Countdown to Kickoff Luncheon-Panthers

        I woke up early enough this morning to enjoy a bowl of cereal and watch a few music videos on CMT.  One of the songs was Darius Rucker's "Come Back Song" and the video was shot in Charleston.  There's a scene that shows the South Carolina flag, and upon seeing it I noticed my lower lip pucker up over my upper lip.  I haven't had time to think about it lately, but I really do miss Clemson and the state of South Carolina and the people I love from College!  As a Clemson fan, I am totally an outsider in my own state.  It was much easier for me to make connections ANYWHERE in South Carolina, but I am dealing with a completely different set of people here in Charlotte.  I have, however met a man named John Mixon (we've been at a couple of events together) who's on the President's board at Clemson and whose daughter is a freshman at Clemson and just went KKG...That's been a highlight for me. Ha!
        Today, I totally got to play the role of the star struck fan.  Will Webb took Will Pitts (I think I'm just going to start referring to them as Webb and Pitts, for the sake of this blog anyway), Sarah, and Myself to the Countdown To Kickoff Luncheon for the Carolina Panthers.  So the whole thing was this big production but, as much as you are supposed to act nonchalant about these things (especially when representing the people you work for), I couldn't help but enjoy...and be a little bit star struck.  There were a ton of people at this lunch, but for the purposes of me sounding like a big deal I will describe the experience to anyone who asks simply by saying that I had lunch with the entire Panthers Football Team and the coaching staff.  There were hundreds of people at this lunch, but we were all in one ballroom, so technically my description is correct.  Truth be told, I did in fact get to sit at a table with Dante Rosario.  As part of the luncheon, they announced each team member...individually (do you have any idea how long that took), and assigned them at random to a table.  Essentially, this meant that you could be sitting with Steve Smith or you could be sitting with a player who would get cut the next day.  Our table was called towards the end and we began wondering if we were ever going to get our guest of honor at our table.  The man next to me leaned over at one point and whispered "I feel like we're playing a game of bingo...and I'm losing".  He described the feeling pretty perfectly as we anxiously awaited our football player to be matched to our table.  At the end of the day we really lucked out with Dante.  Not only is he a good player, he's actually a really good guy...and has a passion for movies, apparently.  He talked about a site that he and one of his fellow teammates will be launching soon where they can provide their film rating expertise regarding movies they've seen, and offer a forum for movie lovers to post their thoughts as well...so he's more than just the muscles.  He was really personable, carried on comfortable conversation, and was a very nice looking man...I was shocked when I noticed that peaking out of his long sleeve button down shirt was a tattoo around his wrist-that seemed to only be the start of the body art that he was sporting.  Then I noticed the piercings in both his left and right tragus...so he definitely had a little edge to him.  We also talked to him about his opinion on the possible 18 game season next year.  His thoughts?  If they drop 2 preseason games, it will be a little more stressful because more games will count.  But if they don't drop 2 preseason games and keep an 18 game season, he'd want to shoot himself.  Touche, Dante.  One of my favorite parts of the lunch was when a high school marching band performed...GOOD marching bands always get me excited- it reminds me of Will's drum line days and those drums always give me chills.
        After work, Megan, Abby, and Courtney invited Sarah and I out for a drink.  It was nice to be with them in a social setting, and I kind of felt like it was their way of saying 'we're looking out for you'.  Have I mentioned that I like the people I work with?  A couple of the guys from the Panthers offices (one who we've met a couple of time- Jason Lowman) were at the same restaurant as us and came to join us at our table so we got to hang out with other people in the sports industry on a social level which was really nice. 
        At around 8pm I decided that I was going to head to Greensboro tonight for a wedding shower for Katie Jones tomorrow at 11:30.  I have to work in Charlotte from 3pm until...who knows.  Tomorrow will certainly be an interesting day as far as figuring out timing goes!  I don't have a clever closing to this entry, but I'm exhausted...so we're just going to leave it at GOOD NIGHT!