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.
Yeah, darn that Tuck Rule. Imagine, a ref making a call based on what the rules actually are. Damn those Pats for following the rules. Damn them all.... ;0)
Don't expect too much. Dawk and the guys are being told by the national media to make sure they stand around and applaud as the Pats make good plays. I don't expect the Eagles D to crush anyones ribs or anything else football like. They'll probably just line up for Brady's autograph. ( wouldn't you like to see that pretty face with a few less teeth? )
According to the Tuck Rule, the quarterback can, upon receiving the ball, fake a throw and, even if the play goes on a full 30 minutes, can never be charged with a fumble.
No such word as "ogida."
It's agita.
Just because some people didn't know it was there, doesn't mean it was the wrong call. What would you have had them do? Say "Well, even though it's a game rule, we're gonna call it a fumble because it wouldn't be fair if we followed the NFL rules?" I mean, what the hell?
The only time I felt sorry for him was in his last game as head coach at Phoenix. He had been fired, and was a lame duck, but his team got stomped and his own Phoenix fans poured beer and threw cups at him as he walked off the field.
GO PATS!
Nice revision. I saw the game.
Plus, Rich Gannon went to my alma mater, so I hated to see it happen to him. But it was just one of those strokes of luck that seem to happen to the Patsies at very crucial times.
I have a feeling that is not what you wanted to happen.
I'll play along for a moment, and pretend that I believe the Tuck Rule call was bullshit, ok? Did the call cost Oakland the game? No. Lack of effort on the Raider's part AFTER the call lost it for them. Did the Raiders do ANYTHING in that game after that point to stop the Pats? NO. They couldn't stop the Pats from kicking a FG in a snowstorm to tie the game and then their lousy defense couldn't hold the Pats in OT from marching down the field to win it. So let's put all this horse crap about the "tuck" rule to bed once and for all. Face it, the Raiders made no effort to win the game after a call "went against them". The "tuck rule" didn't cost them the game, their lack of effort afterwards did.
I said the same thing to a friend of mine yesterday. It's ashame as a people we have become so diverse, that only something as trivial in importance as a football game, can bring us all together. It didn't use to be that way.
Sorry, I don't share your enthusiasm. It's all about money. I neither care for the owners, the players or the attitude of so many of the fans.
Also keeping in mind that on that "tuck" rule play, which I saw, Brady was hit in the head by Woodson. That would have led to a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down in any other game. But it didnt', and Brady had to go out an earn the yards anyway, so in reality one could look at that play and it could be said that eitehr team got robbed on that play. Just depends on your perspective...
Owl pinged us so we could read his rant to AmishDude. It wasn't directed towards us.
I mean, would you? The referee comes to your sideline with a bowl of clam chowder and says, "We cahn't do anything about this wicked rule we just made up, uh, read in the rule book theah. Looks like we'ah gonna have ovahtime. Oh, get the defense ready fah ovahtime. I just have a sense of how the toss will go."
I would have given up, too and just grabbed a bowl of the complimentary baked beans the NFL officials were handing out.
Oh, come on. You can't honestly believe the crap you are typing? I mean, really. The Raiders and their fans can piss and moan all they want, but rules are rules, and it wasn't made up - the rule was there. The bottom line is, if the Raider let that one call (which could have gone another way when Woodson hit Brady in the head) make them roll over and piss themselves like a dog, then they didn't deserve to go any further anyway...
I'm trying to find a video clip of the Tuck Rule incident...
Just as an FYI, it appears that Oakland had the tuck rule called in their favor against the Titans once, and I know the Pats have had it called against them in a few games since then, too, so... for whatever that is worth :)
Ok, I'm watching it on DVD right now... slowing it down frame by frame...
The Tuck Rule states that both of the hands have to be on the ball in order for it to be a fumble (if both hands are on it, the ball is "tucked" so to speak). What I am seeing here is that Brady's left hand is not on the ball as he is being hit by Woodson. However, as Woodson is nailing Brady in the head with his forearm (which should have been a flag, by the way) his other hand is hitting the ball, pushing brady's right hand and the ball into Brady's free left hand - which was what jarred the ball loose...
Personally, I don't agree with the "tuck rule" - I think it's a bad rule, but it IS the rule, and it applied here. However, i would have been happier to see a flag with a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down for the forearm to the head... ;)
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