Former Viking Jared Allen, Luke Kuechly on boots, fans

San Francisco

The Carolina Panthers have become famous for handing footballs to kids in the stands after touchdowns.

Linebacker Luke Kuechly experienced a twist on the phenomena during the NFC championship game, when a fan fell out of the stands right in front of him.

The fan eventually was helped back into the stands.

``I felt so bad for that guy,'' Kuechly said Thursday. ``He was so excited and I'm running and I saw him fall out. His face was priceless. Wish we could have taken a picture of it. The face he made was, `I'm in pain, in shock - what am I doing here?' ''

The Panthers took Kuechly with the ninth pick in the 2012 draft, out of Boston College. He has become a star who covers a remarkable among of ground. He's a physical player who is listed at 6-3, 240 pounds. And he realizes he's not anywhere near as big or fast as his quarterback.

Cam Newton is 6-5, 248. It's remarkable that even among large, elite athletes, Newton's size and speed astonish.

-Reminder: The Vikings tried to trade up to take Johnny Manziel. Which might have gotten Rick Spielman fired.

-Former Viking Jared Allen bought expensive cowboy boots for all of the Panthers' defensive linemen. I'll have more on that tomorrow.

-Kevin Williams made it to a Super Bowl with the Seahawks. Allen made it with the Panthers. Shouldn't the world have been gifted with the presence of Pat Williams at a Super Bowl media day?

``Oh, yeah,'' Allen said. ``What a great guy. I didn't understand anything he said for the first week after I met him.''

-Up at MalePatternPodcasts.com: MalePatternPurple with Viking Update's Tim Yotter on his conversation with Mike Zimmer and the Senior Bowl; The You Betcha Basketball Show with Jon Krawczynski; my conversation with Brad Johnson on SouhanUncensored and Roy Smalley's Chin Music.