Now that I have had over 24 hours to get over what happened this past Sunday night I want to give my thanks to the Carolina Panthers. So here it goes...
I was born in 1994 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Carolina Panthers were my first true sport love. Way before the Red Sox and just barely before the Tar Heels printed themselves into my heart forever the Panthers were truly my first team I rooted for. I can remember getting the full Panther uniform as a kid for Christmas. I wore those grey football pants with the blue curved piping outlined, the black jersey with the white letters/number outlined in blue, and the plastic over-sized grey helmet for the following week. I had my parents hold poster paper after poster paper at the end of our hallway so that I could run through it pretending I was a Panther myself. I remember Kerry Collins being our QB, I remember Rodney Peete, Rocket Ismael, Mike Minter, Dan Morgan, Wesley Walls (first player jersey), Sam Mills, Musin Muhammed, Ricky Proehl and the list goes on. I remember 2003 Super Bowl heartbreak against the Patriots as well as the 2-14 that landed us our current QB and league MVP, Cam Newton. Why am I restating things that most of you reading may remember as well? To put things in perspective.
What this team accomplished this year was nothing short of great. Is the goal to win the Super Bowl? No shit it is. Should the PLAYERS be upset with finishing short? Hell yeah they should. But I'm speaking to my fellow Panther fans and our "haters." This Panther season was special. You had a team that all year until the final game pretty much dominated every single opponent. You had a quarterback who was drafted to be a franchise player grow and lead the team like he was expected to do. You had a defense full of youth up front combined with gritty veterans in the secondary be a backbone to everything our team went through. You had a group of "no-names" catching passes and exceeding expectations all year. There is so much to be proud of. Critics will talk, jealous fans of opposing teams will troll, let them. What that shows me is relevancy, it says we are feared. They want to be in our shoes now. They wanted to be dabbing all season. A team that has been around for less time than I have been alive is already being being scrutinized with some of the historically great organizations like the Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots and so on. Maybe its just season, maybe we won't continue to be great. But there is nothing to be upset about from this year. The common fan doesn't look at organizational structures and plans, it doesn't look at long-term potential. Panther fans, let people say we won't be good after this year, that we had our chance to finally get one. My money is on that those people are wrong. We have won three consecutive NFC South Division titles. Who is challenging us in the division with the nucleus we have? If you look at the big picture it shows nothing but optimism and more opportunities to capture that Super Bowl title that Charlotte and the rest of the Carolinas deserve. This team gave both of the states that it embodies life this year, put us on the national stage. They showed us that there is a plan in place to achieve that ultimate goal.
So thank you Jerry Richardson, Dave Gettleman, Ron Rivera, Cam, Luuuuke, TD, JNo, Greg, and the rest of the players/organization. Thank you for the number one seed, thank you for letting everyone know the NFC title was running through Charlotte. What you gave us fans this year was nothing short of fulfilling. Thank you for the memories this year, hell, thank you for the memories every year. Just like the saying goes in Panther land, KEEP POUNDING!
