PERSEVERANCE, PASSION AND PANTHERS

The world of the TRUE sports fan does not unfold, day after day, year after year, like that of those directly involved with the object of adoration, be it a team or individual. When a coach fails in producing a winner, he’s fired. When a manager fails to stock a team with good, contributing players, he’s let go. When an athlete does not perform in the field of play, he’s cut. When an individual finishes in the lower end of the standings, be it tennis, golf or racing, he loses sponsors, prestige, and eventually fades into that cursed obscurity where few bother plumbing it to retrieve their memory. It doesn’t matter what you did in the past, for today’s sports-o-sphere tends to eschew loyalty.

BUT-

For those impassioned followers, plays from yesteryear can be recalled with giga-pixel resolution. It’s what kept fans of the Boston Red Sox, the Detroit Lions, Notre Dame, Tiger Woods, Michael Waltrip to name but a few, engaged, hopeful, and reverent when remembering the sports that got their adrenaline running, that gave life an extra fire, and made every gameday a holiday. While a loser, The Warshingtoon Deadskins STILL have a devoted following even though a winning season seams to be light years away, and the waiting list continues to be agonizingly long. But the fans are patient. They are hardy. And they wait. Much like Charlie Brown waited for his hero, Joe Schlobotink, to FINALLY get a base hit. And if he never does, at least Chuckie gave his whole heart to an athlete he unequivocally believed in.

Some of us are rewarded for our passion sooner. Keeping the big picture in mind, I am transported back to 1988. On November 3rd, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina entered the national sports media stage by fielding its first bona fide professional franchise, The Hornets. I didn’t recall a SOUL who wasn’t AT LEAST interested in how they played the night before, when they were going to play, how many points did Dell Curry score, how many rebounds did Kurt Rambis snag, and if Kelly Tripucka cried like a whiny baby after the game. I followed this team with a fervor that bordered on religion. I listed to every game I could on the radio when games were not televised, and watched every game I could, and attended every game I could get tickets for. Our first season brought 20 wins, and with it, the hope of a draft pick to elevate our game. The next season brought 19 wins, and dismissal of coach Dick Harter. But the next coach, Gene Littles, brought 26 wins. As a fan, gradual but tangible improvement was all I could ask for, and the following season brought 31 wins. Continued improvement keep fans like me going through the turnstiles, buying Hornets merchandise, and completely engaged in what the club was doing. Once Alonzo Mourning was added to the roster in ’92, the playoffs became a realistic goal, year after year. But to the Charlotte sports fans’ discredit, we collectively are a fickle bunch. When the postseason never got past the second round, and owner George Shinn developed a insatiable taste for HoneyBees, the town soured on the team, and unfairly so. Combine that with a contentious dissatisfaction with a perfectly serviceable Coliseum off Tyvola Road, and a Mexican standoff executed with the skill of a writhing decapitated barnyard fowl by Rey Woolridge, my sports heart was CRUSHED when this team, my very first sports marriage, took off for New Orleans. Most of you already know the story. The city and the region then flung their total energies to the Panthers, whose arrival was made possible by the fervor generated by these Hornets.

But this rant’s not about the Hornets, or basketball. It’s about fan perseverance, the virtue that I remembered that I had, and sometimes I feel that I lack now when it comes to my current relationship with the Carolina Panthers, the team that put the PSL ring on my finger. The fickle attitudes of the Charlotte fan in general continue to drive the attitudes of those who fail to see beyond the mistakes of a Rae Carruth, the primal, uncontrolled anger of a Steve Smith, and as of late, the seemingly (and unsubstantiated) lurid pay-for-play rap that Cam Newton got. I remember hearing a casual fan saying “If the Panthers draft Cam Newton, I will NEVER pull for them again!” Fine. You go on pulling for your Colts. See where that gets you.

I began to think about this perseverance as Lauren , Ron and I sat in our favorite bar watching (as your Cedar Street Seer predicted) a highly entertaining game against the formerly #1 AFC seed Houston Texans. With this victory, we continued to increase our win total from last year, and the visible improvement that kept me going as a Hornets fan has re-energized my Panther Passion like PantherFanz’ Panther Potion produces a perfunctory buzz! And actually, this is the kind of victory, against a playoff-bound opponent that still has a stake in each additional win that is the measuring stick of our progress! And it was a pleasure to see, as we watched other contestants in the playoff sweepstakes flop like a harpooned mudcat. How do you feel today if you’re a Giants fan? A Jets fan? A Ravens fan? Or worse – the sputtering performance by the Green Bay Packers that exposed their weakness for the whole league to see! I feel better, as a Panther fan, going into the offseason than I do for any of these teams going into the playoff chase. It’s all about getting better –

And these Panthers are getting better. Take a look at Cam’s stats yesterday. 150 yards passing. Pedestrian by any standard. But NO mistakes. 53 yards rushing. Not particularly stellar. But what WAS significant was the way the offense kept a balanced attack collecting first downs, both by running, and by the pass. Even MORE significant was the way the defense played. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the OUTSTANDING linebacker play yesterday, particularly by practice-squadder Jordan Senn, that product of the prominent linebacker school, Boise State. The tackles that replaced Fua and McClain are not embarrassing themselves, although, as I had predicted, Arian Foster DID get his yards and a touchdown. Our defense is a work in progress, but the operative word, and for this rant, is PROGRESS. It’s vital to keep the fires of the fan aflame.

One of my favorite creature features of my youth was a Japanese import called “War of the Monsters”, in which a smuggled opal from New Guinea reveals itself to actually be an egg, and hatches a beast called Bauragon in Osaka Harbor. The monster, of course grows to full size, and has all kinds of cool capabilities that it demonstrates as the film goes on. I can’t help but come back to this giant Japanese monster metaphor after seeing Chudzinkys’ latest weapon reveal – what I’M calling the “Brockelrooskie”. The media, as of this writing, is positively in LOVE with this play, and for the time being, has elevated itself to a mid-story, behind the national salivating over the Brady-Bash of Timmy Terrific, the puncture of the Packers, and the Colts’ escape from the indignity of 0-16. Tell me that you, as a Panther fan, did not squeal with approval and amazement at the iron balls it took for Chudz and Ron to call that play, which worked to laser-precise perfection! 40-Rod Roadhouse erupted in cheers when that play developed on the big screen, and claws were passed around to all! Again, another example that the status quo has slipped into the past, and Foxball is a plague only to be suffered in Denver, and never again in Carolina.


http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d82529210/WK-15-Can-t-Miss-Play-Sneaky-Panthers



And the team, including the coaching staff, is continuing to learn from the errors of games past this year. When the Texans began to claw (or hoof,as it were) back from that 21 point deficit in the third quarter, I, along with the rest of Panther Nation, were only too aware of the 13 games we frittered leads away- well, so were the Panthers. Chudz did what he SHOULD have done last week, and unleashed the stallion-like running of Newton on third and short /medium situations, and collected enough first downs to prevent another comeback by the valiant TJ Yates and his Texans. Winning is infectious, and when this team learns to consistently make the plays they have to in the games waning minutes, the victories, the confidence, and the swagger will increase. And those of us who stuck around for the wretchingly awful end of the Seifert area, the even WORSE end of the Foxball era, and the occasionally painful labor and birth of these NEW Panthers, watching this NFL monster grow, and grow, and grow, revealing new and devastating weapons of NFL destruction season after season will be a joy indeed, and keep those fires of fandom flickering for years to come.

Which leads me to my ONE most URGENT CHRISTMAS WISH as it comes to these Panthers.


WE MUST KEEP CHUD!!!


Whatever it is that Uncle Jerry has to do, it’s IPERATIVE that he does, to keep this brilliant offensive mind employed and scheming for our team. I hate to sound all Deir-dorfy on y’all but I really feel that this part of our coaching staff is vital to our success for the short term, until Cam matures into the beast that he’s destined to become.

And with that, I end this rant of love for my team, hope for the future, peace in the knowledge that this team is going in the right direction, and joy at being a Panther Fan.

I have some more league ruminations that I’m hoping to blog about in the next day or so, and there’s the weekly picks coming to you Thursday morning –

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