It was the start of the school year in 2003. I was in the 7th grade at Coral Springs Middle School. After surviving my first year in a school that I clearly was not prepared for, I had finally made a ton of friends and was in class with most of them. So with that, came the talk of sports, girls, music, and whose homework we could copy, as most young teenage boys often talk about from what I can imagine. Being a kid who enjoyed computer games and reading, I had no experience with any of those topics. But I can only assume the topic of who we were going to copy off of only came up because they wanted my homework. So I did what any kid in my position would do. I picked a topic and ran with it. As a kid who played video games, I had my fair share of sport games on hand but the one I also fell back on when I was feeling like playing one was NFL Blitz. Any boy who played video games and loved sports back in the early 2000’s definitely played this game at some point. It was probably the most unrealistic game made for sports I had ever come across. Players in the game could literally catch on fire and there were no penalties for dirty hits, as it seemed that that was a big part of the game. And celebrations were endless. The good old days indeed.
So I fired up NFL Blitz one afternoon after school and scrolled through and found the worst team, from a statistical standpoint I can only assume, and landed on the Carolina Panthers. Further research showed that they had only become a team in 1993 and starting their first season in 1995. Some of you may not know this but they actually hold the record for having the best record as an expansion team in their first season at 7-9. They also managed to make it to the NFC Championship game in their second year after going 12-4 but lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions, the Green Bay Packers. After that solid season, it was a bunch of mediocrity and 0 winning seasons, although one season did end up at 8-8. In 2001 they finished at 1-15 after only winning their first game of the season. At the end of the season, George Seifert was fired and in came John Fox from the New York Giants. John Fox started the rebuilding process by bringing in Jake Delhomme before the 2003 season. What was so interesting about this move was that Delhomme was brought in as a backup. Having only played 6 games with the New Orleans Saints over his 5 seasons there, Fox saw something in him. As the backup to Rodney Peete, Delhomme watched the Panthers fall to a 17-0 halftime deficit in the first game of the season against the Jaguars. It was at this time that John Fox decided to bring in Delhomme who brought the team back and ultimately win the game 24-23. I remember watching this game in its entirety and I will always tell people it was this game that got me hooked on football as well as the Carolina Panthers.
Throughout the season, the Carolina Panthers played with the emotions of all of their fans by getting down early and often in every game but always finding a way to win in the end. They were given the nickname “The Cardiac Cats” due to the heart attacks many fans suffered while watching their games. I swear I aged 10 years during this one season. Their running game was superb led by Stephen Davis and DeSaun Foster and their passing game was just as good with Musin Muhammed and Steve Smith (yes, he’s sitll playing). But their defense is what kept them grounded most of the time and was the perfect compliment to that offense. They started off 5-0 and ended up finishing the season 11-5 and first in the newly formed NFC South. As they Panthers made their way through the playoffs, I was HOOKED. I couldn’t believe this team that was apparently the worst on NFL Blitz was going this far and doing this well. All my friends were impressed I had picked this team to start following out of all the available teams out there. Why not just pick the Dolphins since I was from South Florida? Why not pick the Giants since my parents were fans of them? My reasoning was because I always wanted to be different from everyone else. And before I knew it, my Carolina Panthers were in the Super Bowl.
Steve Smith and Jake Delhomme in Super Bowl 38
In what went down as arguably one of the best Super Bowls of all time by many reporters, sports writers, and NFL fans in general. Unfortunately, the Panthers eventually fell to the New England Patriots 29-32 thanks to a last second Adam Vinateri field goal. I didn’t need to look up the score or how they lost. I’ll remember everything about that game. Even the halftime show which featured Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. Yeah. It was THAT Super Bowl.
So there I was, one season in as a Panthers fan and I was immediately sold on the team. I got myself a Julius Peppers black jersey and wore it so proudly my 8th grade year. But I found out they don’t fair well in the washing machine and had to replace that with my current jersey, Jake Delhomme. For as bad as that man became later on in the seasons, he was one hell of a quarterback to watch in 2003-04.
I still remember the success the Panthers had in some seasons following the Super Bowl. Like in the 2005-05 season they managed to get second place in the division after going 11-5 and land a wild card spot. In their wild card game at the New York Giants, they actually shut them out 23-0. I won’t forget this because my Dad was a Giants fan and still to this day gets bitter whenever I bring this game up to him. Hi Dad! I had to do it. They went on to beat Chicago the following week after Chicago notoriously stated they didn’t need to double team Steve Smith. They learned the hard way that you do indeed need to double team Steve Smith as he completely demolished their secondary in that game. For those of you care to see, here are the highlights.
Cam Newton the #1 Overall Draft Pick by the Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft
As the years went by, the Panthers started to fall out of the spotlight and people around me who didn’t know me started confusing me with being a huge hockey fan. Whenever I’d tell someone I was a Panthers fan, they’d start saying “I didn’t peg you for a hockey fan”, “oh that’s awesome! Let’s go to the hockey rink sometime!”, or “I was asking what your favorite football team was, not hockey…”. It was a tough time indeed. Jake Delhomme was eventually let go which prompted a 2-14 campaign and the leagues worst offense in 2010 which led to the release of John Fox. With that, came the hiring of Ron Rivera and the Panthers using the #1 overall draft pick to select Cam Newton in the 2011 draft. Cam Newton in his first year captured the hearts of every Panthers fan by lighting up the field and rewriting all the record books. The 2011-12 season showed the new quarterback of the future in Cam Newton who was the first dual threat quarterback that could really take a hit but also deliver the ball downfield. Others may come to mind like Mike Vick and Donovan McNabb. But none had the immediate impact that Cam Newton had. I watched the slow progress Cam had by first enduring a losing season, then taking the team to a playoff appearance and losing in the first round. Then winning the division but losing after their first round bye in the 2014 playoffs. And then, out of no where, my Carolina Panthers went 14-0 to start the 2015-16 season and once again took me by surprise. I don’t think I could have ever predicted what I witnessed last season. Even though the end result came out to another loss in the Super Bowl. I was shown that the Panthers are constantly improving. And even though the start this season hasn’t been anything close to what happened last season, I am still standing by this teams side as a proud fan of the Carolina Panthers.
