For Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, tearing down a pro-Packers banner prior to yesterday’s game was about defending his home.
For the fan, it was an act he wants to be compensated for, even though the rules precluded him from displaying it in the first place.
According to Paul Woolverton of the Fayetteville Observer, the fan said he wants his banner back, and was righteously indignant about it.
“I was just shocked, shocked,” Mike Dobs said. “It went from a fun event to I was disgusted.”
Dobs said he paid $500 for the banner which read “North Carolina Cheesehead,” and threatened to take further action against the Panthers if they don’t make it right in 48 hours.
But if they consult their own policies, they should probably tell him to take a hike.
The team’s banner and flag policy clearly prohibits Dobs from hanging the banner over the railing of the lower deck, where it was easy for Newton to snatch, saying: “No banners or flags expressing support of visiting teams may be affixed to or displayed on any surface. Hand held signs or posters that are in compliance with the balance of this policy are acceptable.”
“We were on the front row, over there by the goalposts, and we wanted our grandkids to see us on TV,” Dobs said. “We thought he was going to sign our banner — we were happy to see him — and he ripped it out of our hands.”
Why they thought he might have done that, since they were there to cheer against him, is unclear — far less clear than the policy that prohibited them from displaying it in the first place.