The Lore of the Panther
Last Summer, I was in New York City and had arranged for yeswecan to post a few game threads in my absence.
At the time, each Game Thread would have random song lyrics from my iTunes posted.
Why random song lyrics? Because John Cage is my Bill James, that is why.
Anyway, for the August 25, 2005 game thread, yeswecan arrived upon Manimal, a poetic piece of thrashing nihilistic wonder performed by the Germs, L.A.?s edgiest punk band ever.
Written by singer Darby Crash, the lyrics read:
I came into this world
like a puzzled panther
waiting to be caged
but something stood in the way
I was never quite tamed
Later during the thread, cupie began remarking on great Angel accomplishments with the simple post of Panther. By the end of the game, it had caught on. The threads from that point on would find various Halos Heaven posters typing in Panther after great plays by the Angels.
"Panther," and its emotive yelping cousin PANTHAH ! are what separate this blog from mainstream packaging of the team - because of John Cage (and Darby Crash), we can own a piece of the Angels that nobody can (nor probably would really care to) ever take.
The irony-free incongruity of "Panther" and "Angel" binds us into a fraternity (co-ed of course) of hardcore fans which goes beyond simple passion. Panther is outright consumption with the franchise formerly known as the California Angels.
And that, children, is the Lore of the Panther. This is a blog to visit and be a part of and through which one can contribute to team culture.
Now you know why PANTHER is everywhere when the Angels are doing well, and you can pass it on to your children.