Jazz Really Isn't All That Cool

We head out for New Orleans in eight hours! Stay tuned for a TON of pictures. I'll be starting a separate blog for all of the Bourbon St. Boobie pictures I may or may not get. We return Monday, so Tuesday expect this blog to return in full force! Happy New Year!

Marc Stanton Was a Good Man

I don't typically read the obituaries. Last Thursday I read them and saw that a friend's father had died. Monday morning I read them again, and saw this. The internet is amazing. More than six years ago, I used to visit the Charlotte.com message boards for information about the Panthers. Eventually, the site grew into much more than a Panthers board and This Board Rocks was born. It's weird. I've many good friends that I've made from that site. People from as far away as New Zealand and Fresno, CA have come to Charlotte for "TBR" gatherings. People have met on the site and eventually married. Others have met on the site and have become friends for life. I'll be honest. It's a little creepy, but I've met some great people. On the Panthers message board, an original member was Marc Stanton. He's a hell of a Panther's fan. Possibly the best. He started his own website, Pantherfanz.net. It was and is largely devoted to tailgating.
This is just one example of his legendary tailgates. The Browns game this year was full of pregame rain, but his group still had a ton of people out there. They set up in a big lot over on Cedar St. to the west of the stadium. Marc sat in the front row, wore a tight offensive lineman style jersey along with a crazy hat and bullhorn. He was friends with all of the cheerleaders. Every Monday he'd come on TBR, post about the game complete with about twenty ass shots of the cheerleaders. God bless Marc.
Marc also traveled to many away games. He made friends with other team's fans before rolling out of town and met up with them for some power tailgating. Back in 2003 when the Panthers didn't suck, we played a nail biter in Tampa in week 3. The game was over unless we blocked an extra point. Well, Kris Jenkins blocked it and Panther fans went crazy. Here's an old AP photo with Marc just to the right of Tom Tupa's(#9) head going nuts in the midst of stunned Buccaneer fans. Marc had balls. He didn't talk the game, he actually was the game. During the 2003 NFC championship in Philadelphia, he actually braved the crazy eagle fans. He sat twenty rows deep, had batteries thrown at him and who knows that else. I thought I was brave standing on the field shooting the game while silently pulling for my team. Marc always had great road stories to tell. Enough to inspire me to take some Panther road trips. We're headed to New Orleans next weekend. I didn't know Marc. I only met him one time. I dropped in on his tailgate before a Monday night game a couple of years ago. He said hello and offered me a beer. He didn't need to say much else. He's a fan we should all aspire to be like. I don't care who your team is.

The Professor on TBR made this picture of Marc during the weekend. I bet Marc was watching the game with Sam Mills yesterday.

My Blog Sucks, Not Unlike the Panthers

Much like my ass, I've lost my muse!! If you happen to see it, do me a favor and let me know where it is. I'm really trying to get back into it. I promise. Sunday was the last home game of the year for the Panthers. We suck and we were all pretty sure we were gonna get beat down by the Steelers, so we decided to make the game secondary and push the pregame festivites to the front.

I cracked my first Miller High Life Light at 10:15, about 15 minutes later than I had planned. The Lady and I were first to arrive and tuned the Sirius radio to the top 40 channel. Some Justin Timberlake was blaring and we danced in front of nobody on Carson Blvd. About two minutes later The Lady received a call from here mom saying,

"We just drove by Carson Blvd. and saw you dancing and Adam drinking."

I guess somebody is always watching. We had a bigger crowd this week thanks to some of Jennifer's friends from Wilmington. Kelly and her husband Bob drove in for the game to root on the Steelers. Also backing Pittsburgh was Kris Cook and his Panther fan wife Danielle. Danielle brought some whip ass potato salad and Paula Deen cookies. The Lady made some macaroons and Buckeye's for dessert. I borrowed my sister Anna's grill and we grilled up some fine Bratwurst and Sausages. Good eating Sunday.

Pittsburgh whipped our ass. 37-3. It was really, really bad. Late in the game this Steelers fan let the Bud Light get to him. He decided to take a nap next to Kris Cook who didn't mind the company. Not that he needed the company. The stadium was dominated by Steelers fans. They were everywhere, making more noise then the home crowd. It was disgusting.
As usual, our fans left early. It really pisses me off when people leave early. I think of all the fans around the Carolinas who would LOVE to go to a game that wouldn't leave early. It makes our team look bad, and it makes our fans look like assholes. I think we have some of the worst fans in the National Football League. We really suck. If it rains, nobody shows up. If we're losing, a ton of fans leave. If we're winning, a ton of fans leave. We do the wave on offense whilst playing on national television. It's damned embarrassing. I hope someday we have more good fans than bad ones. We've got some work to do.

More later, I've got a story about a great Panthers fans who died unexpectedly Friday, and it was the extended family Christmas Saturday in Lincolnton.

Stay tuned.