Have you Ever Been This Apathetic About the Panthers Before?

[Seltzer]

I have avoided most things Panthers-related for months to protect my mental health and sanity.

I have watched David Tepper destroy the one sports team I have truly ever been emotionally invested in.

To the point I'm not renewing my PSL's after 18 seasons.  My sons could care less about the Panthers- I can't blame them.

I bought my boys CMC jerseys- gone

I bought my boys DJ Moore jerseys- gone

I bought my boys Brian Burns jerseys (both 53 & 0)- gone

My last name is Thomas... maybe if I buy Ian Thomas jerseys, we'll finally get rid of him???

We been to 25 home games over the past 5 season.  We won 5, and most of those were ugly.  Many of them weren't even that competitive.  I couldn't even bribe my boys to go the games over the last half of the season, and I couldn't even give them away (except for big market games).

So much wasted money chasing sunken costs for a team/owner that refuses to reciprocate.  And I don't really care about the money at this point, but I have come to the realization I'm just numb after watching this franchise make so many self-inflicted mistakes (and then compounding them).

I've also realized as I've gotten older that being good at one endeavor absolutely doesn't mean you will be successful in something else.

David Tepper has obviously won at capitalism (and in the financial markets), but it is not an overstatement to say he has been the worst owner in US professional sports since he bought the Panthers.

And it's not any one thing- every franchise makes mistakes.  But beyond making awful singular decisions, Tepper has doubled & tripled down on every one of them, and here we are.

This is light years worse than at the end of the 2001 or 2010 seasons.  And this goes so far beyond the on-the-field product.  I've never, ever remotely felt this apathetic, and I know I'm not the only long-term & hardcore fan that feels this way.

Anyone who looks at my post history can tell I'm generally an optimist and a homer, but I can't feel anything at this point but numbness & apathy.

I never, ever could imagine this team being so mismanaged.  Tell me I'm not alone.

I've avoided the Panthers for the most part since the end of the season, but I looked online just in time to see we let Luvu walk and gave Burns away for a P&J sandwich... it's just too much...  the abyss seems to never end... 

And we haven't even gotten to draft season (where we will be mercilessly- and rightfully- skewered again).  I'm just so incredibly tired of being embarrassed as a Panthers fan.  Only apathy seems to help at this point, so I should disconnect again.

Thanks to anyone who read and please feel free to commiserate...

 

[chknwing]

I'm actually optimisitc.  I like the moves so far.  Cant wait to see how it plays out.

[Panthercougar68]

This is what should have happened in 2020, we are doing what Denver is doing and realizing that this isn't working so its a hard reset.

[Seltzer]

1 minute ago, chknwing said:

I'm actually optimisitc.  I like the moves so far.  Cant wait to see how it plays out.

Optimist enough to shill out $7k for this team ?

[PootieNunu]

We are finally rebuilding the right way and you guys are mad we didn't go out and spend like mad men and trade away picks to win 5 games again. 

Let the guys do their jobs, Fitt and co. have dug a massive fuging hole over the past few seasons.

We dont need more knee jerk moves thinking we are one piece away from going to the playoffs. 

This poo should have been done years ago. 

[PootieNunu]

Just now, Seltzer said:

Optimist enough to shill out $7k for this team ?

Wouldnt shell out 7k if we won 10+ games annually, nobody forced you to signup for that dumb poo. 

[chknwing]

1 minute ago, Seltzer said:

Optimist enough to shill out $7k for this team ?

if I had it I would.

[Seltzer]

1 minute ago, Panthercougar68 said:

This is what should have happened in 2020, we are doing what Denver is doing and realizing that this isn't working so its a hard reset.

I agree with you 100% on this point.  Still, do you really have any greater confidence they will get this right this time?

B/c I honestly don't.  Trading away players like CMC, Moore, & Burns for peanuts and then squandering those draft picks (up until this point) has been the "gameplan" so far under Tepper and it's produced the worst results in the league over the past 5 seasons.

[csx]

I'm glad they are finally rebuilding instead of applying band aids to the Titanic.

That people STILL thought that some miracle could occur to make this a good season is funny.

[CRA]

4 minutes ago, Panthercougar68 said:

This is what should have happened in 2020, we are doing what Denver is doing and realizing that this isn't working so its a hard reset.

We just moved up and spent tons of resources on the #1 overall QB last year.   This isn’t a hard reset.  This is just a poorly run org. 
 

but I agree, 2020 should of been a real rebuild.  We have never burned it down like we should have.  But we still aren’t given Bryce.  

[LinvilleGorge]

No.

At this point I'm honestly practically begging this organization to do something I would view as unforgivable to give me my out. 

 

[Seltzer]

3 minutes ago, PootieNunu said:

We are finally rebuilding the right way and you guys are mad we didn't go out and spend like mad men and trade away picks to win 5 games again. 

Let the guys do their jobs, Fitt and co. have dug a massive fuging hole over the past few seasons.

We dont need more knee jerk moves thinking we are one piece away from going to the playoffs. 

This poo should have been done years ago. 

I like your optimist, I genuinely do.  Probably just getting older and more cynical, but IMHO from my experience in the business world, someone like Tepper will not be able to ever give up control.

I'm not even remotely convinced that's the case, even switching to Morgan at GM.

I hope I'm wrong.

[tukafan21]

Just made this post in another thread where someone asked if I was going to stop being a fan, then saw this thread and realized I needed to re-post it in here, so this is just a straight copy/paste of my other post........

There are levels of rooting though

No, I don't love the Panthers any less.  No, I'm not considering stopping being a fan.

But for a long time, my favorite teams went as follows, with the number of dots approximating the gap of fandom between each, from "live and die with every game" for Arizona Basketball to "barely remember to check the scores" for the rest of them (like the Red Wings or Tigers).

And to be clear, loving a team and fandom of them is different to me.  Love is how deeply they're ingrained into your heart and soul, whereas fandom is how much you care/think about them on a daily basis.

Arizona Basketball.. Panthers.................. Every other team I root for

In the past 18ish months (basically starting with the CMC trade), it's now shifted to the following 

Arizona Basketball.. Wrexham AFC................................................. Panthers............. Every other team I root for  (yes, I got sucked into Welcome to Wrexham and am now a die hard Wrexham fan for life)

We've traded away draft picks and the 3 best players we've had since the Cam era for Bryce and a bag of loose change.  We can't hire the right coaches, we can't sign the right players, we can't draft the right players, we literally haven't made one good move in this time frame.

I literally never thought I'd feel this way about the Panthers, they were one of 2 teams that were never going to have to win back my interest.  But I can't defend them anymore, it's been that bad.

So again, no I'm not going anywhere as a fan, but right now, I just don't really care much for them in the slightest, they don't register for me on the daily anymore, they're just a thing that I have slight interest in and they have to earn my level of fandom back.

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, CRA said:

We just moved up and spent tons of resources on the #1 overall QB last year.   This isn’t a hard reset.  This is just a poorly run org. 

That's my fear. It looks like we're gutting the D so that we can build an offense that the super processor might be able to look at least serviceable.