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Two related questions:
1) Is Charlotte always this hot in June? I swear it feels like I am back in Texas.
2) Is this heat wave/dehydration the reason I'm starting to believe we are going to win the division this year, or are Big Things Happening™️?
Bonus Question: Why did everyone freak out thinking that the team was dumping #KeepPounding a few weeks ago? — Nate, Charlotte
No, it most certainly is not always this hot. If it was, I'd have moved. Nobody wants to live like this, even though I'd prefer it to freezing half the year like the poor people in Wisconsin. Of course, they're melting right now, too.
While cartoons taught me as a child that seeing a mirage in the desert is a common thing (like quicksand and anvils), it's not that hot yet. Again, winning the division seems attainable, and it is because the NFC South remains the messiest division in the NFL. But that's not the point. The Panthers need to continue to get better.
Last year, they went from two wins to five wins. Putting an arbitrary numerical target on what constitutes success seems counterproductive.
If the offense continues to click, and the defense gets itself together step by step, that's the measure of success. Stop me when I start sounding like a ball coach, but the process is so much more important than the result. You can do everything right, and one bad bounce of an object that's pointy on both ends or a bad call that's outside your control (and yes, Jerricho Cotchery caught it) can change the outcome of a game. But if you don't do everything right, you lose that opportunity.
The Panthers are at the point in their development where the focus needs to be on daily work and incremental gains. If they continue to make those, the results should eventually take care of themselves.
As for people freaking out, I'm the wrong one to ask. Sometimes, people prefer to react emotionally to things before they know all the facts. As one of the wisest people I know likes to say, "You can't reason someone out of an opinion they didn't reason themselves into." But no, Keep Pounding's not going anywhere. It's woven into the fabric of the jersey collars, the organization, the fan base, and an entire region.