The Panthers Continue To Inspire Some Truly Bizarre Letters To The Editor

The Carolina Panthers will play host to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in what could be the best game of the Divisional Playoff round. They have a lot of things to worry about, like Russell Wilson’s incredible play and what the Minnesota Vikings did to slow him down, as well as their improving defense. But according to one letter to the editor in the Charlotte Observer, that’s not all they should be worried about:

We’ve been through this before, with more serious topics like Cam Newton’s child and *gasp* Cam Newton’s dancing (though the latter was in a Tennessee newspaper), but being preemptively worried about some perceived lack of respect for the national anthem is truly silly.

First of all, I’d be shocked if any spitting or dancing happened, letter or no letter. How can you even dance to the Star-Spangled Banner? The way people sing it nowadays, it’s like dancing to “Amazing Grace.” (Although if Cam dabbed to it, it would be the final, lasting achievement of his dabbing.) Second of all, if this Cherry Myers has never said one word to a friend while standing for the national anthem, he or she is a better patriot than nearly all of us. Just imagine how worried this person must be about this very specific moment to start her letter off with three please’s.

But what is it about the Panthers that prompts such missives? Are the people of Charlotte (or the small and specific subset that write letters to the editor) such pearl-clutchers? Sure, Cam Newton has born the brunt of criticism, but that’s what quarterbacks do as the face of the franchise. Are the Panthers the reincarnation of the mid-’80s Miami Hurricanes?

More likely, the Observer has just decided to give a platform to some of Charlotte’s stodgiest citizens, which is its right as a newspaper. And when someone tweets about one of those letters, they expose the stodgiest citizens to the exact opposite of that, and we laugh.

(Via Charlotte Observer)