Taste of the Panthers

Last night we were lucky enough to be part of the Taste of the Panthers event benefiting the Second Harvest Food Bank. There were about 15 different restaurants who brought their signature dishes for everyone to sample along with wine to pair with the dish. All the food was amazing, and the wine was plentiful.

There were current and former Panthers players at each booth to mix and mingle with the guests, sign autographs and take pictures. I still get a kick out of people wanting JJ's autograph so I spent the evening taking pictures of him with the fans. I think I was creeping out the chef at JJ's booth with my obsessive picture taking until JJ introduced me as his wife. No sir, I swear I'm not just a deranged fan obsessed with the long snapper.

They also had a silent auction which was way more fun than I thought it would be. We ended up winning two golf packages and a yoga package for super cheap. The first thing JJ said after I told him we won..."Awesome, we can write this off as a charitable contribution!" Ah, still an accountant at heart.

Funny story, before all of the guys were assigned to their booth they were walking around and talking to each other and the VIP guests who paid extra to get there early. All the guests brought footballs and jerseys to get signed and take pictures. The players weren't wearing anything special to let people know who they were, but for the most part you could tell. Most people figured out JJ was a player, but there was one woman who I saw multiple time throughout the night who just couldn't decide. Instead of just coming up and asking, she would study him from afar and flip through the program trying to figure it out. Then she would disappear for a bit and return only to continue the awkward game of "who's who". You could tell she was trying hard not to miss a single player, but I just had to laugh.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of JJ and his fans from the evening!

Other highlights were meeting people in the organization that I hear about all the time. It's nice to put a face to the names I hear JJ talking about. I also got to meet the new team president, who was the athletic director at TCU while I was there. So glad we got to be part of this, and can't wait to do it again next year!