CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — It is Sunday morning at Ron Rivera's house and the Carolina Panthers coach sits down to eat a familiar breakfast of cinnamon french toast and ham steak prepared by his wife.
It's the same thing he eats before every Panthers Sunday home game — at the same time.
He talks with Stephanie over coffee. At precisely 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time — exactly 4 ½ hours before kickoff — the fifth-year coach's ride arrives to take him to the stadium.
Once there, Rivera has a whole new, lengthy set of superstitions, culminating a week full of rigid rituals.