This Proves Carolina Is Pronounced Underdog

One reason a lot of people are saying the Carolina Panthers are not a big Super Bowl attraction is that they have no marquee players.

Driving that point home was a question by an out-of-town reporter directed at Coach John Fox on Wednesday after practice in Charlotte, N.C. The reporter asked Fox about quarterback “Jack” Delhomme.

Associated Press reported that Fox, clearly frustrated, muttered, “His name is Jake.”

And for those not sure how to pronounce the last name, it is Duh-lome, not Del-hom-me.

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Trivia time: The New England Patriots were known as the Boston Patriots from their inception in 1960 until 1971. Who was the team’s first coach?

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Big event: Charlotte Observer columnist Stan Olson said on ESPN Radio that the Panthers’ going to the Super Bowl is the biggest sports event in the history of North Carolina -- by far.

Olson said his newspaper was planning to send three or four reporters to the Super Bowl -- until the Panthers qualified.

“Now it will be at least 22,” he said. “Plus a tech guy. You’ve got to have someone there who can fix the computers.”

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Unfamiliar territory: It was noted in Morning Briefing this week that Pat Summerall worked the first Super Bowl in 1967 as a sideline reporter.

Charlie Jones called to say he too was a sideline reporter at what was then known as the AFL-NFL championship game, which was televised by both NBC and CBS.

NBC’s Jones and CBS’ Summerall, friends from their days at the University of Arkansas, agreed Jones would focus on Kansas City and Summerall on Green Bay, although they were both stationed on the press-box side of the Coliseum.

Summerall wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do when the Packers’ Boyd Dowler came to the sideline with a separated shoulder early in the game.

“I told Pat he needed to find out what Dowler’s injury is,” Jones recalled. “He said, ‘I can’t do that while the game is going on.’ I said, ‘Go ask the trainer, he’ll tell you.”

This is believed to be the first case of sideline reporting. It had to begin somewhere.

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Caution advised: NASCAR drivers may want to avoid tangling with Ken Schrader this year. His car is being sponsored by a Maryland law firm.

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Looking back: On this day in 1973, George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier in the second round at Kingston, Jamaica, prompting the classic line from Howard Cosell: “Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier.”

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Trivia answer: Lou Saban, a cousin of Louisiana State Coach Nick Saban.

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And finally: Charles Barkley, to TNT colleagues Ernie Johnson Jr. and Kenny Smith: “I’m the smartest person on this set. You two are just here for decorations.”

Barkley on the Lakers: “You can have the postman, the mailman, the garbage man, if they don’t have Shaquille O’Neal, they’re not going to win.”*

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.