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 -- exactly 4½ 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.
He dons a black shirt -- "Not for any specific reason other than the last time I wore it we started winning, so I keep doing it," he says -- and puts on the same set of black Nike shoes he has worn for three years. They are reserved just for game day.
He eats a peanut butter and oatmeal cookie his wife has made for him.
He walks out of the stadium tunnel careful to avoid going through the large Panthers inflatable on the field.
"That's for players only," he says.
After sidestepping the inflatable, Rivera jogs out to the 20-yard line, turns to the crowd to find where Stephanie is seated and signals "I love you" to her with his left hand.
"Then I'm ready for the game," he says.
Rivera's superstitious rituals seem to be working.
The Panthers are 10-0 this season and have won 14 consecutive regular-season games overall, which only increases his superstition.
"Unfortunately, winning sort of does that," Rivera says with a laugh.
Run, run, run
A Pennsylvania teenager's family said he accidentally ran all 26.2 miles of the Philadelphia Marathon because he missed a turn on his half-marathon course.
Evan Megoulas runs on his high school's cross country team in Palmyra, Pa., 80 miles west of Philadelphia. He set out Sunday to run the 13.1-mile half-marathon. His family was waiting for him at the finish line but became concerned when he didn't show up.
They said they gave police a photo of Evan, and officers tracked him down in the Manayunk section of the city. He felt good despite missing his turn and wanted to keep running.
Evan's brother said after he completed the marathon, officers wanted a picture with him.
His time was 5 hours, 23 minutes, 11 seconds.
Why not Twitter?
Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer said he agrees with running back Ezekiel Elliott's assessment that Elliott should have gotten the ball more in a loss to Michigan State. But Meyer also said a postgame interview "wasn't the place" for Elliott to make his comments.
Wrote Reggie Hayes of The News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Ind., "In retrospect, Elliott should have taken his time, contemplated his frustration and then posted a meme on Twitter like the pros."
Sports quiz
The Carolina Panthers have been in the NFL since 1995. How many times have they qualified for the playoffs?
Sports answer
Six times (1996, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2014)
TIM COOPER
Sports on 11/25/2015