CHARLOTTE — Unlike the basketball tournament, this one has a couple of actual upsets.
And already, there's some madness.
Last week, we unveiled our Panthers uniform bracket on Instagram stories, and here are the results of that 24-hour absolutely scientific poll.
We had an 11-seed and a 10-seed advance, and it's obvious that people like a monochromatic look. The No. 1 seed, all black, cruised to an easy win with 83 percent of the votes. That wasn't the highest total, though, as silver helmet and blue-on-blue got 89 percent of the votes in a first-round matchup. Black helmet/blue jersey/black britches was the other combination to get over 80 percent in the first round.
The 8-seed, white-on-white, which is the most-worn combination in franchise history, squeaked out a narrow win over white-on-blue in the closest contest of the first round, a buzzer-beater if you will.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
No. 1 Black helmet, black jersey, black britches 83%
No. 16 Silver helmet, blue jersey, black britches 17%
No. 8 Silver helmet, white jersey, white britches 55%
No. 9 Silver helmet, white jersey, blue britches 45%
No. 4 Black helmet, blue jersey, black britches 82%
No. 13 Silver helmet, blue jersey, white britches 18%
No. 5 Silver helmet, blue jersey, blue britches 89%
No. 12 Silver helmet, blue jersey, white britches 11%
No. 3 Silver helmet, black jersey, black britches 57%
No. 14 Silver helmet, white jersey, blue britches 43%
No. 11 Silver helmet, white jersey, white britches 69%
No. 6 Silver helmet, blue jersey, silver britches 31%
No. 10 Silver helmet, black jersey, black britches 71%
No. 7 Silver helmet, black jersey, silver britches 29%
No. 2 Black helmet, blue jersey, blue britches 72%
No. 15 Silver helmet, white jersey, white britches 28%
And while the people have spoken, it's also OK to disagree.
I feel all right about standing in dissent on this one, because I have some guy named Luke Kuechly standing alongside me.
Luke is a traditionalist and prefers the classic black jersey/silver britches look. And I'm with him. When I think about Sam Mills, it's what I see him wearing. And it just looks cool. At least to a person in his 50s with old-school sensibilities. And Luke, apparently.
We'll continue to have fans chime in over the coming weeks and have some of our legends and current players reveal their choices. Current stars and Derrick Brown submitted their brackets, and we'll have more to come.
(As promised, Panthers record-setter JJ Jansen, whose arrival on the field each week during pregame announces the jersey-britches combo for that week, has also weighed in. Despite being the oldest player on the roster, he enjoys the blue-on-blue look as one of his favorites. "Smurfs and white tops with black britches and black socks," he replied when asked for his favorite combos.)
So go vote, even if you insist on being wrong. (Seriously, Luke and I are very disappointed in all of you.) Nevertheless, it's your right as a Panthers fan. Actually, it's your responsibility.
A look at Luke Kuechly's career with the Carolina Panthers in photos
