Maybe this is too much of a knee-jerk reaction to the news about Kelvin Benjamin’s torn ACL, but I feel like the Carolina Panthers 2015 season just might be cursed.
When it comes to the Panthers, I am normally an unabashed optimist, especially in the preseason when every year I convince myself that all of our draft picks will pan out, our free agents will be productive, and we should go at least 10-6.
But knowing Kelvin is done for the season, my normal optimism has been replaced by a queasy sense of dread about the upcoming year. Over the past three weeks it seems only bad news has emerged from the Panthers training camp, and I can taste the faint hint of bile in the back of my throat.
I trust the CSR community, so I feel comfortable being transparent about my football-related feelings here. And I doubt I’m alone in feeling this way.
While I’m obviously still hoping for the best in 2015, I’m mentally and emotionally preparing myself for the very real possibility that this year might be cursed.
The Case for the Curse
The main reason for the glass-half-empty feeling is the steady stream of negative vibes coming from training camp thus far.
By my count, there have been seven pieces of bad news over the last 24 days. That’s one bit of bad news about every three days, and that is a lot for even an optimist to handle. Just look at the recent chain of unsettling events.
- July 27 – Jonathan Martin abruptly retires.
- July 28 – Ron Rivera’s brother, Mickey, passes away from cancer.
- August 1 – Stephen Hill tears ACL.
- August 3 – Star Lotulelei carted off the field as a precaution due to a stress reaction in the foot he broke last year.
- August 4 – Chris Houston abruptly retires.
- August 10 – Training camp fight between Cam Newton and Josh Norman.
- August 19 – Kelvin Benjamin tears ACL.
That right there is a whole lot of bad news to digest.
Death By a Thousand (or Seven) Cuts
Sure, we could go one-by-one with most of these incidents and rationalize that some of them are not that significant.
Martin, Houston, and Hill never even played a down in Carolina, so no big deal. The Panthers are just being cautious with Star, and he should be ready by the start of the season. The fight between Newton and Norman is just something that’s going to happen when you have two ultracompetitive guys going at is as hard as they can, right?
Wrong.
Martin and Houston were brought in and Hill was called up from the practice squad because they were the best available options the Panthers could find at the time.
Star’s injury is worrisome because it is now a lingering issue and could indicate the early stages of a stress fracture.
The fight between Cam and Norman was just stupid. Throwing haymakers at a teammate doesn’t show passion or competitiveness. It shows immaturity and poor judgment.
Again, some of these issues by themselves are relatively insignificant, but the totality of so much bad news in so little time just gives an ominous vibe for the season.
The Stages of Grief
There are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.
Maybe the news about Kelvin is still too fresh for me to think clearly and I’m just stuck on depression, coupled with a side of lingering anger.
Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe Devin Funchess will step up in Kelvin’s absence. Maybe Star will have perfect health from here on out. Maybe the Panthers will find a diamond in the rough with the extra open roster spots.
But that’s an awful lot of maybes and turning these lemons into lemonade would require an awful lot of luck.
While the season is still very early, luck does not seem to be on the Panthers side. What looked like a promising year now feels cursed.
I hope I’m wrong. But until some good news actually starts emerging from the Panthers camp, I’m afraid I’m not.