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Shula's suggestion started the trend of giving TD footballs to kids, and Ron's comment about the team giving back

KSpan

By KSpan,
in Carolina Panthers

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KSpan Grand Master

KSpan

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Shula has taken a lot of criticism in years past, and rightfully so in many cases. As we all give him his due for his role in the offense's performance this year, I thought it worthwhile to remember that he was also the source of the suggestion that sparked the "give the TD ball to a kid" tradition. From the October 24, 2011 article linked at the bottom of my post:

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"Each and every week, my quarterback coach, Coach (Mike) Shula, always talks about learning how to celebrate," Newton said after the game. "He says when you celebrate, it's not a celebration unless you give back. He says, 'You do all that riff raff, whatever you do, but at the end, you give that football to a little kid. You find a little kid.'

"So after I did whatever I did, I heard somebody in my (helmet) headset saying, 'Give it to a little kid! Give it to a little kid!' I looked, and there was this kid just gleaming from ear to ear, so I gave it to him.

Perhaps as interesting, however, is the quote from Ron that is also included. Even back in 2011 he spoke about developing the team's identity:

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"We're trying to develop who we are as a football team, and at the same time, we're trying to get our fans to understand and realize that this is a football team that wants to give back," Rivera said. "We appreciate the support, we need more support and we need to have more fans in the stands. We want them to understand we're going to give a product, we're going to play as hard as we can, give them everything we can and we hope they appreciate them. ...

"I saw the clip last night on the news, and the look on that young man's face, it was tremendous. I think that speaks volumes about Cam and who he is, but hopefully it speaks volumes about who we are as a football team."

For all the ups and downs, the man had a vision and it's paying massive dividends... just one of the many reasons to love this team.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8236f177/article/newton-follows-panthers-coachs-script-gives-td-ball-to-kid

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KSpan Grand Master

KSpan

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7 minutes ago, Jackofalltrades said:

Really old news.

Yep - thus the "worthwhile to remember" in my post. Was an interesting article to look back on and see this side-by-side with Ron's comment about team identity since it's now a big part of exactly that.

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ncbandit Newbie

ncbandit

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It also bears remembering since I have read more than one opposing team fan post about how he only does it for the attention. I think Cam simply isn't too far removed from being a kid himself, and he enjoys the excitement he can give a kid through such a simple act. 

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KSpan Grand Master

KSpan

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45 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Bull.  Players where tossing football's into the stands long before Cam Shula or Rivera was here. Want to say Dwill started it.  

Players across the league have done it randomly forever, but Cam started doing it every time following Shula's suggestion. Cam made it an 'every TD ball goes to a kid' deal and the rest of the team has jumped onboard.

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