On Sat we decided to start out at the NASCAR Museum....a short walk, a few blocks. Decided to wear my Blue/Yellow Phifer jersey....we hear a hey, hey, hey....we turn around and the cat is running between traffic crossing to our side of the street. Comes up and tells his stories of playing HS football with Phifer at S Mecklenberg HS.....real nice guy, wished us luck in beating the panthers. Just a few minutes later we're looking at a menu in a restaurant window and a guy comes up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. He turns out to be Pat Terrells' little brother. Tells us stories of Pat and Roman playing together in the early.90's. He also wished us well and a win.
Went on to the Museum and started seeing a few RAM fans, some from the West Coast, or transplants from there and some locals.
Went from there to get some lunch, and there they are.....like 5 buses in front of the Marriot downtown...(across the street from where we were staying).....The Rams are staying there, the buses had just loaded up to go to B of A Stadium for their walk thru.
So we go and eat lunch, eating outside we hear jazz music across the street....turns out Spyro Gyra is going to have a free concert at 6:00 that evening (Sat.)......we hang out a bit dig on them (total surprise gift) and head down town to eat. We enter the place and 2 waiters are there to greet us....1 guy guesses the name on the back of my jersey.....the other guy comes up and says he went to HS with Torry Holt....they were best friends, tells us about him being a pall bearer at Torry's mom burial services....and his name (nickname) is Lucky....
Needless to say after all these things going on we just knew the game on Sunday was a lock.....Not to mention all the RAM players we met Sat. evening as well as seeing all them off on Sunday morn.....real funny....said hey to Snead early on Sunday...the cat was in jogging gear, and going out for a run through the early morning streets on Charlotte on game day.....Coach comes out dressed to the nines to get on the bus (Armani head to toe)....got his game face on....I holler out check this out Coach....he looks over Mary turns around and he's reading his name on the back of a ladies Tee with the number 17 on it.....he breaks his stoic face and shows that smile waves and gets on the bus. (17 is for the year he saved us from morbid death).
Goff, Donald everyone knows those faces...some guys were near impossible to know without numbers....Wade gets out side towards the bus and I swear it looked like he was unsure of which bus to get on, but he smiled and said go RAMS and got in his bus....Kinda funny how each player had a specific bus to get on....Todd was one of the last and of coarse got also one of the loudest send offs, but he had a bad ass look on his face.....several of them did....you know the ones....
Back to Saturday.....we're walking and 3 RAM fans (dad,mom and daughter) are coming towards us....stop and comment on my jersey and we start talking, they just arrived from Rochester NY....we tell them about the RAMS and the Marriot....the mom goes semi nuts, the daughter starts swooning ( junior in college)....they head to the hotel.....we meet them coming back (them from the hotel, us from lunch) and they are all smiles. The gal got her leg "tatted by Cooper Kupp in a black sharpie! Mom and Dad were laughing, I told her they need to get that leg under some Saran Wrap ASAP.....we all start laughing.....
That nite we head over to the hotel, meet SJD, and Dante....they sign my hat and pics on Mary's phone. I had my Nikon with me and got some shots with Demarco Farr...but the cat who took our pics was the RAMS pro photographer...some guy from the hotel came over and said professional cameras were not allowed, just phone pics....had to pack up my Nikon.
Finally get to the game on Sunday......for 2 days all I saw was a few RAM fans....pack fans, giant fans, cowboy fans, eagle fans, pat fans.....nary a sole in panther gear.....Sunday they are out in force....we go to our seats (5 rows right behind the RAMS bench)....they got loud several times...real loud...I just sat back and knew after the game in NO sound doesn't get them anymore....not a single off sides play all game that I can remember. a couple of holding calls, and surprisingly few flags by us overall.....Kupp was in prime form...Brown came in and did nice damage....I told Mary they are going to unleash the beast in that final half....
I look up and the dude has close to a hundred yards and he didn't really play in the 1st half...Rapp played a lot when Weddle left....IMO that hurdling stuff needs to be toned down, it's really going to hurt some guys eventually (Weddle)....
I hate to toot a horn, but I was saying all last week that McCaffery was the panthers O......and he is....he did all the damage...Cam is a shell of what he was for what short time he was whole (career wise)...still is erratic in his passing....Yes it was super humid/hot...but man it was a super fun sweat we were dripping....
Went back to the hotel, got in the car and hit the road back home.... about 15-20 miles out of Charlotte it felt like we were on The 101...not because of game traffic....they bottled a 4 lane down to 2 lanes for like 20+ miles (construction)....reached top speeds at times of close to 15 MPH! But it just game us some leisure time to replay all the stuff crammed into 2 1/2 days and all the nice people we came across....many of them reaching out to us 1st....very nice feeling for a visiting pair to go into to....
