True Panther Fans

   Jan Tiffany and her husband Chuck decided they needed a road trip, and the Panthers-Giants game provided a destination.

   True, Chuck had lost his job selling building supplies in September. But Chuck and Jan owned a business on the side in Charlotte, Jumpin' Jacks party rental, and they had relatives in New Jersey and they decided that if they were careful with their money, they could afford to go.

   This was November, however, and they didn't have tickets. So Jan, who has one of those voices that makes you want to be nice to her, called the Giants. Can we buy seven tickets? Oh, and we pulled for the Giants in the Super Bowl.

  Sold out.

   Of course they were sold out. This was Sunday night football and the game was going to be big. Jan continued to call. She kept talking to the same woman in the sales office, learned her name, called regularly and continued to be nice. Finally the sales rep told her that season-ticket holders occasionally turn in their tickets, and there's a waiting list, and please submit your name in writing.

   Jan knew there would be many names ahead of hers. Can we buy four? We're in Charlotte. We're so excited about coming up.

   Let me talk to my supervisor. Yes, you can buy four.

   Can we buy seven?

   Let me talk to my supervisor. Yes, you can buy seven, face value, $80 apiece.

   The Tiffanys got into their 2000 Dodge Caravan minivan at midnight Thursday and drove north. The other tickets were for family there. They hit New Jersey and a snowstorm simultaneously, but crawled through the snow to Budd, N.J., the long 10 1/2 hour drive becoming longer.

   But once they arrived, they had a blast. On Saturday they drove to Manhattan, where the rear brakes went out, and stuck the mini-van in gear to reduce their speed and pull into a parking lot. Exxon fixed it for $450. Not in the budget, but what choice did they have?

   They went to Times Square and Chinatown. They were approached by several sellers of designer merchandise at cut-rate prices, but a cousin told Jan the real deals were cut in back alleys. Suddenly her cousin was in a Chinatown back alley. Jan joined her and, in the dim light, bought a Prada bag for $35 and a Tiffany & Company sterling silver ring for $10.

   You think they're real?

   "I don't know," Jan says Tuesday. "They look real. I'm looking at the ring right now. It says Tiffany  & Company with a sterling silver stamp."

   Then came the game. There was good old-fashioned trash talk with New York fans before the game. Once it started there were snowballs to the back, head and neck.

    "It was more than the usual," says Jan. "The people next to us were nice, but the people behind us were drunk and obnoxious. And the security guys and security did nothing."

   She says an official did offer them to come back for a tour of the stadium?

   "You'd have to drag me," she says.

   So they sat on what felt like coolers, their feet on ice, their backs and heads getting pelted with snow. They lost their brakes, drove through snow and might have bought a knock-off purse and jewelry. Oh, and their team lost a game that hurt more than the snowballs.

   Glad you went?

   "Yes," says Jan. "We feel like real fans now. And it feels good."

Comments

[Shub]

why didn't you ask the man if he was glad he went?

[Jim B]

If Jake Had'nt Got Away From Steve Smith In The Second Half It Might Gone A Different Way In That Game

[Willy]

Thankfully Fox used Williams running instead of overrated lil Steve "Mugsy Bogues" Smith or it would have been worse. His dropped red zone pass and holding call lost it. Time to trade.

Giant fans seem decent but we cant for the life of us fig out what happened to those drunken drugged out idiot psycho criminal rogue Eagle fans 30 miles to the west. Must be the underground nuke waste dump birth defects. We heard NYC pipes its nuclear waste underground too Philadelphia but thats a secret.

[Kevin]

I also traveled to the game and had a similar experience, except for I was spit in the face and then punched in the face while standing in line for the bathroom, completely unprovoked. These were the worst fans I have ever seen, and I cannot imagine a worse environment for opposing fans. The entire game was non-stop ice balls to the head, beer bottles to the face, and being spit on. I will never go back there, but I am also glad that I went. I am a true Panther fan.

[Go Panthers]

Time to trade Steve Smith? That is the funniest thing I have read all day. One holding penalty and you want him gone? I'll take Steve "PLAYMAKER" Smith over any receiver in the NFL any day.
I think our defense might have had a little to do with our loss...do you want to trade Jon Beason as well? Ha!

Kev- You are a true Panthers fan to put up with that nonsense!

Let's all just focus on the upcoming [HUGE] game and hopefully come back from Louisiana with a victory.

[Jennifer]

We may have lost the game but as fans / city / state we won in the kindness and politeness department. I moved from NJ (born & raised ) 20 years ago and that is exactly why I left. People are completely rude and inconsiderate up there. North Carolina will always be my home and I would never live up North again. GO PANTHERS!!!!

[Pete]

If that is how the Giant fans treat opposing fans, I'd be like Plax and carry a gun with me at all times. No one should have to take treatment like that. What a ridiculous excuse for a city New York is. GO PANTHERS!

[CCPanthersFan]

I too went to the Giants-Panthers game with my lil' bro and a friend. We stayed with a friend I recently graduated college with in Jersey on Friday. Then we headed to New York for Saturday and Sunday. The snow really made the Christmas season feel authentic up there, as you all know Charlotte never boasts Christmas weather. The game was freezing cold as we sat 21 rows up in the end-zone, my friends back home sent text messages all throughout the game and sometimes I questioned why I hadn't just stayed back in Charlotte with them. However, it was moments like DeAngelo's 4 TD's (every one quieting that obnoxious stadium) that made the trip all the worth while. If only Kasay had aimed more right with that kick, we would have been walking out of that run-down stadium with a different feel. Win or Loss, I wouldn't take back that trip for anything! Totally worth the drive and money well spent. GO PANTHERS!!! BEAT THE SAINTS!!!

[Scott]

What more would you expect from ANYONE that's a fan of any NFC East team?

Look closely - you can see the circumcision scars under their chins! :-)

[Ashley]

I too went to the game and had a similar experience except my car was towed for no apparant reason and cost $185 to retrieve!! NY City was awesome and so was the game...where we sat(behind the goal post Kasey was kicking into)the people were nice, but I did see some that were totally rude. No, not rude....downright nasty!! There is something to be said for good sportsmanship and I saw very little of it there! GOOOOOOOOOOOO Panthers, maybe we'll be back in the Meadowlands in a few weeks for a rematch,OR maybe not; I hope maybe not, I'd rather be playing at HOME!!!

[DK]

The NFL fined terrific Pats wide receiver Wes Welker for making a snow angel after scoring a touchdown against the pathetic Cardinals last week in Foxboro.They were playing in a blizzard.It was a darn good angel too!

The image conscious NFL should consider a little more crowd control and security to protect the fans. Quit worrying about post touchdown celebrations. Nobody gets hurt doing snow angels or Riverdance!

Sadly, I do think alchohol is the root of the problem. I love my beer.....I don't drink $5.75 beers at the stadium.I tailgate with friends and we take a case of cold Coors we paid $12.99 for at a local Harris Teeter.We have a couple beers before the game and a couple after the game while traffic thins out.

Whenever I see fan confrontations at football games, I see drunks. They are pussy's when sober and punks when inebriated.They are all ages, sizes and races. Both genders are well represented as well.

For what we PSL owners pay for tickets, parking and refreshments,I expect to be able to take friends and family to any game at any time of the day or evening and not feel like I am going to get in a brawl with someone.

I love this city and this team. Haven't missed a game since the stadium opened in 1996. I travel all over the country and Charlotte is envied by people from San Francisco to Boston. I was raised in Cleveland and have lived in Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, and New York.

The best baseball fans are in St. Louis.
The best football fans are in Green Bay.
The best basketball fans are in Dallas.

The worse fans for all sports is Philadelphia...they are just mad all of the time because they have to live there....New Yorkers feel they are entitled to be obnoxious because of the size of the metropolitan area and what it costs to survive up there.....

We are a world class city with a great football team to support.We use to have a great basketball team to support.....

I hope we go back to New York in January and kick the Giants butts...they can beat each other up during the beautiful winter months of January, February and March up there while we are down here golfing on the weekends.

[Catsnmbr1fan]

I drove up Saturday morning, and got there Saturday night. Sunday we left for the game hrs before the gates opened. After we took (2) shuttle rides to get to the stadium. We walked thru the parking lot, and other then a few people yelling "Panthers Suck", several offered us beers. Once the gates opened, I went down to the field level. Met several Panther die-hard fans, like myself (142 homes games and counting). When the game started, I went up to my very high upper level seats row 18.. I had some obnoxious fans around me, but I did have some true Giant fans, that told them to shut up and sit down. At half time, we went down to the lower bowl, in the end-zone and found seats in row 26,, The Wind in the upper level was terrible. Again, most fans were decent, I did see a lot more snow/ice balls being thrown from the upper deck to the lower deck, most were landing on the field. Next morning, I got up early and made the 11+ hour trip back to Charlotte. My only pet peeve was the shuttles, to the remote parking lots,, The Game was over around midnight, we didn't get back to our car, until 1:30am, due to the thousands of people in line, and just a few buses.

[Joe]

I went to the game too...but im from Brooklyn, NY....i had my steve smith jersey proudly displayed but i expected the fans to be harsh...thats NY. I know how the people are. But i really jus got alot of yelling and smart ass remarks...nuthing thrown at me...or else i wuld have counter acted which probably would have meant me getting beat up lol. But o well i got my panther pride till i die.

[TomsWorld]

That is a good point. NYC and Philly stay mortally pissed all the time mainly at each other because they have to live 24/7/365 in these filthy diseased crime ridden giant concrete jungled cesspools go to hell kiss my ass dog eat shit violence joints. Been there done that for yrs.
Hell, that would drive anybody crazy as hell and not give a fuck who what or where all the time.
These people need to move to Bumfuck anywhere like Union County or Tennessee Nebraska or Montana and get the fuck out of these insane hellholes.
Plant a few crops and raise a little livestock. Milk the chickens and feed the cows. Get away from the insanity bullshit.
Buy a giant wide screen and dish and get 1000 channels with your hot babe main squeeze grip to fuck anytime and life is great.
Fuck that heavy urbane bullshit. You have to feel sympathy for these millions of dumb motherfuckers who dont know any better than to waste their whole fucking life in shitholes like those.
They are nice to visit but its nicer to leave and get back to real living.
We love going to Vegas for 3-4 days every so couple yrs but fuck living there fulltime.

[Shaun NJ]

I currently reside in NJ.. I grew up watching the Giants, however, I am a diehard Panthers fan since graduating high school in NC in 1996, a year after they came into the league and went to the championship.. i too went to the game, I sat 2nd level near the goal post that Kasay didn't kick far enough towards.. I had to defend a fellow Charlottetinian w/ another Smitty jersey from a typical rude Giants fan yelling at him to sit down.. We didn't hear another word out of him because I put the asshole in his place right away.. I just don't tolerate that shit because Panther fans are typically very polite and very sportsmanlike... From my view, everyone around me thought Kasay got it in and it wasn't until the refs signaled that the crowd of Giants fans erupted .. Giants fans thought they were gonna loose that game practically the entire game and you should have seen the looks on their faces when Kasay lined up to kick, knowing that he rarely misses.. Giants fans would never admit it, but they know they got LUCKY ,trust me, most were hanging their hats up and getting ready to leave when Kasay was lining up.. If the Panthers have to come back up here and play the the Giants in the championship, they will kick the Giants' asses into oblivion .. You ask ANY Giants fans who they don't want to see in the playoffs and they'll say Panthers 90% of the time.. PS DeAngelo Williams is ELITE, we have ourselves a bonafide' running back finally!! GO PANTHERS I HOPE YOU KICK THE GIANTS ASS NEXT TIME AROUND!

[Greg]

NY city and Philadelphia have 10 million times more character in both cities than charlotte has. That being said with that many people you get the crap in life and urban society too. Just like Charlotte compared to say Gastonia. Fans up there are also that much more passionate about their football. Sometimes, often because of alcohol, that ends up not being admirable fandom.

[NJ Panther Fan Niner Grad]

I too was at the game. However, my experience was quite different. I grew up in Charlotte, moved there when I was 12 in 1980. Went to High School there and graduated from UNC Charlotte. My job moved me up here to NJ in 1995 just a month after I committed to purchasing tix for the 1st Panthers season in Clemson.

I had four tickets, took two guys I coach little league with along with my 6 year old son. We sat in the 2nd level at about the 20 yard line. Yes there were plenty of obnoxious fans but there were two fans behind me that gave my son two handwarmers (good people). It was freezing in there. They didn't hassle me when I was pumping my fist for Dwill and co. I thought Kasay would be money but his hesitation and the wind just caught the ball.

There is a lot of harshness by people from NC regarding this area. The bottom line is people up here are a little more in your face and don't sugar coat as much as in NC. Not sure that is always a good thing. I always know where I stand with the NY attitude folks whereas I never could quite understand how people could be so nice but so phony down South. I am just kidding but these types of generalities can only be considered wrong. There are good people up here and good people in NC as well. But both areas have there share of A holes as well.

All this being said....Go Panthers. I'm making the trek back to my PSL Seats in 516.
Hoping we get a chance to play Philly as well but I'll take my chances against NY. It will be cold but hopefully not as windy next time. Go Panthers, now let's beat the tar out of Arizona....those people are idiots that live there....just kidding.