"My family and I love football. We play fantasy football and watch NFL games every weekend. My parents are St. Louis Ram's fans. My brother is a Kansas City Chiefs fan. I don't have a team to cheer for yet. I am ready to pick an NFL team to cheer on for a lifetime!"I don't know if this is a cute story or if the country is full of kids hand-writing letters to various organizations trying to get free stuff. In this case, the kid got not only a letter, but a helmet.
January 13, 2015
"We would be honored if our Carolina Panthers became your team. We would make you proud by the classy way we would represent you."
Wrote Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson in what was the only letter a 12-year-old boy received after he hand-wrote letters to every NFL team owner. Cade Pope wrote:
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Well, the Panthers are now my Number 2 team after the Steelers. (They've been "my" team since before they won their first Super Bowl, so I think I'll keep 'em.)
Sounds sweet and unaffected as ever of a letter and I've spent a lifetime teaching 12 year olds. Hats off, or in thus case helmets toffed to the under assistant west coast production person that channeled this letter through to the owner of the Panthers.
It seems quite unfair to the other teams to say "only" one owner responded - the boy only sent out the letters in the past three weeks! (First batch sent Dec 26, second batch sent Jan 5.) Surely the owners should be given a grace period of more than 8 days before we malign them for failing to respond!
I bet Dan Snyder's response was an attempt to sell something to the kid.
So cool....until a better offer comes along and then that panther helmet's on eBay.
I'd advise the kid to start writing letters to the owners of pornography studios.
Championship teams don't have to solicit fans.
Free stuff, huh... Where are my crayola’s so I can awkwardly print my heartfelt stories to corporation and banks...
I'd rather misrepresent myself as a 12-year-old in letters to pop music stars.
Dear Ms. Swift,
I think you are tall and skinny and pretty, and you do a really good job at making people think that you write your own songs.
I want to be a fan of a pop music star, but I'm not sure which one to choose. One Direction and Beyonce haven't answered my letters. If you answer mine, I'll pretend to actually like the stuff you do, and promote it to all of my friends.
Geez. What a bunch of cynics in this thread.
The kid is lying. I'm a Packer owner and I never received his letter.
Cynics indeed. A feel good story harpooned by a few with hardened hearts.
BTW, owner Jerry Richardson was the only former NFL player to become a team owner. I think John Smellway has joined that club as minority owner.
John Smellway
I'm sorry, but I believe you made a typo. That should be "Horseface McGee*"
* - from a Broncos fan.
Swaggy gets letters begging for free stuff. He says he read 10 per day. Result: trolling Republican Congress with free JuCo proposal.
He also claims that Reggie was in bed with a woman.
He also said I could keep it if I like it.
This is a very sweet look back by a now successful, middle-aged sportswriter (48 I think) at how he got his start by writing letters to established sportswriters, announcers and editors, asking for advice, beginning when he was 18 and continuing through young adulthood.
http://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/a-sportswriting-christmas-story/#more-2485
As commenter mgarbowski points out, this is by no means the first example of a boy writing letters to famous people. Another example is in The Americanization of Edward Bok_The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After . Thank you, Project Gutenberg.
Garfield was then spoken of for the presidency; Edward wondered whether it was true that the man who was likely to be President of the United States had once been a boy on the tow-path, and with a simple directness characteristic of his Dutch training, wrote to General Garfield, asking whether the boyhood episode was true, and explaining why he asked. Of course any public man, no matter how large his correspondence, is pleased to receive an earnest letter from an information-seeking boy. General Garfield answered warmly and fully. Edward showed the letter to his father, who told the boy that it was valuable and he should keep it. This was a new idea. He followed it further: if one such letter was valuable, how much more valuable would be a hundred! If General Garfield answered him, would not other famous men? Why not begin a collection of autograph letters? Everybody collected something.
Bok goes on to recount the replies of other famous people. Bok had to drop out of school at an early age to help support his family, but with the initiative shown by his letter writing, went on to become editor of the Ladies' Home Journal. Bok was about the same age
@EMD. When I was a big football fan, we labeled him Mr. Ed.
@ Mark, 8:28
Right on!
I shared this article on FB last night, with the exact same caption. Been a Steelers fan all my life, despite hailing from Upstate NY, and I'd never really given any thought to the Panthers at all. On FB last night, I promised to always root for Carolina in any matchup they find themselves in (except against the Steel Curtain - then it's clobberin' time as usual).
PS - I began rooting for the Steelers about the time I was old enough to understand what football was. A year or two later, they were in Super Bowl XXX against Dallas - and lost. Didn't hurt my resolve a single bit. Even as a youngster, I was no fair-weather fan.
Jerry Richardson seems like a good guy. He's the only owner who is a former player. Also, his stadium is the only one with the NFL logo on the grass instead of the team logo.
"I began rooting for the Steelers about the time I was old enough to understand what football was. A year or two later, they were in Super Bowl XXX against Dallas - and lost. Didn't hurt my resolve a single bit. Even as a youngster, I was no fair-weather fan."
Ah, yes, the travails of being a Steelers fan -- occasionally you have to wait a couple years before making it to yet another Super Bowl, and sometimes you don't even win it! Tell me more about being a non-fair-weather fan after you've spent a lifetime rooting for the Falcons.
Tell me more about being a non-fair-weather fan after you've spent a lifetime rooting for the Falcons.
That's kind-of your fault, though, isn't it?
To paraphrase Seneca or whoever, a man loves his city (and his team) not because it is great, but because it is his. So it's my parents' fault.
So cynical Ann!
When I was 6 I wrote to Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince aka Lynda Carter and assumed my invitation to a meal at my house (whatever fits her schedule) would be honored. Every day I would turn the corner hoping to see her car in the driveway and her having tea with my mom in the kitchen. My only free stuff would be my own lasso, bracelets and perhaps showing me that spinning trick. I honestly imagined perhaps jumping a fence or two together. She never responded. Offer still stands.
When I was 8 I also invited Olivia Newton-John for dinner. I did not expect gifts. She also did not respond. 😫
Larvell, true story. In the summer of '69 my first cousin and best friend decided to pick football teams to root for. He chose the Bengals and I chose the Steelers.
We were six at the time. It's amazing how important early choices can be.
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