Graham Gano gives trombone player tickets to Panthers-Falcons game
All Panthers kicker Graham Gano wanted was take a few warm-up kicks. Instead, he found himself in the middle of the Bethune-Cookman band, which was late to take the field during halftime of Sunday's Panthers- Buccaneers game -- and late to leave -- which conflicted with Gano's plans.
Yep, that's Gano pushing the trombone player out of the way. Aterward, Gano apologized for his actions.
"It's just that is the only time we have to practice," he said, "but I never should have done that, and I feel bad about it."
There is a happy ending, however.
"I just spoke with my friend Marquel Ballard from Bethune-Cookman's marching band and all is forgiven!" Gano tweeted Monday afternoon. "We both laughed off the incident when the band came onto the field as I was kicking and he understood that we were both doing our jobs. He is an extremely talented trombonist who never skipped a beat yesterday which was very impressive! Since he's an Atlanta Falcons fan, I have offered him two tickets and field passes for our game in Atlanta."
On Sunday night, Bethune-Cookman band director Donovan Wells told the Tampa Bay Times' Greg Auman that he had already written a letter of apology to the Buccaneers for the incident and had no issue with Gano, who was just trying to do his job.
"I have no ill feelings toward the kicker," Wells said. "I don't think he did anything malicious. Just a bad situation, everybody trying to do their best in a bad situation. … I understand. The game may come down to him and the only time he can get practice in is the end of halftime, so he's getting his kicks in."
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