Culture
Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com observed that while there is "a bit of a wine-and-cheese atmosphere at Panthers games ... there is a strong core of diehard fans who bring energy to Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte lives and dies with the Panthers because there aren't a lot of other options in the sports world". In 2004, NPR reporter Scott Jagow observed that the Panthers' Super Bowl appearance in 2004 represented the arrival of Charlotte onto the national scene, despite the crowd's "wine and cheese" reputation. The Panthers are also supported in South Carolina; Nikki Haley, the Governor of South Carolina, declared July 30, 2012, "Carolina Panthers Day" in South Carolina, saying that "when it comes to professional teams, the Carolina Panthers are the team that South Carolina calls their own". Sports Illustrated graded the Panthers as having the tenth-highest "NFL Fan Value Experience", attributing much of the fan atmosphere to the team's newness when compared to the established basketball fanbase. They noted that while visiting fans often outnumber Panthers fans at home games, this is partially because many of Charlotte's residents are "transplants ... from NYC, Philly, Atlanta". They also observed that the stadium has scattered parking lots, each of which has a different tailgating style. Some have fried chicken, pork, or Carolina-style barbecue, while others have live bands and televisions. Pickup football games in the parking lots are common, but fans tend to "behave themselves", in part due to blue laws that prevent the sale of alcohol before noon on Sundays.
Read more about this topic: Paul Janus
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“What culture lacks is the taste for anonymous, innumerable germination. Culture is smitten with counting and measuring; it feels out of place and uncomfortable with the innumerable; its efforts tend, on the contrary, to limit the numbers in all domains; it tries to count on its fingers.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
“The first time many women hold their tiny babies, they are apt to feel as clumsy and incompetent as any man. The difference is that our culture tells them they’re not supposed to feel that way. Our culture assumes that they will quickly learn how to be a mother, and that assumption rubs off on most women—so they learn.”
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“The best hopes of any community rest upon that class of its gifted young men who are not encumbered with large possessions.... I now speak of extensive scholarship and ripe culture in science and art.... It is not large possessions, it is large expectations, or rather large hopes, that stimulate the ambition of the young.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)