Pro. Jake Delhomme

[Turbine]

This is a test that the media gave Jake.

Jake Delhomme Sports Quiz

[NewsCopy]

Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme reflects on the path that led to the Super Bowl and on how he'll build on last year.

TSN: What did the football world learn about you last season?
JD: I don't know if I'll ever wow the scouts ... but if there's one thing, hopefully, people can say that I'm a productive quarterback. But I've got to try to build on that and see if I can do it again this year.

TSN: What is the one lasting snapshot you have from Super Bowl XXXVIII?
JD: The (game-winning) kick by (Adam) Vinatieri going through the uprights. That's something that I think will always stay with me. I was sitting on the bench, looking the other way. I could just kind of tell when the ball was snapped and kicked. Then I made a left turn and watched it go through.

TSN: What's the oddest thing that has happened to you since the Super Bowl?
JD: People who don't know you think maybe you're larger than life. That kind of makes me laugh. I know I'm still the same guy who six months earlier was just a regular old Joe Schmo trying to win a job. It just so happens I was on a pretty good football team.


TSN: What are you doing in the offseason that will make you a better quarterback in 2004?
JD: The biggest thing is I'm trying to make sure I gain some of my strength back and add on some of the pounds I lost during the season — I dropped about eight pounds — because I had never really gone through a whole season of playing. I've put on about four or five since the season ended. We started lifting a few weeks ago, getting ready for another long, grueling season. In our minicamps, I just want to improve, because last season was only my first year in this offensive system. I just want to get better, make quicker decisions and get the ball out of my hand and into my playmakers' hands.

The rest of the story

Sporting News
Dennis Dillon
ddillon@sportingnews.com.

[RaginRash]

Classic.

[shof]

Good read. Thanks for the link.

[AirBill]

TSN: You're a full-blooded Cajun from Breaux Bridge, La. How well do you speak French?
JD: Non bon. Not good. I know very few words. My father can speak Cajun French very well, but it's kind of gotten lost in the younger generation. I took French in high school, so when some of the old-timers talk I can figure out a few words and get a gist for what they're saying.

Ha! Sounds like my life. My mother is a Fontenot from Ville Platte, but my father is from Ohio. Mom speaks Cajun fluently, but I have this Midwestern accent that's made worse by the fact that I live in the Midwest now. When I first took my girlfriend to meet my family, about an hour into it she took me aside and said, "What are you doing? Why are you mocking them?" It was just my Cajun accent coming through.

Here in St. Louis, nobody believes me when I tell 'em I'm from Louisiana. At least not until they taste the gumbo.

[RaginCajunEQM]

yall try getting up there on a ladder and putting up all those letters ! I'm the one who has to do it ! and i dont decide what to put, i only put what is told

it's the front office who decides what it says

[Turbine]

Originally posted by RaginCajunEQM
yall try getting up there on a ladder and putting up all those letters !

WOW Good Job!
and Thanks

[Cajun Express]

gerald said that in the not to distant future that sign will have computer genterated messages, so you won't have to fight the marquee.

[RaginCajunEQM]

MAN I hope it's computerized

it's really a lot of trouble to have to pull a truck up there and stand on the ladder in the back of the truck...

[CajunRebel]

Wouldn't it be cool if we could spring for one of those colored LCD displays like they have at The Grand and at Southwest hospital? (Let me dream guys)

[AirBill]

They love Jake down in Carolina:


COMMENTARY

Delhomme: Down-home talking

SCOTT FOWLER

It is rare these days that fans get to ask a question directly to a sports star.

The gap between the people who ultimately pay the salary for pro athletes and the athletes themselves has grown dramatically in an era of gated communities, closed practices and private planes.

Which is why it was interesting -- and refreshing -- to hear regular folks conduct an impromptu interview with Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme Tuesday at the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

After a brief speech in front of a crowd of 520 Panthers supporters -- the largest crowd in the 13-year history of Charlotte Touchdown Club luncheons -- Delhomme began a question-and-answer session. His replies showed Delhomme for the man he still is -- a small-town, baby-faced quarterback from Louisiana who still can't quite believe what's happening to him but will enjoy the carousel for as long as the music lasts.

As Delhomme began the Q-and-A, he offered his philosophy on all tough questions.

"If I don't know the answer, I'll B.S. my way around it," he said.

"We're making our reservation for Jacksonville," site of the next Super Bowl, a Panthers fan quickly said to Delhomme. "Do you consider that a good investment?"

"What time of year are you planning on going?" Delhomme deadpanned.

He won't come anywhere close to guaranteeing the Panthers a return trip to the Super Bowl this season. Although he is a confident, fiery player, he also knows that the NFL is inherently unpredictable.

Who would have predicted, for instance, that Delhomme would rise from obscurity to a Super Bowl quarterback in his first season as an NFL starter? It was no coincidence that his magical 2003 season dovetailed with the Panthers' first Super Bowl trip.

Delhomme does believe, based on the Panthers' recent mini-camp, that the team remains hungry.

"A lot of teams get fat and lazy after a good season," Delhomme said. "I don't see that happening here, and I don't think I have blinkers on."

Among Delhomme's replies to other questions from fans:

•_On which former teammate he wished the Panthers had re-signed for 2004: "Kevin Donnalley." Delhomme said the popular offensive lineman was a good player with a knack for keeping things light in the locker room.

•_On what Delhomme thought just as he entered his first Panthers game in September, trailing 17-0 to Jacksonville: "This is what you've been waiting for your whole life. Don't blow it."

•_On the most memorable moment of last season: "Sam Mills' `Keep pounding!' pregame speech before the Dallas playoff game." Delhomme said he was among a number of players who fought through tears during Mills' speech.

•_On Jordan Gross' 2004 move from right to left tackle: "We'll be fine there. Jordan Gross played unbelievable last year. You never would have guessed he was a rookie."

•_On the best defenses he faced last season: "Tennessee and New England."

•_On being unimpressed with his 85-yard Super Bowl touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad: "If I had to rank 20 plays this year, that's No. 20 because of the outcome of the game."

I did ask Delhomme one question -- about his contract status.

The Panthers badly need to re-sign Delhomme, 29, to a multi-year deal this offseason. If he has another season anything like 2003, he will be a very expensive free agent at the end of 2004 (and could leave entirely).

Delhomme wants to stay here. The Panthers have indicated they want to keep him. A contract extension will probably occur this summer, both sides say.

"I would assume something will happen," Delhomme said. "I'd love to finish up my time here. That would be great. That would be my dream come true."

Scott Fowler: (704) 358-5140; sfowler@charlotteobserver.com.

[Bert]

Thanks Jake is Jake