Pats 42 -- Iggles 10
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.
Well, of course, afterwards the NFL wanted to legitimize their call. It's all a conspiracy, man.
Of course it is. The way I see it, the Government and the NFL are colluding to ensure that as long as we are fighting the War on Terror, the Patriots will continue to win Super Bowls... Then, once the War on Terror is won, the NFL will go back to the way it was.
It's Bush's fault.
You got that correct. Very disappointing after the year the Steelers had.
However, you don't hear the Pittsburgh fans going around bitching and moaning about their players. That is why a lot of us people just cheer for anyone playing any Philadelphia team. Living here in Central PA, I just want the Eagle fans to shut up already.
While I don't have a dog in this Super Bowl, I don't think it will be much of a contest. This might be the first SB for a team not to score. Prediction: Pats 28 - 13.
Some of my searches suggest that Brady would have been guilty of tripping via a leg kick on an Oakland LB. Is that visible in that part of the video?
In the NFL Rules Digest (COnspiracy Edition 27.6 Government Printing Office) it states that "3. Striking opponent on head or neck with forearm, elbow, or hands whether or not the initial contact is made below the neck area." is an automatic 15 yard penalty.
I don't see the tripping thing. It's not visible on the video. More cover-up, apparently.
If the "striking the opponent..." thing were enforced the way you suggest, then any scramble for a fumble would have half a dozen penalties. I've never even seen it enforced for the second clause (incidental contact from another hit) but it might have been.
Win or lose, the question is: "Will Philly burn?"
In scarmbles for a fumble, I could see a lot of helmet-to-helmet penalties, too, then. I don't think it really applies in that circumstance, ya know?
Pats 42 -- Iggles 10
FWIW,
The worst behavior I've ever seen is at Giants stadium. I saw several individual people so drunk they needed to have their stomachs pumped and were in grave danger of vomiting on innocent passers by. Why two guys need to share a stall in the restroom is a question I don't want to think the answer to. Still, that's probably about .5% of all the people in attendence at that game. I'm able to make the distinction between a very small minority and the overwhelming majority.
I've been to probably close to 200 games at the Vet, LFF, Citizens, Franklin Field, etc. and I've never felt uncomfortable or threatend. I have seen some fights in my time and boorish behavior, but it's always been on drunken jerk off beating up another drunken jerk off. A normal person has nothing to worry about.
See? It's easy.
In principle, I agree 100%. But over the last 2 years I have watched (and hated) the Pats and I have been reluctantly dragged to the conclusion that they are a truly great team -- on par with SF in the 80's and Pittsburgh in the70's.
I defy anyone to find a weakness anywhere. They DON'T make the Big Mistakes and DO make the Big Plays.
Brady has become the modern day Elway. He has the amazing ability to find the open guy and make the right play when the chips are on the line.
Anyone who thinks the Iggles have a chance are thinking with their heart, not their brain (or they don't know football).
And remember, I despise them and will be rooting against them. But I would never bet against them.
Never been to a Raiders game in LA or Oakland, eh? There they get drunk just SO they can throwup on innocent passers by.
Until this year (particularly in the playoffs without Owens) I couldn't say that McNabb is an elite quarterback. Now I must grudgingly admit (Cowboy fan here) that he is indeed elite.
They win close games. They get good calls. And they execute each of their plays to perfection. The only player (just off the top of my head) they have that is in the top 3 of the league at his position is their kicker.
Have to admit that I haven't, I've heard, but I don't know. Another FWIW, several years ago, I was in training in Reno, which, I guess is about 3 or 4 hours from Oakland (I never made the drive).
One of the guys I worked with was a Die HARD Miami Dolphins fan. One week, the Dolphins were playing the Raiders in Oakland, and this guy made the trip out there to see the game, all Dolphined up.
I suppose God intervened and he couldn't scare up a ticket to get in. He ended up watching the game in a bar somewhere. This fella was probably the dumbest person I ever met. (He actually took all the money out of his IRA/401ks and plowed 30k into beanie babies).
Why someone would think doing something that terminally stupid is beyond me.
As a diehard Cowboy fan, I have to admit that right now Terrell Owens is the best receiver in football, dependent on whether Randy Moss shows up interested in playing that week. Right now he is a force in the game, one of only a handful of receivers who can dominate a game by himself. I even admire that he is trying so hard to play in the Superbowl.
Having said that, he is an egomaniac and his antics are tolerated only because, right now, he is the best. If Terry Glenn acted that way he would be drummed out of the game.
Pretty good analysis -- I agree that they get the good calls, since they are disciplined and the refs basically don't expect them to screw up.
And having the best kicker in the NFL is like having a great reliever in the bullpen. Vinateri is 31/33 in regular seasn and 7/7 in post this year with a career of a gaudy 98.2%! He was perfect in XP this year 48/48. He was 100% in 2002 and 2000. His stats are astounding: http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/1392
Think about the worry that takes off a coach and the offense -- get it within reasonable Field Goal range and it is at least 3. That means you can take chances and don't HAVE to punch it in when you get down there.
I have to admit that part of the reason I changed my mind about them was their discipline. Football comes doewn to fundamentals -- tackle, catch, run, keep the ball, don't give up the Big Play.
NE does all that. What amazes me is that Tampa doesn't with Chucky at the helm.
It should be Fry Eagles Fry!haha!
How well I remember the Eagles, being an old die-hard Cowboys fan.
Not quite the die-hard as I was back when the 'Boys were "America's Team" - before Jerry "it's all about ME" Jones bought the team.
The "Bounty Bowl" and other stuff. Buddy Ryan was a real ar$ehole.
My brother remembers the Eagles, too, and he still calls them PHILTHadelphia because of how Ryan encouraged his players to play dirty and unsportsmanlike. Buddy Ryan was a real loser.
Anyway, I'd be pulling for the New England Patriots tomorrow (if I watch the game).
Yankee Boy!
"Dagles" are the reincarnation of the Buffalo Bills in the 90's. This Cowboys fan will be ecstatic tomorrow night.
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