why would they not give the ball to cam

[Port City Cat Fan]

a touchdown was scored and cam wanted the ball to give to fan and the ref was yelling at him and saying no. my guess is that he already had the kicking ball. anyone else see this?

[Chaos]

I saw that as well and thought the same thing. The ref seemed to already have the kicking ball for the PAT in his hand that he was getting ready to mark for play. I guess the ball boys at BOA need the heads up that Cam is giving away each and every touchdown ball, so be ready.

[KissMyConverse]

They did it a couple times at the end zone I was at. The time you are referencing was exactly that, he had the kicking ball for the PaT. One of the kickoffs went into the stands in the same end zone and the guys made the guy give the ball back for the same reason BUT they did throw him a regular ball.

So the important thing to take away from this is in the end everyone got to play with their balls.

[chknwing]

[PantherPhann89]

Yeah, I wondered the same thing. I'm glad that Cam is so media alert. He handled it perfectly...

[panthers90]

Well, Cam or someone else usually hangs on to the ball, but he put it down to celebrate, and Smitty accidentally gave it to the refs (or ball boy, couldn't see), so it was gone.

[Mrs.V]

I guess they're trying to make cutbacks so that they can pay the real refs. You know, all them balls Cam be tryin to give away really make a dent in the NFLs multi-billion dollar pockets.

[SOJA]

It's a rule in the NFL, once you let go of the ball, it belongs to the refs- you have to hold onto it to keep it, technically. It's stupid.

[Marguide]

What bothered me is it looked like the ref was being a real jag off. If he couldn't give it away, no problem, but no reason to be a d!ck to the player.

[smitty_89]

They did it a couple times at the end zone I was at. The time you are referencing was exactly that, he had the kicking ball for the PaT. One of the kickoffs went into the stands in the same end zone and the guys made the guy give the ball back for the same reason BUT they did throw him a regular ball.

So the important thing to take away from this is in the end everyone got to play with their balls.

Whats so special about the kicking ball? Do they only have one available or something?

[Skew]

I was at the game and saw what actually happened:

Smith went to help Cam get up off the ground after the touch down; Cam got up on his own; Smith saw the ball on the ground; Smith picked up the ball and carried it to the Panthers bench. Cam didn't see this; ask for the ball the ref was holding; ref wouldn't give it to him b/c it was the one to be used for the extra point (kicking balls are different). You could not see this from the game on TV (I went to look for it).

Not sure what was done with the ball back at the bench, but mystery solved.

[cptx]

Whats so special about the kicking ball? Do they only have one available or something?

The K-balls are brand new for each game vs the regular ones that are handed out earlier in the week and broken in during practice. At least that's what the interwebs says. basically I guess that they keep a tighter control on the kicking ones to keep them from being messed with.

[carolina-chuck]

every ball is worth some greens

[Port City Cat Fan]

these balls are branded with the team name on them. if remember right though the visiting team is to supply the game balls, so any balls handed out at home wont have the panthers name on them. but they are different from just regular balls and with televised proof you could get some coin for these. just ask that girl in tampa.