.”
Sure sounds like pressure, but if he says so.
“Pressure is like the fourth quarter and they’re driving and they’re at the 1-yard line and you’ve got to stop them four times,” Minter said. “If we go out and execute, we won’t have to get in that situation.”
Defensive tackle Brentson Buckner said pressure is making sure his kids have food on the table and a roof over their heads.
“Football is a game,” Buckner said. “It’s a game that pays me well. I can get ready for this in my sleep because I love football. ... You put pressure on yourself when you fail to prepare or you haven’t put your all in it.
This sounds like coach talk, but apparently everybody has bought into it.
“Coach (John) Fox likes to say that you either feel pressure or you apply it,” quarterback Jake Delhomme said.
Enough of this. Let’s get back to the basketball conversation, which became so loud that rookie Thomas Davis had to be asked to walk 20 feet away so he could talk about the Falcons.
Nobody asked, but my team would start with Peppers. A 6-foot-7 and 283 pounds, he has the body of an NBA power forward.
At small forward would be defensive end Al Wallace, who at 6-5 also has an NBA body, and the quickness to match.
My man in the middle would be offensive guard Mike Wahle, a 6-foot-8, 304-pound bruiser.
My point guard would be third-string quarterback Stefan LeFors. The 6-0 Cajun lettered three years in basketball.
The shooting guard would be the 5-10 Minter, who averaged 21 points per game in high school.
These aren’t the same players Rucker and Minter selected. They would argue that safety Marlon McCree and Gamble should be on the roster.
I disagree, but they are right about one thing. This is fun.