Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton speaks to the media following an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, in Foxborough, Mass. Dannon, the maker of Oikos yogurt, is cutting ties with spokesman Cam Newton following what the company perceives as “sexist” comments the Carolina quarterback made to a female reporter. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

On the podcast with Tony Renteria:

1 Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was in full damage control on Thursday night apologizing for remarks he made towards Charlotte Observer beat writer Jourdan Rodrique. Telling her during Wednesday’s presser “it’s funny to hear a female talk about routes- it’s funny” when Rodrique asked him about the Panthers route plays. Rodrique issued an apology of her own after Black Sports Online reported that 4.5 years ago when she tweeted the N word as a joke to a comedian  “the best. Racist jokes the whole drive home,” and in another she manually retweeted an account screaming in all caps, “the earth moves at 450+ mph, that’s 10 times triller than NASCAR Dale Earnharts a bitch [n-word].” Rodrique said in her apology “I apologize for the offensive tweets from my Twitter account from 4/5 years ago,” she said “There is no excuse for these tweets and the sentiment behind them. I am deeply sorry and apologize.”

2 Newton issued an apology through the Panther media relations office well after 24 hours after making the remarks. Newton who had endorsement deals with big sponsors that include Gatorade and Underarmour who have reportedly dropped him stated “After careful thought, I understand that my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women,” he said. “And to be honest that was not my intentions. If you are a person who took offense to what I said, I sincerely apologize. I’m a man who tries to be a positive role model in my community and tries to use my platform to inspire others. I take ownership to everything that comes with that and what I did was extremely unacceptable.”

3 Washington wide receiver Terelle Pryor who was seen flipping off a fan and being restrained by an NFL employee pushing him in the runway tunnel towards the locker rooms after allegedly saying the fan he flipped off called him the N word last Sunday in Kansas City. According to the Kansas City Star who reported on Thursday night there was no evidence of any fan calling Pryor the N word. The NFL is asking that any fans who were there bring in any video that might have been recorded proving that Pryor was called the N word while heading towards the locker room following the game at Arrowhead Stadium.

4 Former San Francisco 49ers running back now Indianapolis Colt  Frank Gore will be facing his former team the 49ers this Sunday. No matter where the teams are in the standings Gore looks forward to seeing his former teammates and playing against his former team

5 With Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr out of action for six weeks the Raiders state that they have full confidence in backup quarterback TJ Manuel to be able to step in during a dire offensive situation and lead the team under center this Sunday in Oakland.

Tony Renteria does the Sports Headlines each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com