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January 19, 2004
Super Panthers
As game ends, it's Eagles fans watching in fear
By Danielle Deaver | JOURNAL REPORTER
Within five minutes of the end of the NFC championship game, Panthers fans were the only ones left in the stadium they had been told to fear so much. As it turned out, it was the Eagles fans who had something to fear. The Panthers beat the Eagles, 14-3, securing a place in the Super Bowl, and handing the Eagles their third straight loss in the NFC championship game.
Panthers fans flooded down to the front-row seats, passing Eagles fans who were heading for the door.
"Jerry Richardson (the Carolina Panthers owner) promised the Super Bowl within 10 years, and he delivered," said Todd Flesch of Charlotte.
"I'm happy for the team."
Some Panthers fans were already planning their trip to Houston in two weeks.
"Absolutely awesome," said Ray Conrad of Rock Hill. "We're going to buy tickets and go. I don't care if it costs $10,000."
The win didn't surprise the fans, who watched as the Panthers intercepted four Eagles passes and allowed just one field goal.
"It was fantastic. They definitely controlled the whole game," said Mitchell Grant of Charlotte, as fans chanted "Su-per-Bowl!!" behind him.
"I'd love to go if I could get a ticket ... I have plane reservations. I just don't have the tickets yet."
Eagles fans sensed that things were not going well by the end of the third quarter, when Lincoln Financial Field started to fall quiet.
It made the cheers from the small groups of Panthers fans easier to hear.
"This atmosphere is incredible," said Jennifer Wouters of Charlotte, who was sitting with a large group of Panthers fans in section 115. "And to be honest, with you, Eagles fans have been very nice."
But Wouters' good mood had more to do with how the game was going than with their treatment in Philadelphia.
"I thought it was going to be closer," she said. "But we don't need a Cardiac Cats game like in St. Louis."
The Panthers' interceptions were the key to their lead, said Cary Campbell.
Those interceptions made it a perfect game for him, Campbell said.
"A long way to go, though. We had a lead with two minutes to go last week. We need more points," he said.
Sitting in a pack, the Panthers fans weren't getting hassled by the Eagles diehards. But even by the coin toss, Panthers fans already had learned a serious lesson about Philadelphia fans.
Outside the stadium, Eagles fans couldn't be nicer. Inside the stadium, watch out.
"We got a ton of boos coming in here, but the fans at the hotel and the bar we went to before this were nice," said Shannon Rudisill of Iron Station from her front-row seat in Lincoln Financial Field.
Susan Kent, who was in the stands more than an hour before the game began, came decked out in her Panthers gear. She said that the key to getting along with Eagles fans was to just be nice.
"You just look at them, smile and keep walking," she said.
The Panthers fans who visited Philadelphia figured that putting up with fans who were known for screaming insults and throwing beer was just part of the steep price of admission.
But Panthers fans in town early enough for sightseeing found a different side of the city.
"Welcome to Philadelphia. I hope everyone's treating you right," a native told Andy Jones and Woody Hamlett as they strolled around the Philadelphia Visitor's Center yesterday.
Jones and Hamlett, from Greensboro, said that everyone they'd met since getting to town Saturday night had been pleasant.
The only football talk they had heard from local fans was good-natured jibes.
The friendly reception continued as the two men and their friend, Carl Priddy of Winston-Salem, toured Philadelphia's most famous spots - Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
Jones said he wasn't that interested in the sights.
"I just view this as a way to kill time before the game," he said, bouncing on his toes as he looked around Independence Mall.
Still, Jones and his friends dutifully made their way through the historic sites. They listened to the tour guide talk about the history of Independence Hall, and they looked for the North Carolina counties on the colonial map in the hall.
Along the way, they made a lot of friends. A park worker pulled back his regulation parka hood to show off the Eagles cap he wasn't supposed to be wear. A wo-man dressed from head to toe in Eagles gear cheerfully asked a guard if Panthers fans were allowed to see the Liberty Bell, then threw her arm around Jones and posed for a photo with him.
For Jones, the game was what mattered.
"They're 3-0 at the playoff games that I attended, and 0-1 the one I didn't go to," he said.
• Danielle Deaver traveled to Philadelphia to cover the Panthers fans. She can be reached in Winston-Salem at (336) 727-7279 or at ddeaver@wsjournal.com