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Cardinals or Panthers: Choosing sides in the NFL
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Published: January 10, 2009
Friends and former colleagues in Arizona were unmerciful as they taunted me before Saturday's NFL playoff game between the Cardinals and Panthers.
Would I be cheering for the Cardinals or the Panthers? Didn't nearly 20 years of living in the desert turn me into a Cardinals fan? Or was I jumping ship for the Jake Delhomme-Steve Smith-Julius Peppers bandwagon?
Good-natured text messages, e-mails and voice mails have been poking and prodding me since last Sunday, when Cardinals fans found out they would have to beat the Panthers to reach the NFC Championship game against either the New York Giants or Philadelphia Eagles.
"You gonna break out the Cardinals tie for Saturday night?" one friend asked on my Facebook page.
One was extremely optimistic: "Are you flying out next week when the Cardinals play the Eagles at home for a spot in the Super Bowl?!"
Another wondered: "Those Panther fans look at you funny in your red britches? No one looks good in red britches!"
I can only imagine the ribbing I'll take after the Cardinals and quarterback Kurt Warner picked apart Panthers 33-13. The result was embarrassing for Panthers fans, but not as humiliating as the Cardinals' two decades of futility and folly.
For the record, I have no red ties or pants. And, if must know, I want to see the Cardinals in the Super Bowl this season about as much as I want to have another root canal.
My support for the Cardinals was once deeper than the Grand Canyon. In 1988, when Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill announced he was leaving St. Louis for Arizona, I was with The Phoenix Gazette, and our sports editor was on the scene. He phoned in immediately with the unforgettable words: "They're coming!" I remember the initial surge of excitement as though it were yesterday.
The newspaper added extra pages to its late-afternoon edition. Television stations interrupted regular programming for bulletins. Native Arizonans, who'd grown up on a steady diet of Dallas Cowboys TV coverage, and Midwest transplants, who love the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers as much as their own flesh and blood, were hopeful about the Cardinals, a team to call their own.
That first season, the Cardinals were full of lovable characters. Coach Gene Stallings was Bear Bryant with a smile. Quarterback Neil Lomax was friendly, talented and approachable. Offensive lineman Luis Sharpe was handsome, classy and an All-Pro.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals landed amid the optimism with a greedy owner. He alienated the potential fan base immediately by trying to put outrageous premiums on stadium seats. The aloof, out-of-touch miser went from the potential of selling out every home game to selling out only games with the Cowboys. He demanded a new domed stadium from state and local leaders, and politicians and fans stayed away from him in droves.
Meanwhile, Bidwill fired Stallings, who went to Alabama and won a national championship. He lost Lomax to career-ending hip replacement surgery. And Sharpe's career went from glamour to the slammer. He was injured in a game, after which former coach Buddy Ryan declared, "No one got injured who mattered." Sharpe's life spiraled into a life of drugs, violence and crime.
I had a front-row seat for this rapid-fire implosion. I blamed it all on Bidwill, who refused to spend and turn his team into a contender. The Cardinals have had only two playoff teams since moving to Phoenix. Bidwill turned the misery into a threat to move the team without funding for a stadium.
An ingenious consultant helped Bidwill figure out how to win public financing for a stadium. A ballot proposition in 2000 packaged facilities for youth sports with the stadium, and it passed by the closest of margins. Who would vote against parks for kids to play soccer? The public paid for more than two-thirds of the stadium ($308 million). The Cardinals paid for the rest ($147 million).
When friends and former colleagues ask me about the Cardinals, it takes a while to explain my resentment. They contend the off-field antics have nothing to do with wins and losses. I argue vociferously, saying Arizona should have waited for an expansion team, like Charlotte did, instead of bringing in a carpet-bagger like Bidwill.
Compare the Cardinals to the Panthers. Owner Jerry Richardson built grass-roots support for an expansion team. The buy-in from fans was overwhelming. In 1993, when the NFL approved the franchise, Richardson announced he'd build a stadium in uptown Charlotte with no public financing. I'm guessing he learned about the business of building an NFL franchise from Bidwill's failures.
When the Panthers started playing in 1995, it was apparent Richardson was committed to winning. The Panthers were 7-9, and even beat the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers their first season. They reached the NFC title game in 1996 and played in Super Bowl XXVIII on Feb. 1, 2004.
The fans have thanked Richardson with unwavering support. This year, it was announced Richardson is a candidate for heart-transplant surgery. The former Baltimore Colts wide receiver underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2002 and had a pacemaker installed earlier this month. Fans and players were hoping to reach the Super Bowl for Richardson, and it was easy to buy into that enthusiasm.
I was not wearing a red tie Saturday. I was cheering for the Panthers. The thrill did not fade, even as the Panthers fell behind 30-7 and Delhomme threw his fifth interception.
I never got a feeling of anticipation from the Cardinals in 20-plus years of disappointments, setbacks and snubs.
Yes, it's true. I jumped on the Panthers bandwagon, just as the Cardinals and their fans savored one of the greatest moments in franchise history. And it took an organization like the Cardinals to help me appreciate the ride.
James Bennett's column appears Sundays in the Independent Tribune. Contact him at jbennett@independenttribune.com or 704-789-9150.
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