Panthers Football Game

On Thursday, September 20th, Ray and I went down to Charlotte with his parents to see the Panthers play the Giants.  If you're already a football fan, you know the outcome, but I'll tell the story through my eyes...

 We got some AMAZING tickets through a family friend.  We were on the Panthers' sideline and we were on the 6th row.  I've never had the opportunity to be that close to a field during a Panthers' game.  Usually we are in the 3rd deck.  This time, however, we got some great seats and we were so excited about it!  I REALLY wanted to make a sign that said "I will name my baby Cam if Cam gives me his touchdown football" but then I changed my mind.  I'm not naming my baby Cam, so I figured I'd be honest.

 Before we got to the game, we went to eat in Charlotte just outside the stadium.  Of course most people who were eating before the game were tailgating, but we could not get there early enough to tailgate.  What do you do if you can't tailgate?  You find a THAI restaurant in Charlotte!  Thankfully, there was a wonderful Thai restaurant on our way from the parking lot to the stadium.  It was very tasty.  Ray and I outside the restaurant -

The guys inside -

And the girls -

On our way to the stadium!  It was a perfect night.  The weather was delightful and the sky was beautiful -

The Panther at night... so intimidating.  We'll see if the real Panthers actually showed up -

Ray's parents waiting in line outside the stadium -

Finally inside!!  And we're ready for the game to begin!

Coming out and getting all excited for the game -

Cam warming up -

And the game against the Giants has started -

 And here are the Giants... getting ready to score.  I'm not sure I like Eli Manning as much as I thought.  I guess  I cheer for him as long as he's not playing against the Panthers.

 And they scored.  And now here's Cam and the offense... trying to know how to respond.  They spent a lot of time in the huddle thinking like this.  I'm not sure that anything they thought really worked.

 And here's the score as we move towards halftime.  It's not looking good for the Panthers.

But we're having fun and we're still optimistic during the half!

Yet... the first play after the half was a fumble by the Panthers.  Really?  Is there any hope?  And this fumble led to a field goal by the Giants.

 But then the Panthers responded with a touchdown!  There is hope!

 But then the Giants scored again...

 At least I'll get a picture of the Super Bowl champs.  I'll give them that.  At least they beat the Patriots.  I was happy for them that day.

And then they scored again... 

 Between all the Giants scoring, the Panthers actually did have the ball for a little while.  Most of the night looked like this... Cam getting chased by a defender that quickly broke though the offensive line.  At least Cam seems to be learning how to throw the ball away rather than get sacked and lose 20 yards.

 O Cam... what are we going to do with you?  This looks bad!

 We were sad with the outcome, but at least we had great seats and had a good time!

 And the final score - it was BAD.  It was VERY BAD.

So you would think that we would just want to leave and get out of Charlotte as fast as we could, but we actually spent the night and then we went BACK to Bank of America Stadium the next day for a stadium tour.  I've always wanted to take a stadium tour because I love seeing the behind the scenes stuff.  We're ready for our tour with our tour tickets!

If only our team were as fierce as our mascot -

Quote going inside the stadium -

The field - We learned lots of neat stuff about the field.  Here are some facts that I found interesting:
- It took 28 months to build the stadium
- Jerry Richardson (the owner) wanted the Panthers to be a combined NC and SC team.  When they built the stadium, he brought in a dump truck of dirt from each county in NC and SC to make up dirt under the field.
- Every year, this field has the #2 ranked field condition in the NFL.  It's second only to Tampa Bay.
- Most Panthers games are played at 1:00 on Sundays, so they always put the visiting team on the bench that directly faces the sun.

Here's our amazingly entertaining tour guide.  She was a passionate Panthers fan -

It was a beautiful fall day -

We found this inside the visiting locker room from the night before.  Apparently, the Giants have problems identifying their opponents?  I guess football players really aren't the smartest...

The view from the tunnel where the visiting team runs on the field -

The media room -

And all of us inside the luxury suite... I could get used to this!

Even though the Panthers lost, it was a SUPER trip!  We had so much fun!  Let's hope the Panthers do better for the rest of the season :)