Posted on 02/05/2005 8:52:10 AM PST by crushkerry
As regular readers know I am a die-hard and long suffering Eagles fan. As such, I am conditioned to expect the worst from any Philadelphia team. The scars are deep and longstanding. Any Philadelphia fan knows the names of their tormenters by heart - as if they were names contained in the Lord's Prayer - Joe Carter, Manny Mota, Jim Plunkett, Rod Martin, Ronde Barber, Ricky Manning, Jr., the "Fog Bowl", Magic Johnson, Kareem, Larry Bird, Scott Stevens, Bob Nystrom, Martin St. Louis.
Heartbreak and disappointment are ways of life for the Philadelphia sports fans - the most loyal, passionate and knowledgeable in the country. (Please no stupid, ignorant cracks about throwing snowballs at Santa Claus) Yet every year we keep coming back for more, even more passionate and hungry than the year before.
Thus, it is with a sense of excitement, nervousness, trepidation and anxiety that we diehards await this Sunday's Super Bowl against Hynes favorite team - those jabroni's from the place that brought us John Kerry and Michael Dukakis.
Want to know what an Eagles fan is going through right now?
I'm feeling something that no Philadelphia fan should ever feel - hope. Why after all the years of pain, torment and proverbial kicks in the groin should I be feeling this way? I don't know, I just do. Why is it that we Philadelphia fans allow ourselves to dream about the possibility of success when we've had so very little of it throughout the years? Again, I don't know, we just do.
I wish the game were today. Right now. Strap it up. Let's get it going. But there's also the fear of actually playing the game because we've seen how it ends so many times before.
We're all reveling now in the possibility that we can call ourselves "Champions", but will that be reality come Sunday night at 10pm? Do we dare allow ourselves to dream of the possibility of a parade down Broad Street come Tuesday which will like a championship parade no one has ever seen? Trust me, Philadelphia is the equivalent of a long dormant volcano - filled with fire and passion just waiting to explode for the world to see - if the fates would just give us that chance.
So many times. So many times we have been brought to the edge of euphoria only to have it ripped away from us - along with a piece of our heart. But yet somehow, someway, the heart keeps ticking, despite having chunks of it violently torn away with each passing year and each unique catastrophe that manages to befall us.
This may sound presumptions and arrogant, likely because it is. We deserve this win. We deserve it more than any fans in the country. We deserve this 10 times over for having suffered endlessly year after year with nothing in return but a slap in the face from whatever God dispenses fate on sports fans.
Yet every year we keep coming back, literally willing our teams to bring a title home for us, to reward us. George Santayana once said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result".
Well that's us. Insane. Passionate. Hungry.
Someone asked me in October 2004 whether or not I would rather have George Bush win the Presidency or have the Eagles win the Super Bowl. I couldn't answer. Even though I knew John Kerry would be a disaster to the security of me, my family, and my fellow countrymen. Buy I couldn't answer that I'd rather see a Bush win. I reasoned that Kerry could give me ogida for 4 years and be gone, while the Eagles have broken my heart for the 34 years I've been on the Earth. Trust me, any true Philly fan wouldn't be able to answer that question, no matter who they supported for President.
So to the Eagles I say this - millions and millions of people have your back. If we could all put on helmets and shoulder pads and help we would do it in a heartbeat. Sadly we can't. But know this - the hopes and dreams of an entire city and fan base rest on your shoulders. Win and you will be heroes forever. Never will you have to buy a meal or drink again. People will name their kids after you. Lose and.... well that's just too disappointing to think about. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.
So guys, do it for us - the long suffering Philly fans, starved for a taste of glory who are ready to embrace you forever. 60 minutes guys, 60 minutes. That's all it will take to throw a monkey off our backs that dwarfs King Kong. We want a win. No, we NEED a win.
All of this is my heart talking. What does my head say about who will win? Don't know. Philly fans lead with their hearts, even at the risk of having it ripped out just like it has so many times before.
But I have the feeling I'm going to a Championship Parade in Philly this Tuesday.
Not killed, but a few limbs broken. Actually if the Eagels win and you come w/ a Pats jersey you should be OK, because people will be so happy. They'll probably buy you a beer or two.
I was watching it live on TV. Perhaps some fans were being gracious, but most weren't. I've never seen or heard anything like it before or since.
Spoilsport. You either have the passion in your blood or you don't. In fact, an Eagles win is probably the only thing that can bring so may different people together to be happy. No divisions of political class, race, age, sex, income. The celebration would be the feel good story of the century in these parts.
I saw the game. The fans cheered the fact that Irvin was hurt
2. 90% of those arrested at the Stadium were visiting fans
Bullcrap, the vast majority of visitors to Judge McShamus' (sp?) under Vet courtroom were Eagles fans. The monday after the worst of the worst were identified by name and town, name and town, name and town.
3. "The Batteries" were thrown at a Broncos Chiefs game and a Red Sox Yankees game.
Dude, regardless of what may have happened elsewhere, it is a fact that JD Drew had batteries thrown at him from the upper deck of the VET.
Go ahead and hate Philadelphia, but don't pretend to know anything about it.
It has nothing to do with hating Philly. But having Philly fans trying to re-write history gets old. Not all the fans are jerks, but you can't cover up what used to go on in the 700 level of the VET.
Gracious in winning, violent in defeat? Not a city I'd like to visit LOL... It's nice living in Seattle, I've noticed, because most people here are fans of teams from other places LOL...
All of you suckers are going to be eating crow when the Eagles trounce their asses! Go Philly!
At first the fans were cheering him staying down(you have to understand how much people hated Irvin, who was a drugged up thug then) because it looked like Michael Zordich drilled him (he didn't). Then people saw how serious it was and got silent. Then Deion started his foolishness and people booed. When Irvin went off on a stetcher there was cheering when people knew how serious it was.
So, has the Roundhouse come up with a plan yet to deal with the celebration if the Eagles win? ;0)
Amen brother. It's hard to hate the Pats. They're everythign that's right about football, but this week they're the hated enemy, and will be treated as such. See ya Tuesday on Broad St.
I was surprised when I looked it up that that was the only definition given.
Hell, the cops will be joining in. You don't understand just how happy people will be. You should have been in the parking lot after the Falcons game. No thuggery, no violence, just a bunch of extemely happy people hugging total strangers.
Well, here's hoping the city doesn't burn like some other big cities that have won championships LOL... I don't recall that ever happening in Philly, and I'd hate to see it happen - no matter how much I may dislike the Eagles, I have been to Philly a few times and liked it...
I want someone to knock Terrell Owens's head off.
But not really.
It's kind of a pretend hatred.
I know that the Philly fans are able to direct their boos with pinpoint accuracy and were so concerned about Michael Irvin that they knew he would want to hear them boo an act he couldn't see.
Yes, I'm sure those boos made Irvin feel really good.
2. 90% of those arrested at the Stadium were visiting fans who bought into the "anything goes in Philly" mentality that you have.
Right...out of towners...furiners...where did they get the idea that "anything goes in Philly". That sort of mentality in Vegas actually has a reason, I wonder what the reason is for Philadelphia having such a reputation.
Once the word got out to people exactly like you, the arrests plummeted, and the court (it was actually a court, but don't let facts get in the way, right?) closed.
Yes, it was a court...with a jail...which is a holding cell. It was not a prison, people were moved elsewhere after the game. But it actually had a lock and they had a judge assigned to the stadium.
3. "The Batteries" were thrown at a Broncos Chiefs game and a Red Sox Yankees game. Eagles fans do travel,
Where? To Reading? I've never seen a more insulated group of people outside of New York.
[yadda yadda yadda]... and the Red Sox and Yankees play BASEBALL, it's not that likely that Eagles fans were to blame.
I admit, the most recent battery incident is baseball (J.D. Drew), but it was Philadelphia.
As has been exposed time and again, you've never been to Philadelphia ("I ate at Ginos"), much less an Eagles game.
Say what you want. Typical crude, classless, humorless, obnoxious Philadelphia fan. I want the Eagles to win this week. I really do. Because if they don't, despite the fact that Belichick (excuse my spelling if it isn't correct) doesn't lose, they will be more insufferable boors (this happens to be spelled correctly) than they are now.
Go ahead and hate Philadelphia, but don't pretend to know anything about it.
Hey, I just cast my vote against the Philadelphia fans. Actually, since it's Philadelphia, I can vote again!
No burning down anything. Just unbridled joy. Hopefully you'll see what I mean.
No it's not: Tuck Rule.
See? It's easy.
I doubt I will get to see what you mean. ;0)
New England beat Pittsburgh.
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