It starts at the top. Having a petulant man-child for an owner isn't going to work and the media is eviscerating him.

[hepcat]

Happy New Year everyone!

Phew....what a year 2023 was for the Panthers. It was probably the worst calendar year in team history. Here's hoping 2024 is a better year for the Panthers...as many have said, it couldn't get any worse...right? RIGHT???

Well, after getting shut out for the first time since 2002, Panthers fans were treated to a video of the team owner throwing a drink at an opposing fan. Aside from some notable exceptions that have nothing to do with the on-field performance of the team, this has to be an all-time low for the franchise. It starts at the top and the Panthers are a mess because the owner is genuinely a petulant man-child. I don't really care what his bank account says, we can all see it.

It will be interesting to see what the punishment will be for these childish actions and like a court ruling it should set a precedent for future bad behavior of team owners. Conor Orr writes about it for Sports Illustrated, it's definitely worth a read. https://www.si.com/nfl/2024/01/01/david-tepper-throwing-drink-pathetic-look

Quote

David Tepper Throwing a Drink Is a Pathetic Look for Panthers and NFL. If the league does nothing, it would be a major middle finger to the consumer base that makes the NFL so popular.

How can you run a team, hire a coach, and draft and sign players preaching some kind of culture of character when you’re exhibiting the kind of emotional reactionism that you hope your best employees do not possess under much higher-pressure circumstances?

I would say suspend or fine Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper for throwing a drink at a Jacksonville Jaguars fan Sunday, but this is the NFL we’re talking about. The ruling class is immune from the kind of punishment the league office insists is doled out to the players and coaches, providing that special blend of haughty, C-suite satisfaction and lopsided justice our society knows too well.

And really, it’s far more of a punishment for Tepper to have to continue running a franchise that he’s steered into the ground over these past few years via his frantic mismanagement. I hope he enjoys watching the Bears make the No. 1 pick in a few months.

Joe Person also weighed in for The Athletic (if you pay for it) and did not mince words. https://theathletic.com/5172135/2023/12/31/carolina-panthers-embarrassing-david-tepper-throws-drink/

Quote

...it certainly appears the Panthers’ petulant owner was triggered by fans sitting in front of the visiting owner’s box on the east side of EverBank Stadium. Tepper was standing alongside general manager Scott Fitterer when the incident occurred after rookie quarterback Bryce Young threw an interception, allowing the Jaguars to run out the last three minutes of their 26-0 victory.

If the league wanted to do Panthers’ fans a favor, they’d ban Tepper from Bank of America Stadium for the next five weeks or so and let someone else hire the Panthers’ next head coach and, possibly, the next general manager.

Much of what Tepper touches in the business world might turn to gold. But since buying the team in 2018, just about everything Tepper has touched when it comes to football has turned to crap.

As an NFL owner, Tepper has to take the high road and not get pulled into public controversies. Failing that, Tepper at least needs to have stronger people around him who aren’t afraid to tell him to quit acting like a child. 

 One of the best article's Joe Person has ever written, to be honest. 

Welp, where we go from here will be interesting. The Panthers probably haven't created a single new fan under David Tepper and are losing the ones generated during the previous regime that went to the Superbowl. Growing up in NC I used to see Panthers garb all over the place, now I don't see it anywhere. It's so sad what this owner has done to the Panthers. 

[45catfan]

3 minutes ago, hepcat said:

Growing up in NC I used to see Panthers garb all over the place, now I don't see it anywhere. It's so sad what this owner has done to the Panthers. 

Panthers swag was already sparse in SC, but now? Lol, you wouldn't think the NFL had a footprint here.  I see more Falcons stuff around here than Panthers.  It's not like Atlanta has been anything lately, but at least they aren't the NFL doormat.  Also, the Panthers radio affiliate in the upstate is Rock 101.1.  The DJ plugs game day broadcast has now affectionately started dubbing the team the Charlotte Panthers.  Totally intentional. 

[pantherclaw]

Now he should be okay with the product on the field? 

Can't make the fuging stupidity up.

[Waldo]

The only hope is the NFL bans him from the building and he is forced to hire help from the outside who are not more Yes people. Clean house, burn the organization he built to the ground and hire better people to run it all for him moving forward where his input is a more traditional NFL owner roles. Give his blessing and go to the owners box that has a window this time.

[rayzor]

11 minutes ago, pantherclaw said:

Now he should be okay with the product on the field? 

Can't make the fuging stupidity up.

Ok with it? No.

Throwing a damn childish temper tantrum in public because you don't like it? That's the issue.

 

[Harbingers]

6 minutes ago, rayzor said:

Ok with it? No.

Throwing a damn childish temper tantrum in public because you don't like it? That's the issue.

 

An embarrassment. 

[Panthers Fan 69]

6 minutes ago, rayzor said:

Ok with it? No.

Throwing a damn childish temper tantrum in public because you don't like it? That's the issue.

 

Our owner literally is having drunk fights with fans like the idiots do in the 500 sections. I stopped going to panther games becasue fights. Now our owner is acting as such from the press box. I would sue him into the ground to where Tepper has to sell his brass balls to pay for this mess. 

[Waldo]

5 minutes ago, rayzor said:

Ok with it? No.

Throwing a damn childish temper tantrum in public because you don't like it? That's the issue.

 

It's not like he has the power to do something about it? Like fire the people he hired that helped him make it this bad...

The drink thing is just a hurt ego outburst which looks really bad coming from the man running and ruining a multi-billion dollar sports team. Maybe some of his supporters will get mad at him when they take a pick for his actions?

[BIGH2001]

28 minutes ago, pantherclaw said:

Now he should be okay with the product on the field? 

Can't make the fuging stupidity up.

Signed,

routinely the worst poster on this site. 

[pantherclaw]

13 minutes ago, rayzor said:

Ok with it? No.

Throwing a damn childish temper tantrum in public because you don't like it? That's the issue.

 

Yes, because you're so damn perfect yourself. 

[pantherclaw]

1 minute ago, BIGH2001 said:

Signed,

routinely the worst poster on this site. 

Lmao. 

Not even in the ball park. 

Thanks for sharing. 

[Tbe]

That game yesterday may have destroyed our chances at a decent HC and FA signings.

Everything from the play on the field to Tepper’s tantrum. Just bad all around.

[mrcompletely11]

2 minutes ago, BIGH2001 said:

Signed,

routinely the worst poster on this site. 

If not the worst its pretty goddamn close

[pantherclaw]

His actions weren't anything to be proud about.  No argument.  

 

He is human.  He isn't perfect.  

None of us are.