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.