Unwanted Men

The Carolina Panthers are a little like the Florida Marlins were last fall -- unexpected and maybe unwanted participants in their sport’s showcase event.

The Marlins were World Series party crashers after they eliminated America’s favorite losers, the Chicago Cubs. Television executives blanched, Cub fans went into an extended depression and the Marlins ignored it all and won the World Series.

Monday, Philadelphia Eagle fans started their extended depression, wailing on talk radio about their “gutless” receivers, their “clueless” coach, Andy Reid, and their “cursed” quarterback, Donovan McNabb. And television executives surely would have preferred a Philadelphia-New England Super Bowl.

But the Panthers, in their ninth season of existence, dominated the Eagles on Sunday in a 14-3 win at Lincoln Financial Field and earned the franchise’s first Super Bowl trip.

“America doesn’t want us in the Super Bowl,” Panther defensive tackle Brentson Buckner said. “As far as I can tell, nobody wants to see the Panthers in the Super Bowl. But we’re going and now you’ve got to deal with it. Because right now in the NFC, we’re the best thing going.”

When the Panthers returned to Charlotte on Monday, Coach John Fox found out his lawn had been cheerfully decorated with happy banners and toilet paper. Fox said he didn’t mind cleaning up the mess.

The second-year coach is good at cleaning up messes.

He was hired two years ago to take over a team that had finished 1-15 and alienated its fans when several players were involved in ugly off-field incidents.

The ugliest ended with Rae Carruth’s being convicted of having his pregnant girlfriend murdered.

Fox pledged to bring discipline to the game plan and to the players. But last season, his first, the Panthers had an eight-game losing streak and wide receiver Steve Smith was charged with assault.

Smith got into a fist fight in the film room with a practice-squad player. Leading rusher Lamar Smith was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired. An offensive tackle, Chris Terry, technically became a fugitive after missing a court appearance for previous unspecified legal problems.

Lamar Smith and Terry are no longer Panthers and Steve Smith said he has become a smarter, more cautious man. He also has developed into Carolina’s most dangerous receiver.

Fox said Monday even he is a little surprised to find himself with a 14-5 team on its way to the Super Bowl.

“I am not sure anybody expected it to happen in two years,” Fox said. “We’ve changed some attitudes, though, and taken the approach that the foundation, the cornerstones of what we were trying to build were enthusiasm and hard work.

“Coming from where they were, the players were very willing to try anything. When you lose 15 games in a row, you are pretty wide-eyed and bushy-tailed about what our approach is going to be.”

Strong safety Mike Minter said the team was eager to embrace Fox’s challenge to them “to become men, start playing like men,” Minter said. “And maybe it sounds funny, but I knew it was going to happen this way. We learned from our mistakes on and off the field and applied what we learned from the past to the present. That’s what counts.”