Rendell roots for the "Steagles"...for now

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review ^ | January 13, 2009 5 :56 AM | Salena Zito

[Salena Zito]

This coming Sunday, Gov. Edward G. Rendell will be all out for both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers in their NFL conference championship games.

But if both teams happen to win, well, then it is all Eagles.

Rendell told the New York Times that he has to be loyal. “If it costs me some political points, that’s life.”

Rendell is a rabid Eagles fan, and is pretty sure that rabid Steelers fans would understand his Eagle loyalty. “The casual fans might be upset, but I don’t care,” he said.

During World War II, the Steelers and the Eagles briefly were one team, known simply as the “Steagles.” The hybrid team lasted one year -- 1943 -- and was created because both teams had lost the bulk of their players to military service.

The NFL never did register the temp team name “Steagles,” but they are on the official record books that way.

If both the Steelers and the Eagles make it to the Super Bowl, the atmosphere in Pennsylvania will be like the Pennsylvania Primary all over again -- Hillary vs. Barack on steroids, with Rendell certainly in the middle with something probably wildly inappropriate to say for Steeler fans' ears.

[GregB]

Steelers will roll your ratbirds...

[Bender2]

Re: Steagles Super Bowl

I cannot even begin to think... how long I would hurl if that comes about!

[RayChuang88]

If we get the Eagles versus Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII, we’re going to get arguments about the merits of the classic Philly cheesesteak versus the Primanti Brothers cheesesteak just for starters.

[RU88]

An all Pennsylvania Super Bowl would be great for the spirits of the residents of the Commonwealth. That being said, let's just get by Arizona this Sunday. Rendell is a horse's arse who but for the Grace of God, and a hesitant Legislature, hasn't run PA into the ditch by now.

[Kid Shelleen]

Philly will be favored in that one.

[MarineBrat]

[blackie]

I’m rooting for the Red Birds, to win it all. >:-}

I don’t have a favorite team these days, that all depends what how Jim Mora does with the Seahawks, which is the closest NFL team to where I live.

The next closest are the Raiders and 49er’s. Which used to my fav’s when I lived in the SF Bay Area for 40 years, before I moved here in ‘90.