Panthers are telling their drink-tossing, restaurant-accosting owner to chill out

There's an old axiom that states that children should be seen but not heard. Any parents out there can understand the sentiment. Who among us hasn't desperately tried to quiet a screaming child in the supermarket or attempted to disappear in embarrassment after our child gleefully lets a loud burp or fart rip in a restaurant? It's not just me, right? Guys?

David Tepper is a grown man, but Carolina Panthers fans have wished that he'd be more seen and less heard after a string of mortifying incidents since he took over as owner of the team. Tepper's tenure has been marked by embarrassing public behavior, from throwing a drink at a heckling fan to confronting a restaurant owner whose sign he didn't like.

The Panthers are currently lobbying for $650 million in public funds to renovate their 28-year-old stadium, and according to The Charlotte Observer's Scott Fowler, people within the organization have asked Tepper to stay out of the spotlight to help their chances.

"It has been wise for Tepper to stay in the background and let the executive team directly under him be the faces of this proposal. Tepper has gotten a lot of advice — including in this corner — to stay out of the fray more often because he's hurt himself and his reputation in Charlotte several times when he wades in. Let the coaches coach and the GMs draft. Let the team execs do the stadium deal. He's doing all that now, for the moment, and the proposal likely has a better chance to pass because of it."

- Scott Fowler

David Tepper's behavior has made the Carolina Panthers a laughingstock

Most everyone in the football world saw Tepper's purchase of the Panthers as a good thing back in 2018. For one thing, it allowed the league to excise the embarrassment of having Jerry Richardson, who had been credibly accused of sexual harassment and racism, own one of its 32 franchises. For another, Tepper was a lifelong NFL fan that had been part of the Pittsburgh Steelers ownership group for nine years. The Steelers have been one of the best-run NFL franchises for half-a-century, so Tepper's time with the Rooney family was seen as a huge positive.

Tepper doesn't seem to have learned from the Rooney way, though, as his six years with Carolina have been marked by unforced errors that very few owners in all of sports would be foolish enough to commit.

With a net worth of about $18.5 million, Tepper was ranked by Forbes last year as the eighth-richest owner in the NFL, which if nothing else should make us wonder why he needs public funds at all to renovate Bank of America Stadium. Tepper was forced by the NFL to pay $300,000 for his drink-throwing incident, a sum he almost definitely found in his couch cushions.

The city of Charlotte should consider these things when determining whether to contribute taxpayer money to such a man, especially when he needs people within his own organization to essentially bind and gag him, lest he stick his foot in his mouth once again.

The best owners in sports are seen but not heard. They don't repeatedly embarrass their organizations, they don't obstruct their teams' ability to win, and they certainly don't need to be kept in the shadows so that they don't ruin their franchise's chance at securing millions of dollars to renovate their stadiums. Look at the Rooneys, the Maras, the Jeffrey Luries of the world. That's how it's done. David Tepper, you're not a child, you're an NFL owner. It's time to start acting the part.