A New Era Begins for the Panthers, and for My Sports Fandom

After an ugly and occasionally depressing 0-2 start, the Panthers made the only move they could make on Monday, installing Jimmy Clausen as the new starting QB and benching Matt Moore.

The move wasn't a shock, but the rapid decline of Moore has been. The Panthers spent the off-season handing the keys to Moore, cutting Jake Delhomme as well as basically anyone else over the age of 26 on the team. Then, in April, Jimmy Clausen fell into their laps because of the gold helmet he wore in college. (That was also the last entry I wrote in this blog, due largely to a very uninspiring summer turned in by the Cubs and the Bulls not collecting any of the big prizes in free agency.)

And thank God he did, because Moore has fallen off the face of the earth. Whether this would have happened without Clausen on his tail as the backup quarterback, we'll never know, but the Panthers would have had no other option if it weren't for Clausen appearing at pick 48 in April.

For me personally, Clausen's first start against Cincinnati on Sunday represents a bit more than the normal week 3 game with an 0-2 Panthers team would for me. Clausen is sort of my sacred cause as a football fan. Like a pitcher stuck on a horrible baseball team who sees his win/loss record suffer, I found myself defending Clausen just as vehemently during and since the 2009 Notre Dame season as I once did Brady Quinn - only this time, I was even more certain of myself.

I've always been outspoken in my belief that Jimmy Clausen was the best college football player in America in 2009 for what he did with a Notre Dame team that by all rights was awful and should have won 2 or 3 games. Were it not for errors by his teammates and/or outright corruption from officials at various points in the 2009 season, the Irish could and should have finished with 10 wins or perhaps even 12, but because Duval Kamara slipped on a route against USC, because the refs flat-out stole the Michigan game and ended the Pitt game before Clausen had a chance to work magic, and because his teammates played so badly at times against Navy, UConn and Stanford that one could be forgiven for wondering if they were on the take, Clausen was denied what in my opinion should have been a Heisman Trophy.

Through all this I vehemently defended him further against accusations of cockiness and attitude, pointing out (correctly) that the cocky prick he was accused of being would have never shut up about how he basically never screwed up (he threw 2 interceptions that were his fault all season) and how his teammates and coaches were incompetent. But there isn't a single quote to be found that includes Clausen complaining - not about the 2007 offensive line that tried to get him killed, not about the 2009 defense that cost him wins he rightfully earned, and not about the incompetent coaching staff that allowed both things to happen.

Anyway, on Sunday the day will come for all that defending I did of Clausen to be proven right or wrong. He's said and done all the right things since being drafted (and frankly since Christmas Eve 2008 when he announced his awesomeness with the greatest bowl performance in ND history, albeit against Hawaii), but now it's prove-it time.

I thought I was going to be a genius about Brady Quinn, until he broke a thumb in his 2nd start against Buffalo and was never (given the chance to be) the same as the promising player he looked to be through 6 quarters of being the Browns' starting quarterback. He's riding pine now in Denver and unless some sort of miracle occurs, he will probably never start another meaningful NFL game. He's started 12 times. It happens that fast in the NFL.

Now's the time for Clausen. And the stakes are doubled this time because it's my pro team that took a chance on him. His destiny is intertwined with the Panthers', the team I've been rooting for throughout their entire existence - a fact that gives me something of a closeness with them because I can't say that about any other team I pull for. And on Sunday, my Panthers fandom will change forever.

Good luck, Jimmy.