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[Bear Hands]

3 hours ago, WUnderhill said:

This is a popular take around here, but truth is we didn’t get much respect when we were a good team either.

We used to get no respect. Still don't.  

[WUnderhill]

9 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

Somewhat true but somewhat not true. Remember the cover of Sports Illustrated and the infamous declaration of us being SB champs.

During Fox and Rivera we were largely a respected team. We had household names periodically during those times. We had national respect as a tough team more often than not. 

Hell, we had DMVP's, All Pros and even a league MVP. We did have all that stuff.

But we never got over the hump. And now, yeah, that is all gone. There is no reason at all to respect us. The sad truth is, if we hadn't traded up to take Bryce Young, we wouldn't even have anything at the national level worth even paying attention to.

The franchise has worked very hard and long to descend to the level we are at now. You can thank all the hard work that David Tepper did completely deconstructing everything the franchise built for more than two decades before he arrived. 

So, any Panthers fan talking respect at this point. Good luck. There will be none until it is earned on the field. That's just how it is.

Luke Kuechly is about the only player I can think of that has gotten the respect he deserves/deserved nationally. Otherwise…“Worst 5-0 team of all time…6-0…10-0…etc.” They gave Tennessee Karen air time on espn just to drag Cam. No comeback player award for TD. Peppers wasn’t respected to the level he deserved until he went to Chicago. We had a Super Bowl fixed before our eyes and nobody cared except Panther fans. The league forced our owner out over way less than Robert Kraft and other owners. We were forced to pay a DE on the franchise tag to not play for a whole season while the league kept him and us in limbo and that little rule was never applied that way again. This whole board banded together to vote on a stinking uniform contest just over the blatant disrespect by the media. They like us when we’re the plucky upstarts, that’s about it. I’m not so optimistic that winning has anything to do with the “respect”, or lack thereof, we get.

[kungfoodude]

24 minutes ago, WUnderhill said:

Luke Kuechly is about the only player I can think of that has gotten the respect he deserves/deserved nationally. Otherwise…“Worst 5-0 team of all time…6-0…10-0…etc.” They gave Tennessee Karen air time on espn just to drag Cam. No comeback player award for TD. Peppers wasn’t respected to the level he deserved until he went to Chicago. We had a Super Bowl fixed before our eyes and nobody cared except Panther fans. The league forced our owner out over way less than Robert Kraft and other owners. We were forced to pay a DE on the franchise tag to not play for a whole season while the league kept him and us in limbo and that little rule was never applied that way again. This whole board banded together to vote on a stinking uniform contest just over the blatant disrespect by the media. They like us when we’re the plucky upstarts, that’s about it. I’m not so optimistic that winning has anything to do with the “respect”, or lack thereof, we get.

I think you are just having some selective memories. Steve Smith, Julius Peppers, Greg Olsen, Cam and plenty of others got lots of national love. We never got Dallas Cowboy QB hype but if that is what you want, you have to basically win titles and have extended periods of success to accomplish that. Remember that New England was largely a joke prior to the Belichick era. 

We had respect, although it was sometimes fleeting. It's most assuredly all gone now.

[WUnderhill]

2 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

I think you are just having some selective memories. Steve Smith, Julius Peppers, Greg Olsen, Cam and plenty of others got lots of national love. We never got Dallas Cowboy QB hype but if that is what you want, you have to basically win titles and have extended periods of success to accomplish that. Remember that New England was largely a joke prior to the Belichick era. 

We had respect, although it was sometimes fleeting. It's most assuredly all gone now.

Steve Smith the #8 receiving yds all time, #3 all purpose among WRs, #9 including RBs, #33 TDs, was just recently passed up for HOF in favor of Andre Johnson who trails him in every category, and our own fans will side with the trash media on it just because Smith wasn’t always nice. Every receiver in front of him who is HOF eligible is in. Not a lot of respect there. If you are remembering Cam getting a ton of respect I really wish I had lived in that world. Cam wasn’t even appreciated among our own fan base.

A large reason for our lack of respect is our own fans and media. We have been more successful than any other newer franchise not named the Ravens and I remember years ago (before the Tepper losing era) having to argue with our own “fans” on the huddle claiming we were a less respectable franchise than the Jets. Our own local reporters and radio personalities admit that they don’t like the Panthers publicly because it is acceptable. Our own local paper hated Cam and it was acceptable.

I’m not saying we should be respected after losing for 7 straight seasons. But until our fans stop kowtowing, self flagellating, and trashing our own team and players because it is the socially accepted norm (and it has been well before Tepper and Bryce Young), I don’t think winning is going to be the cure it is claimed to be.

[kungfoodude]

12 minutes ago, WUnderhill said:

Steve Smith the #8 receiving yds all time, #3 all purpose among WRs, #9 including RBs, #33 TDs, was just recently passed up for HOF in favor of Andre Johnson who trails him in every category, and our own fans will side with the trash media on it just because Smith wasn’t always nice. Every receiver in front of him who is HOF eligible is in. Not a lot of respect there. If you are remembering Cam getting a ton of respect I really wish I had lived in that world. Cam wasn’t even appreciated among our own fan base.

A large reason for our lack of respect is our own fans and media. We have been more successful than any other newer franchise not named the Ravens and I remember years ago (before the Tepper losing era) having to argue with our own “fans” on the huddle claiming we were a less respectable franchise than the Jets. Our own local reporters and radio personalities admit that they don’t like the Panthers publicly because it is acceptable. Our own local paper hated Cam and it was acceptable.

I’m not saying we should be respected after losing for 7 straight seasons. But until our fans stop kowtowing, self flagellating, and trashing our own team and players because it is the socially accepted norm (and it has been well before Tepper and Bryce Young), I don’t think winning is going to be the cure it is claimed to be.

Well they did move the goalposts at WR and that largely fuged Smitty and others.

I would also point out that after 30 years we do just have 7 winning seasons and we are quickly descending down the all time franchise winning percentage ranks(26th). 

Our fans had a lot of pride back in the day, the franchise has pretty much sapped that out of the bulk of the fanbase at this point. I mean, imagine how fuging insufferable a bunch of yappy, arrogant Panthers fans would be at the moment? It would be embarrassing.