Every fan deserves this

Hey, y’all, I know it’s been awhile…… so here I am, holed up in my house in Winston-Salem with no internet access (thanks, stupid sleet). I’m going to try to get this posted before the NFC Championship Sunday night.

Ok, so I’m sure y’all saw the Facebook post that a Seattle Seahawks fan made last week following the ‘hawks loss to the Panthers Sunday. You know, the one where the fan calls Cam Newton “classless” for throwing a 12^th Man flag (which someone had thrown at him) after the game. In her post, she says that Newton disrespected not only the team, but its fans; fans that are an extra special community because of the team’s service work and fan dedication.

I’m not going to do what a lot of people did, which is make fun of her earnestness (her team just dropped a close game ending their season, y’all), or question her level of fandom, which isn’t fair. Yeah, okay, the Seahawks have picked up some new fan attention because of their recent success. Yeah, okay, it’s easy to dismiss them as a bandwagon. Yeah, okay, their colors are a little eye-searing for the uninitiated.

The reason I’m not going to do that is that I’ve had all of that said about my team. And it sucks. I’m not going to do that to someone else.

When the Panthers played in the Super Bowl in 2004, we faced a little bit of an attitude. I don’t take it personally now because I’ve seen it happen in every sport, every season. There’s this perception that one team and its fans deserve the championship more than the other. A lot of it is basic story-telling: it’s human nature to want your winner to have overcome obstacles and adversity. It’s not as emotionally satisfying when the winner is a young team whose ups and downs aren’t widely known outside its fan base. I get it.

In 2004, that young team was the Panthers. Which is why I can tell you from personal experience that having basically the entire sports commentary world, at-large fans, and people who only watch football one Sunday out of the year ALL writing off your team because, meh, they just don’t feel it – SUCKS. There’s no way to argue against it. It’s illogical and unfair.

L-R: Uncle David, my Dad,
Uncle Ric

Let me tell you a little about my family and me. My dad and his brothers were Redskins fans growing up like most NFL fans in this area. When we landed an expansion team, they each bought two PSLs because they were so excited to finally have a home team of their own. My parents, my two aunts and uncles, commuted to Clemson the fall of 1995 for their inaugural season. Then in 1996, my mom took me to my first NFL game in the new stadium in Charlotte, where I watched the Panthers beat the 49ers and became a fan for life.

The Panthers gave my family a lot of memories over the next 20 years. The bad years, when the nicest thing I can say is that at least there wasn’t a line for the beer in the stadium. Sitting in the rain during that streak of 15 straight losses because my family doesn’t believe in leaving if there’s time on the clock. Crying because I lost my Fred Lane autograph.

But it’s the good times I remember best: standing on my seat in Section 529 to see Ricky Proehl catch that pass at the end of the Jacksonville game (you know the one I mean). Every Monday Night game where we gave Brad Hoover the ball. But what’s so much more special to me now are the things that didn’t happen on the field. All those afternoons with my family and our friends. Making new friends with the fans who also had season tickets in our section. Most off all for me, talking with my Uncle Ric between plays about anything – advice dealing with a coworker, whether I should refinance my house.

My Uncle Ric passed away last February after a long battle with cancer. I have a lot more that I want to say about him another time, but for now what you need to know is that he was a massive Panthers fan. In literally every post-1995 picture I have of him, he's wearing Panther blue.  

Last fall, during the first game in October, the Panthers invited my family to be on the field during pre-game. It was my parents’ 30^th anniversary; it was my dad’s first season going to Panthers games without his youngest brother. And whenever our family looks back on these moments, they are inseparable from the Carolina Panthers. This team is part of my family.

My Dad and Uncle David with Ricky Proehl, who was my Uncle Ric's favorite player and is now a wide receivers coach. It was incredibly gracious of him to take time before the game to talk. 

And the thing is? EVERY team has fans like us. Every team has fans like my youngest sister, who went to her first game in elementary school and is now a season ticket holder. Pictured: proof. 

Every team has a Sam Mills, a Ricky Proehl catch, a Steve Smith, a Chad Cota interception. Every team has entire seasons where the national TV shows aren’t around, where the cameras pan across the stands during the game and there’s no one there – almost no one. Every team always has somebody there.

I want the Panthers to win Sunday against the Cardinals. I want them to win the Super Bowl because this team is special in the way they trust one another, in the way they’ve learned to adjust, and in how they’ve become the best team in the NFL. But if the Cardinals win Sunday, I would never suggest that they don’t deserve it. Or that their fans don’t deserve it.

This. It feels like this. 

Every fan deserves this. If you’re a sports fan, I genuinely hope that one day you get to experience what Panthers fans have had the privilege of experiencing. I hope you get to feel how my dad, my sisters and I felt last Sunday getting to see our team win a playoff game in person. (Except for Falcons fans. Kidding! Not really…… okay, but only after Matt Ryan leaves, because he’s the literal worst.)

Every fan deserves a team they can think of as family. And if you’re a fan, if you’re spending time and money involving yourself with a team and you don’t have that – I’m really sorry, because you’re missing out.

#KeepPounding

#EmbraceTheDay

Thanks to Elizabeth for the pictures!