Panthers center Ryan Kalil has joined the ranks of preseason predictors, but he did it old school. The five-year veteran took out a full-page ad in Wednesday's Charlotte Observer, saying the Panthers would provide "one hundred-percent, sterling silver victory. The Lombardi trophy," among other heady language.
The medium was just as important to Kalil as the message. Although he uses Twitter, he wanted to give his shout-out in a way "that wasn't paraphrased or restricted to 140 characters," according to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer, who chatted with Kalil about the ad before it ran.
Kalil also skipped telling his teammates about the stunt, saying he stayed up all night earlier this month thinking about it, then sent it to the presses before anyone could second-guess him.
"There's something different going on with the Panthers," Kalil said. "There's a different attitude, a sense of urgency, a different mindset that I haven't seen since I've been here. And the sentiment is widespread. It's not just in the players or the coaches, but the entire organization."
Kalil also apparently didn't bother checking with a copy editor or graphic designer when putting his opus together. Check out his handiwork and prediction, in full preseason glory.
Photo via Facebook/Ryan Kalil
