Cam Newton snatches fan’s Packers banner, fan complains to cops
Look, when you’re an opposing fan in a team’s stadium, you’ve got to expect a little grief. And if you bring a sign proclaiming your allegiance, well, you can’t be too surprised when the locals take offense.
A gentleman from Fayetteville, N.C. named Mike Dobs spent nearly $4,000 to attend Sunday’s Carolina Panthers-Green Bay Packers game in Charlotte. Dobs brought his own banner, a green-and-gold image of North Carolina with the words “North Carolina Cheesehead.”
The sign didn’t sit too well with at least one notable Carolina fan:
Yep, that’s Cam Newton his own gold-shoed self, tearing down the banner Dobs says cost $500. “I was just shocked, shocked,” Dobs told the Fayetteville Observer. He was so distraught by Newton’s actions that he told police of the sign’s, uh, “theft.”
The banner apparently used to hang in his man cave, but no longer: a Panthers employee reportedly told Dobs the banner had been destroyed, but that the Panthers would make it up to him.
Just don’t count on getting a lot of sympathy from Newton, Mr. Dobs. “There’s a Green Bay banner in Bank of America Stadium,” Newton said after the game. “That don’t match. I feel it’s my due diligence to protect this house. We played in Green Bay last year and I didn’t see no ‘Panther Country’ signs up there.”
Newton gets grief from a certain segment of Panther fandom for his expressiveness, his outspokenness, the way he celebrates every first down like he’s just hit the lottery. But you can’t deny that he has passion for his team and his house. “You’re not going to sell a Whopper at McDonald’s,” Newton said after the game. Sorry, Packers interlopers.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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