Why did you become a Panther fan?

[King Schit]

When I was like 11 or 12 I went on a 2 day field trip to Charlotte with the Fayetteville 4-H. Among other events we were given a tour of, then, Ericsson stadium by a bunch of the Panthers staff. They gave us posters, calendars, and other types of souvenirs. We also went to watch the Hornets play the Hawks. I fell in love with the Hornets from way in the nose bleed seats. I always root for the home teams anyway, but I REALLY latched on to the Panthers once I left for the Army in 2001. TX was full of Dallas fans of course. So if you start a "Why you hate the cowboys thread?" refer to this post. Anyway, after a couple years of schit talking we make it all the way to the Super Bowl & play in the best Championship game ever to be played. Ever since then I been fiending the same high I got off of that season. That season is the same reason why I have faith we can turn a 0-4 or 0-5 season into a Super Bowl run. I don't comment on here a lot because I don't have the patience to reply or rebuttal as much as a lot of y'all, but I am a die hard Panthers fan.

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[Hammerin'Cameron34]

Dad and his side of the Fam is from NC so I'm in the South plenty I just fell in love with the Panther Blue, I feel almost connected to Carolina teams and I'm always proud to say I have close family in the best state. I can't understand why anyone in NC or SC wouldn't be a Panthers fan.

Giants fans up here probably feel the same away about their shitty Big Blue, fug em, Carolina Sports all damn day

[The Vanguard]

Born and raise in the Charlotte metro area. My whole family was redskins fans (except for my mom who was a cowboy fan). I can remember when the team first started playing in Charlotte, I was around 7 years old. The first memories I have and can remember why I became a panther fan for life. One was going to the Belk store in Gastonia and meeting Wesley Walls. This truly gained my intrest, but what got me hooked was the 97 NFC Divisional game against the Cowboys. I never like the cowboys at all and that game sent it over the top. I have never looked back since then. Even through 01 and everyone asking why I still cared..... I STILL BELIEVED....

[Heroin Addict]

Because the voices told me to. 

[FuFuLamePoo]

704

[firefox1234]

Thanks to none other than Steve Smith!

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[MtnJax]

My home state got a NFL franchise. i have extreme pride in my state and will root for any pro team NC has. It's why I am a Hurricanes fan and Hornets fan. If Charlotte, or NC in general, ever gets an MLB team and/or MLS team, I will root for them too

[Your GFs favorite huddler]

My aunt worked for a big company in CLT in the 90s and got free tickets from the company to the first game in Ericsson stadium, and decided to take her favorite 5year old nephew! Little did she know the monster fan she created, now I might as well be dead to my family during football season cuz everything takes a back seat!!!

[MHS831]

I grew up a Colt fan.  Was very loyal.  Then I took my son (3) to a Panther OTA at Winthrop.  Kevin Greene came up behind him to grab him, but my son avoided the blind side pressure and ran from him.  Greene Laughed, then posed for a picture.  Then Wesley Walls, a great guy, picked him up and chatted with him.  After that, Eric Davis took a knee for a picture with him and had trouble getting up (bruised thigh) so I had to help him up.  After a day like that, where these players were so friendly to my son, how could you not start pulling for the Panthers?

 

 

[Stumpy]

In early 2003 both my parents finally decided to give up the bottle. They started acting like real parents for once. We were a real family for once.

We started watching Panthers games together every week, even though my dad is a die hard Lions fan. I remember him mocking the team for benching their qb halfway through the 1st game of the season.

As the wins piled up that season, we enjoyed some of the best family holidays I can remember. Those Sunday's watching the Ragin' Cajun and a young spark plug wideout will a team to victory, became the highlight of our weeks.

In January, my dad moved out. A month later, we lost the most thrilling football game I have ever seen to a bunch of cheating pansies with Boston accents. The next year my brother left for Iraq.

But for one brief year, it was magical.

As we've gotten older and spread ourselves across the state, we still get together to go to at least one game every season. My dad still pulls for the Lions, but the Carolina Panthers will always have a special in each of us.

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[Mr. Scot]

What about you?

 

I will.

 

When I start something like this, I prefer to let others run with it for a while before throwing in myself.

 

[HP59]

This past February.  Once the season was over I became a Panthers fan.  I'll probably get some hate and accused of jumping on the bandwagon, so let me explain.  

 

I was born in FL and lived in Dolphins territory for 10 years.  Naturally, I became a Dolphins fan.  Growing up, I was a pretty diehard fan, even after my parents relocated our family to western NC in 1996.  However, as I grew older, I became to question my loyalty a bit.  It wasn't about the losing.  I was a Dolphins fan through their worst years.  If it was about the losing, I would've left almost a decade ago.  Outside of a few family members, I had no connections to FL.  I didn't care for the state, and to be honest, I had no desire to ever go back.  So I started to think to myself, why should I continue to have a connection to the Dolphins?  I live too far away to go to games, and I rarely get them on TV so I have to stream games in crappy quality.  

 

It'll be nice to have every game televised, and I'm planning to go to a few games this season as well.  Plus, one of my closest friends is a Panthers fan, so I'll have someone else to talk Panthers football and watch the games with.   

 

The biggest challenge is converting all of my Dolphins stuff into Panthers stuff.  I already have 3 shirts and 2 hats, and I'm ordering a Kuechly jersey in the next few weeks.

 

 

[Mr. Scot]

Technically we're all bandwaggoners at some point :lol:

[SCarpanther]

Was six year old when my Dad took me to the Panthers first game at BofA ........ I've been hooked since.

 

Long time reader of this board and just started posting recently. Obviously as a little kid I couldn't really quantify how much excitement was behind the team from the city of Charlotte. But from my recollection I can't remember a time where there has been this much excitement in the pre-season. 

 

I'll never forget going uptown when we won the NFC Championship. Couldn't drink at the time but my dad took me and a couple friends uptown to join the celebration.  The excitement and joy in the streets that night was indescribable.

 

I feel that same energy coming back. Ive had tried to temper my expectations, and am not saying we will make it to or win the super bowl. Obviously, I hope we do. But if the support of this team keeps trending the way it is, this city is going to explode if we win a Championship or make a deep playoff run in the near future. 

 

I hope Gettlemagic will be able to build a team that can compete year in and year out so we can see the support of our beloved Panthers grow each and every year.

 

 

I can not wait for Football !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!