Why The 2003 Carolina Panthers Are My Favorite Team

I was amped.

My friends had come to my house for the third-straight playoff game, and everyone was on pins and needles. We had watched as the Panthers scraped out victories against the Rams and Eagles, and now it was time for the big one.

Our boys were playing in the Super Bowl.

I've been lucky to grow up with the Panthers.

For Christmas in 1994, my dad bought the family season tickets for the team. As an 8-year-old, I couldn't grasp the significance of it, but it would be the best gift in my life.

I lived and died with the success and failures of the team. From the highs of the 1996 playoff team, to the lows of Rae Carruth and that terrible 2001 club, I was along for the ride, right there in Section 136.

However, nothing that happened in the past could have prepared me for the roller coaster that would be the 2003 season.

My high school cross country team took a beach trip every year in September that served as a nice kickoff for the better runners to go off and gel as a team. My junior year I finally earned the privilege to go, but the trade-off was missing my first home opener for the Panthers.

So there I sat, in the back of a bus listening to the Panthers play the Jaguars in that first game. The Panthers had gone with Rodney Peete as their starting quarterback for the game, and for most of the first half, he couldn't get the offense going.

Bill Rosinski put it best over the radio: "Rodney Peete back to pass...Oh just forget about it."

Down at halftime, I found myself thinking it may have been a new year, but these were the same Panthers.

As the second half began, my interest waned. Until the bus pulled in the parking lot, when my mom informed me that some new guy was leading the Panthers back into contention.

I rushed into the house to watch as some guy named Delhomme was leading a last-second drive. Jake Delhomme hit Ricky Proehl in the left corner of the endzone for the game-winning touchdown.

I was ecstatic! The Panthers won a game they should have lost, and for the first time had a little swagger about them.

A week later, the Panthers were in Tampa to play the Bucs. From the beginning it looked to be another low-scoring affair between the Buccaneers and Panthers.

With a 9-3 lead, the Panthers' defense began to crumble, allowing the Bucs to score a last-second touchdown to tie the game, and presumably win it with the extra point.

Or so I thought. So did everyone.

On the kick, Kris Jenkins barreled through the line and smacked Martin Gramatica's kick away. It was the third blocked kick of the game by the Panthers.

I remember jumping straight into the air, almost cutting my hand on the ceiling fan in jubilation.

The Panthers went on to win in overtime. My dad and I exchanged a glance and shared the same thought—maybe this team was on to something.

The Cardiac Cats went on to finish the season 11-5 and beat the new-look Dallas Cowboys, led by Bill Parcells in the first round of the playoffs.

Next up was a stop in St. Louis to take on the high-octane Rams' offense.

Except that the offense didn't show up. In fact, the first four quarters and overtime were terribly boring for a playoff game.

Until Steve Smith ended the game. On the first play of the second overtime, Smith lined up on the left side of the field, broke across the middle to make the catch, and made one cut up field to finish the 69-yard touchdown play.

In dramatic fashion, the Panthers punched a ticket to the NFL Championship game.

Philadelphia Eagles fans have a reputation.

They've booed Santa, they're rowdy, and most importantly they're on edge to finally win a Super Bowl. So it made sense when Eagles fans were talking trash all week, thinking that they would coast into the title game.

Few could blame them. The NFC's best team for the last few years against a team that built a reputation of needing last-second heroics to win its games.

Which made the Panthers' victory all the more sweet for hometown fans.

Ricky Manning Jr.'s three interceptions were the driving factor in the game, but it was much-maligned running back DeShaun Foster that best illustrated how much the Panthers overpowered the Eagles.

Foster's one-yard touchdown run around the right end of the line went through six different tacklers before he scored. Six. 

And for the first time all season, I felt that not only did this team have luck on their side, they might have the talent to back it up.

I was silent for almost a full 30 minutes.

Slowly my friends began to trickle out of my house. Disappointment permeated every bone and muscle in my body.

We all knew that we had witnessed a great Super Bowl, maybe even the best. But that was no consolation for how the season ended.

Adam Vinatieri's game-winning kick sailed through the goal posts with four seconds left. I couldn't help think there would be some last-second, amazing play from the team that had been defined by that all year.

There wasn't. The Cardiac Cats finished one game short of a miracle season.

I've often looked back at the 2003 season. I've watched all of the playoff games at least twice since that season, and even a couple of the regular-season games.

Every time I get excited when the same big plays happen. And every time I think about how much fun that season was.

It may have ended in disappointment, but I would not trade the experience of being along for the ride for anything. Half of the team's 10 most-important plays happened in the span of 20 games.

Looking back on this team, I saw a franchise mature.

The Panthers finally mattered in the NFL. That makes it even easier to look forward to the next season, knowing your team is relevant and a contender for the Super Bowl every year.

Consider me amped.