Everybody stay cool, it’s game day

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Darin, I attended the game on Sunday. I felt embarrassed and disgusted; had it not been for Luke halftime ceremony, I would have left at halftime. Instead, I left in the third quarter. I just don’t understand how the run defense can be this bad while allowing 258 rushing yards. I understand Evero doesn’t make the plays, but since supposedly a very good DC, one would expect and anticipate that the defense would play much better against the run.

And finally, I understand that they have to move on to the Packers game on Thursday night, but what I don’t understand is why anyone in the locker room finds it appropriate to play ping pong to have fun one day after getting embarrassed at home 43-13.

I truly wish players and coaches would have spent just a few minutes listening to WFNZ because I can tell you none of us fans felt like playing ping pong yesterday; instead, we felt disgusted and embarrassed, absolutely embarrassed, being Panthers fans. Everyone in the building needs to understand that when they get blown out, as they did on Sunday, they embarrassed the entire fan base. — Shaked, Charlotte

As one of the wisest and most caring people I know says: “Self-care is an important part of recovery.”

Ping pong tables have always been a Rorschach test — you see in them what you want to see. When a team is winning, ping pong means camaraderie and chemistry. When a team is losing, it means lack of focus or not taking things seriously. But sometimes a ping pong ball is just a ping pong ball.

I think it would also be helpful if people knew what the average day looks like, and when the ping pong is happening. Players generally show up before the sun is all the way up. They get treatment, they have meetings, they work out, they study film, they practice. In the middle, there’s usually a window of an hour or so, during which they eat lunch. That’s when the media usually comes into the locker room three days a week. Then the media leaves, and they continue working, and leave around sunset. So if in the course of a 12-hour workday, blowing off some steam playing ping pong with your friends at lunch is bad, then I hope nobody follows you around at work all day and monitors your productivity. They’ve literally scheduled the least consequential 45 minutes of the day for media to be in there, and that’s what fans see via the media.

“I would tell fans that a lot of guys get in here at 6 a.m. and we leave at 6 o’clock and in between the transition period of playing a physical game of sport, football outside, lifting, running, hours of meetings, you need some time to get your mind off of it,” said veteran running back AJ Dillon, who is wise and has perspective on life, and was watching a Jonathon Brooks–Feleipe Franks game before taking on kicker Ryan Fitzgerald later. “You can’t be ‘revenge, revenge, revenge,’ all week. All these guys are locked in the same focus. Everybody’s under the light, under the microscope, doing this for their jobs; so very, very locked in.

“It’s just such a weird existence. I think people think it’s supposed to be chaos 24 hours a day when you lose a game, and I think one thing I learned early is you can’t let one game beat you twice, right? And that’s especially important on a short week. So I think being able to come in here, understand your mistakes, but then going back in and refreshing. If you go into the next game thinking, ‘Oh man, what I did last week,’ you put yourself at a disadvantage.”

If all they were doing was playing ping pong, eating lunch, and screwing around, I’d understand the frustration. That’s not all they’re doing, though, and when you see a 15-second clip on social media, you’re not considering the other 11 hours, 59 minutes, and 45 seconds of the day.

Also, no one loves Mac and Bone and Kyle and Colin and the gang at WFNZ more than I do. I was walking those halls when Mark Packer and Jim Celania were on staff. But basing your daily activities on the moods of people on sports talk radio isn’t healthy. I mean, they could wear the sackcloth and ashes and mope, or they could get back to work. I know which I’d prefer.