the winner is...Catman.

There has been a little controversy down in the Carolinas.

Seems that the FOX Sports announcers knew that the people do not watch the preseason games. So to entice the viewers to hang in after the starters left the Dolphins vs. Panthers game, the commentators announced that there would be a new car give away at the end of the forth quarter.

Near the end of the 4th quarter, Siragusa waddled over to "Catman" and announced he was the winner of a brand new white Porsche as he handed him a hotwheel Porsche. "Catman," thinking that the toy represented the real deal, was ecstatic.

In the end it was a practical joke to keep the viewers glued to a meaningless game and commercial revenues coming (though no Panthers' game is truly meaningless).

The Charlotte area responded with thousands of emails to FOX, and the Observer ran a few articles about it, and so after realizing an apology would not be enough, the execs out in California have decided to give Catman a new Ford F150.

Which is nice, since Catman is not only one of the most recognizable fans (behind those dudes in the dresses in Washington and that spiked shoulder pads guy in Oakland), but he is also an inner-city counselor in Winston-Salem for troubled teens, and currently driving a 1991 Astrovan with 130,000 miles.

sarcasm alert: sure glad FOX was quick to remedy this huge crisis when there aren't more pressing needs in our country/world right now. But at least this appeases the angry viewers in the Carolinas so they will tune in for the ATL-CAR game on Sunday, and the advertisers will get their Neilson ratings.