Just curious as to why the Panthers are your team.

[The Other Colbert]

I've lived in Raleigh ever since i was little, my parents from Michigan. My dad and his family all went to the University of Michigan... big Wolverine football fans. I really wanted to understand football so I could watch games with him and the family.

The Panthers came to town when i was still in elementary school and I started learning football by watching their games. I was instantly a fan of their mascot and colors, I had a Kerry Collins jersey (then traded it in for a Wesley Walls jersey when Collins delhommed). But I was a huge Biakabutuka fan because he was from Michigan, always tried to yell his whole last name before he went in for a touchdown.

To me, the Carolina Panthers and the game of football are almost one in the same. I've been a fan ever since the beginning and loved to rub it in my friends faces when they'd beat the 49ers.

Check out this old footage!

I used to always play them on Sega Genesis Prime Time Football!

[Bigdaddy8523]

Im from Ky and I have family that stays in Raleigh. When I came to visit in 99 I wanted to see the Tarheels cause I watched football but I wasn't affiliated with a team yet the titans are about 45 mins away.

I just watched them but I was and am a diehard heels fan. Well I sorta followed the Panthers. I guess I was becoming a fan. Well my favorite Basketball Player at North Carolina was this guy named Peppers, He was raw and was physical in the paint well he goes to the Nfl and to the team I am starting to have feelings for so after Peppers got here I just lost my football mind and started buying everthing Panthers. Jerseys, Bumper Stickers, Helmets it was a obsession.

Then I brought my 1st ticket to a game it was an away game in the GA dome but it was close to home and at 17 I could drive down there on the weekend to see them. Well after seeing them Live I have been diehard every since every year it gets worse.

Now Peppers is gone and instead of me being a Bears fan I have this f**k it attitude he can go and we need to whoop his ass when he comes here. Damn shame I look at my favorite player like that, he put me over the edge as a Panthers fan but I Love the Panthers so much now Im like f**k-Em. If u aint with us y'all know the rest.

I go to at least 1 game a season and im coming to Boa this season. Me and my brother who loves the Bengals are flying down to see that game. He has never seen the Bengals live and I havent been to BOA before so it will be a good chance for me to heckle to poo outta him and I hope when we come for that game y'all help me talk poo to his ass.

[blackcatgrowl]

We moved here in 1982 when I was barely into grade school, and my parents set down roots. I've never lived anywhere else since. I'm not "native" per se, but I don't consider anywhere else home.

On top of that, I grew up in an NFL watching household. My dad would have some game or another on every Sunday it seemed. We watched a lot of MNF too. I remember watching the Bears in the 80s, and watching the Cowboys in the 90s.

My father and brothers all liked the Cowboys, but I never really did. I was always kind of partial to the Chargers and Dolphins. But I wasn't too much into sports myself, so it was never a big passion for me.

When it was announced we were getting an NFL team in Charlotte, my family was stoked. I was really excited to hear about it too, but there was a lot of crazy crap happening in my life at that time, so I didn't go crazy into Panther's fanhood right off. I kept tabs on the team, but just didn't have money or time to really delve into it as much as my brothers were.

I would watch the games on TV, but due to a really bad financial situation me and my family were in, I didn't get to see a game at the stadium their 2nd year in playing there. I seem to recall it was one of Kerry Collins last games as a Panther. 1997 or so? Anyhow, I went with my dad and that was it.... I'd actually never seen a Pro-Football game before live, and had an awesome experience.... I was bit by the Panther's bug.

A few years later (2001), I started playing Fantasy Football at work. This pretty much solidified my interest in the team, as I payed attention to the NFL at a level I had never thought of before. This went on for 6 years or so until I changed jobs, but have never looked back.

PANTHERS ALL THE WAY BABY, NO OTHER TEAM MATTERS!

[pantherfan81]

Good points.. I was too vague in my statement. Really had native locals who refuse to support the Panthers in mind. But I digress, this is not the overall theme of this thread. :cheers2:

Fair enough sorry for snapping at you tired I guess.

[Kakarot]

I'm from Winston-Salem, NC. Been a Panthers fan from the get-go, I believe in supporting your home-teams. I was about 6 or 7 when NC was rewarded with the Panthers.

[Nicbsbll2]

I was 6 years old at the start of the 1995 season. I remember, while just vaguely, watching games on TV from Clemson with my dad. Been a die hard every since.

[pnthrfrk]

Didn't have a team growing up. The Raiders & Rams both were gone, which is fine cuz I didn't like them anyway, and I did cheer for SF cuz my brother in law liked em at the time. Then when I was in middle school & the kid that sat in front of me had this electric blue jacket with a black panther logo on it. Thought it looked cool and it turns out I find that it's a new NFL expansion team that was gonna start playing next season. I followed them ever since but I would say when Rodney was the QB is when I started to really turn into a bigger fan and it snowballed year after year and now I have more love for them than even the Lakers and that's saying something.

Panthers till my casket drops!!!

this pretty much sums up my experience also. the only differences were i was a raider fan (i'm embarrassed to admit) from so cal and i was the only kid at my school with any carolina gear. i bought my first starter jacket in '94 which i still have. as a side note, there was a jaguar fan at the same school. he was in the same boat but he went the other direction.

[Kettle]

carolina born, bred and til i'm dead

[Argus Plexus]

Only team I've ever known. The Panthers were born only four years after myself. We moved to Chicago and lived there during the Baseball strike (Family has been Chicago Cubs fans forever), so my Dad and the rest of the Fam were turned off to baseball, and we moved to Carolina right as the Panthers came into being. We immediately flocked to them because we finally had a home team to root for, so this is the ONLY football team my family has ever been a fan of. I was pretty much baptized in a Teal football jersey.

So, yeah. Conditioned since toddler stage=Panther fan for life

[ncbobcat]

Born and raised in Charlotte. I was a Redskins' fan because they were the closest team besides the Falcons (yeah, right). I said if the Carolinas were ever awarded an NFL team I would adopt them immediately. It happened and I did. I still have shirt somewhere with a picture of the front page of the Observer on it when the Panthers were awarded the franchise. I think it was October 27th 1993.

[Brooklyn Bully]

Been here since 1993. Moved from a non-NFL town. Bonded to the Panthers right away.

[Lumps]

I have absolutely no ties here in North Carolina. My family is west coast (California, Utah). I lived in lots of states because of my father's occupation. I think my love for the sport itself came way before I rooted for a team. In Utah my love was baseball I made the state team as a back up pitcher just before I moved.

Coming into High school, I then lived in Dallas, Texas the longest out of the many states and during that time I played football, no one really knew of baseball but in Texas football is a religion no joke. I was good, real good, but its the way the sport was approached out there that made me good, great coaches, and there was an offseason/weights even in middle school. I played for Marcus high (then McKamy high).

Then I moved to NC and my teammates all laughed at me and said Carolina was about BBall not football. At the time I had no idea what they were talking about I had never lived this far on the east coast but they were right. Got into football at the high school for my last year but the coaches and approach were total garbage compared compared to what I had been taught. It was so bad (play calling, motivation etc.) I couldn't even play for my school so I quit...

I wish I would have kept in shape until college but nothing I could do would bring me to the condition I was in under a texas all-state coach. That ends my involvement with the sport but I loved football so much I decided then that the panthers would replace my own desires to play and the urge would be turned into rooting for them.

Kind of a good thing I guess not playing football after I moved here because I surley would have ended up a cowboys fan. Panthers for life! Still a huge ranger fan .

[ChucktownK]

Used to dream of having a Carolina pro team when I started playing little league ball as a wee li-uhl one.

A dream came true.

[AnalyzeThIs#28]

Born and raised in Wilmington. Have always liked the Redskins before the Panthers were born, and then switched sides to the Panthers in '95.