My family was on board from the start

By By Austin Bishop / EMG sports director
Jan. 28, 2004
Writing words of wisdom on a Wednesday while wondering whatever happened to Frank Reich …
Thank you New Orleans Saints, thank you very much.
After years of following the Saints, and suffering I might add, there came a day when I finally gave up on them.
I don't remember the date, but I do remember the incident. It was the day after they cut Morten Andersen. The Saints had done stupid things before and they have done stupid things since, but that verged on insanity. Not only was Andersen the best kicker in the game at that time and a certain candidate for the Hall of Fame, but he may very well be the best place-kicker of all time.
And the Saints let him go. They didn't trade him. He didn't leave the Saints in search for more money. They cut him. Let him go. Asked him to please go play somewhere else.
I decided right then and there along with my sons Ryan and Bradley that we could no longer be Saints' fans.
So then came the big decision who would we root for? Sunday afternoons in the fall wouldn't be the same without a favorite team. Andersen signed with Atlanta, so we thought about the Falcons. But that just didn't seem right. After all, if you ever loved the Saints you kind of had to despise the Falcons.
We pondered several teams before finally deciding that the best thing to do was to pick a team that had never played a game. So, since all of this turmoil was coming after the 1994 season, that left us with one of two expansion teams the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Carolina Panthers. It didn't take us long to pick the Panthers.
I can remember sitting in a hotel room in Columbus watching the first game Carolina ever played, a 20-14 win over Jacksonville in the Hall of Fame exhibition game. At that point, we decided to go and watch a Carolina game every year.
It just so happened that the first-ever regular season game for Carolina was going to be in Atlanta. We ordered tickets and made our plans to be there.
And there we were. Me, Ryan, Bradley and my wife, Barb, all jumped in the car and drove to Atlanta to watch the beginning of our new team. We truly can say we were there when it all began.
I remember the first touchdown in Carolina history, it was a pass from Frank Reich to tight end Pete Metzelaars. I also remember how the game ended.
The Panthers lost 23-20 in overtime when Morten Andersen yes, that Morten Andersen booted the game-winning field goal. Somehow, that just doesn't seem fair.
For the first six seasons of the Panthers' nine-year history we managed to see at least one game three in Atlanta, two in New Orleans and one at Erickson Stadium in Carolina. That was wild for sure and is something none of us four will ever forget.
I am big on tradition. I believe you should have a team and root for them. That's what I did for the Saints for years. Then, I had just had enough.
Losing does not make me give up on a team. I've been an Atlanta Braves fan since 1969, and while they have done their share of winning since 1992, they did more than their share of losing before that time.
There have been a lot of folks jumping on and off the Braves' bandwagon over the years, and I am sure there are some folks who are "suddenly" becoming Carolina Panthers fans.
But I have to give it to Bradley and Ryan, no matter what the record of the Panthers they have hung in there. Even during the 1-15 season, they never considered pulling for another team.
They are Panthers fans. We were there when it began, and we have a couple copies of the first-ever game program to prove it (if I can remember the SAFE place where I put them).
Bradley has a Stephen Davis jersey and a Carolina NFC Championship cap and all kinds of other goodies from his beloved Carolina Panthers, including snapshots of when he had his face painted like a blue Panther when we went to the game in Charlotte.
There is one poster in his room that would seem kind of odd, certainly out of place, if you didn't know the story.
It is on his closet door and it is of a New Orleans Saints football player.
That player's name? Why, Morten Andersen of course. He is the reason we left a loser by the wayside to latch on to something new.
When we chose the Panthers we said to ourselves, "Well, at least everyone expects this team to lose."
But after a while, we began believing they could win.
And now, nine years later, the Carolina Panthers are about to play in the Super Bowl. We will be gathered around the television on Sunday night, enjoying every moment of it. We will certainly be pulling for Carolina to win, but even if they lose, it will still fell like we were a part of history.
Because we really were there when it all began.