Your Panthers fandom biography...

[Toker Smurf]

35 minutes ago, Jeremy Igo said:

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

 

[CPcavedweller]

In 1995, I was 4 years old and obviously don't remember much of the Panther's nor really caring to watch football. My dad is a Vikings fan but living near Charlotte (Lenoir Area), we picked up Panther's games and as a result, that is who I grew up watching. My dad used to get tickets for free from someone who became known to me as "The Ticket Guy" growing up. I remember seeing the 52-31 game against the John Kitna Bengels, playing Donovan McNabb and the Deuce Staley Eagles, seeing Culpepper's last real NFL game with the Vikings, Steve Smith row the boat against Smoot,an asian guy walking up the steps of the upper deck screaming "We going to Houston" in a game against the Lions in 2002, Cam setting the NFL mark for most passing yards in a game as a rookie against the Packers, the game winning pass to beat the Saints to seal the NFC South, the Monday Night game against the Patriots, downpour against the Jaguars and the list goes on.

I used the Panther's in all Madden franchise modes and single games since I started playing Brett Favre's game in 1997. Being 25, and the Panther's being 21, I suppose you could say i'm among the first generation of "lifers". I didn't really have much choice as we didn't have NFL Sunday Ticket and my support has always leaned toward local teams. 

Last fall was extremely depressing, and i'm not so sure it isn't due to the Panther's playing so poorly. I suppose that they give us all hope when they play well, and epitomize the throws of life when they play poorly. 

I feel this is fitting for post number 3,500. 

[panthers55]

I was born and still live in the Philadelphia, PA area.  I followed the Phillies and Flyers (and still do) because my parents did as I was growing up.  For whatever reason (I'm sure many people here could list a few), my parents were not Eagles fans and did not follow football very closely.
I was 10 years old when the Panthers joined the NFL.  Not having a favorite NFL team up to that point, I decided the Hall of Fame game between the two brand new teams would be a good way of choosing a favorite team with a clean slate.  I'd be able to be a fan from the beginning.
Well, the Panthers won that game against the Jags, and I've been a fan ever since.  I get asked all the time in this area why I'm not an Eagles fan.  I don't know if I'd be an Eagles fan even if I didn't make this decision back in 1995... but it's the reason why I'm a fan, as corny as it may seem.
 
Yeah... I'm really glad the Panthers won that game.

Grew up outside Philly and was a fan of all the local teams. Moved to NC permanently in 1982. Liked both teams until I had to choose in the NFC Championship game in 2003-2004. Chose the Panthers and have never looked back. Like most older Panther fans, we were all fans of another team before they came into the league. Some folks still have mixed loyalties while guys like me made the total switch.

Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[pantherj]

As a child I was a 49ers fan because that was the team that was on tv almost every Sunday. The instant the Panthers became North Carolina's football team I dropped the 49ers and became a Panthers fan. So long as the Panthers represent NC I'll be a fan. If they leave, then I'll go back to my childhood team the 49ers until NC has another team.

[Esch30]

2 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

Grew up outside Philly and was a fan of all the local teams. Moved to NC permanently in 1982. Liked both teams until I had to choose in the NFC Championship game in 2003-2004. Chose the Panthers and have never looked back. Like most older Panther fans, we were all fans of another team before they came into the league. Some folks still have mixed loyalties while guys like me made the total switch.

Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app
 

That NFC Championship game was during my freshman year of college.  It wasn't easy watching that among a bunch of Eagles fans at school.  However, I never received any crap from anyone throughout the rest of college after they won that game.

Unfortunately, we all got to witness New England beating our teams in the SB in back-to-back years.

[cookinwithgas]

moved to CLT in 1993, and one of the first friends I made here was a big football fan and got PSLs. I was a casual fan of the 49ers just because I liked San Fransisco when I visited in 8th grade, but after going with my friend to a game in Clemson I was absolutely hooked. Once we got involved with our friends in a tailgating group it became more of a lifestyle. Even met my wife via the Panthers.

[RockyTopVol]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Igo said:

The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it.

I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends, and... uh... my thermos. Huh? My story? Okay. It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi...

[Hoenheim]

Wow this a really good thread that gives some personality to some users nice. 

Alright for the longest time I was only vaguely interested in football. I was born in 91 but I was not an early adopter Panther fan. Actually my earliest memory watching football is during the 2004 playoffs (I believe I was 12 at the time?) and me and my dad were watching the playoffs at my dad's friends house. That year I watched the Panthers go to the Super Bowl and lose, I was cheering for them because they were from NC but I wasn't really a fan at the time. 

From then on I'd generally watch alot of playoffs games and the Super Bowl every year but still not really a fan of any specific team. In my late middle/early high school years I was slowly progressing from being more of a casual fan of the sport into being really enthused by it by my senior year.  I'm really into anime/manga stuff and I started reading eyeshield 21 in 2006 and had a hell of a lot of fun with that (to my knowledge it is the only american football related manga/anime in existence). 

I started considering myself a Panther fan during the 2008 season was the first season I watched all the games and started rooting for the team (the "double trouble" season) which was my senior year of high school. I've pretty much been a fan ever since and watched most of the games since the 2008 season. 

I guess you could say I started being a "hardcore" fan in the 2010 season . I was already watching all the games but this is the season I joined the huddle, started looking at alot of stats for every game, and actively participating in discussions with fans, and generally watched alot of youtube videos about football to be alot more informed about the sport in general. Actually before Andrew Luck said he was going back to college I thought it was a forgone conclusion we'd be drafting him even earlier in the season I could tell it was going to be an absolute garabage season. Oddly enough that was my 2nd year of college was probably the worst year I had there but somehow I still got alot of enjoyment watching our how inept our team was but still somehow getting enjoyment out of it and making jokes with people on the huddle during gameday chats (BTW WTF ever happened to our live gameday chatrooms? And I miss the neg reputation)

 

. For me the 2011 season was the best experience I had as a fan. 2015 was a joy ride but I was having some really shitty life problems that year and the season ended really shitty even though it was overall really enjoyable. but I remember 2011 being nothing but fun even though our record ended up being much worse than 2015. You could just feel the energy that Cam and Smith brought to the team and I felt like we were absolutely in every game we played that year . That was my 3rd year of college which was probably my best year there . 

I'm almost exactly 2 years younger than Cam for a fun fact. 

My life is going to have some extremely serious changes this summer and fall but I'm hoping I'm going to be able to still watch football games. I feel cautiously hopeful about this coming season. I'm the most excited to see if McCaffrey's skills translate to the NFL he could electrify our offense in a way no player has since Smith was here. 

[RockyTopVol]

Okay, my actual story is that growing up in Wilson, I only cared about college football until 1994. As a 14 year old kid, I immediately jumped on-board with the Panthers as my NFL team and I've brought that love to to east TN. I now work alongside a passionate Bucs fan and we do an NFL podcast where our two teams get a handsome majority of the time. 

[Jimmy]

I was a Navy brat, family moved around some, dad was an air-traffic controller, we moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1979, I became a Dolphins fan at ripe age of 5. Pulled for the Fins until 1995 (still do from afar). Settled in NC for good in 1984. Went to Clemson, 1st row, 40 yard line, 1995. Panthers fan since. Although, admittedly with college and the Army going on at the exact same time of the Panthers inception and early years I wasn't glued to them 24/7. That was the same for all sports for that matter. It's difficult to watch your teams when you're living in Colorado, Arizona, and California and Texas...especially in the 90s. Been back in NC fulltime since 2003 and been a close fan since. 

[h0llywood]

Poor inner city kid in Los Angeles and brought in by his uncle on weekends and summers.

During summer of 1995, Uncle signed me up to play pop warner football and the coach comes out with some weird but cool looking logo that I have never seen before. The team name is the Panthers. 

Been a die hard since.

 

[usmcpanthers]

Easy back in 1993 when they were announced, I was 13 back then. Moved to NC in 1990.

[Randolph Panther]

I am 39, grew up liking the Redskins and slowly switched over in the late 1990's.  I can remember the 1997 season opener in Charlotte against the Skins, it was the first time I ever pulled against Washington.  Now I am a proud PSL holder and loyal Panthers fan.

[TNPanther]

Grew up in Cary. I never really got into football until I was 10 or so. I started watching the Panthers during the 2002 season and didn't really think much of them then. The '03 season is really what made me a fan. My family moved from Cary to Memphis, TN during the '03 Cardiac Cats playoff run, and I can remember staying up and watching the double OT game vs. STL and crying when the Rams drove down after Kasay missed the second attempt. My first truly joyous moment as a fan was when their kicker came up short on the subsequent OT attempt and we won on X-Clown shortly afterwards. I cried after we lost the Super Bowl three weeks later, and ever since then I've been hopeful of a return to glory.

The '05 season was a fun one to watch, as was '08. I went to my first actual Panthers game in '08 vs. the Taints in the dome, when Jake heaved a rainbow to Smitty to set Kasay up for the game- and division-winner. I'll never forget being the only person in the building jumping up and screaming to the dismay of my NOLA-bred relatives and the thousands of mouth breathing Taint fans around me.

Jake Delhomme, while not the best or most talented QB in the world, was by far my favorite player, and still remains so to this day. He was so fun to watch with the fire and zeal he demonstrated on the field. I hope he comes back and finds a role within the organization one day.

The '10 season was a downer, but I was optimistic when the new era of RR and Cam came around. 2011, 2012,and the first three games of 2013 were frustrating, to say the least. My first game at BoA was a great one - the 2013 Rams slugfest, when Sam Bradford blew out his knee, Chris Long was tossed for throwing a punch at Gross, and Smitty got into it with Janoris Jenkins and said afterwards that he would "bust him in his fuging mouth" if he saw him in the street. It was a sign of things to come. That '13 season was arguably the most fun I've had watching the Panthers. 

The '15 season needs no words.

 

Side note: The Panthers are undefeated at home (10-0) when I am in attendance at BoA. The only regular season game they've lost when I've attended was the Falcons debacle in ATL this past year.