Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Is This Finally The Year For The Eagles?
The life and times of a Philadelphia sports fan are rarely easy, and frequently tumultuous.
I can recall at least 4 times in the past year when I've been broken, crushed, or reduced to a slobbering mass of crap thanks to one or more of my favorite teams. I'm guessing my wife, Kerri, can probably remember a few more that I've cleverly edited from my consciousness...
So now, for the 3rd straight season, I've got my hopes pinned to the Eagles to end the 20-year (you read that correctly) championship drought in the City of Brotherly Love.
If that seems like a long time for a town with teams in all 4 of the major sports to go without winning a championship, well, it is...
In that 20 years, New York has had the Yankees, LA has had the Lakers, Chicago has had the Bulls. Hell, even Boston has had the Celtics in the 80's and the 2001 Patriots! And Boston often seems like it's populated by nothing but black cats and broken mirrors! Philly has had the 1996 AHL Champion Philadelphia Phantoms...Ouch...
This year's Eagles team is interesting in that expectations were as high as they've ever been, despite the team losing several big name players (Hugh Douglas, Brian Mitchell, etc...) in the offseason. What did they do? What they always do, of course: Play stinging defense and flash just enough offense to pull through.
I'll admit, things did look grim when they jumped out to an unimpressive 2-3 start. That, coupled with the insane ramblings of part-time conservative blowhard and full-time pill-popping hypocrite, Rush Limbaugh claiming that quarterback Donovan McNabb was being propped up by the evil liberal media because of his skin color, portended a disastrous 2003 campaign.
The season could have very easily been just that: a disaster. McNabb could have folded up like an accordion under the pressure that was even coming from within Philly, where unforgiving sportswriters and deluded fans were calling for him to be benched. Instead, what he helped the team do in the last 11 weeks was truly remarkable: Win 10 of their last 11 games and secure homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs for the second year in a row.
That impressive streak included a miraculous Brian Westbrook-powered win in New York against the Giants, an improbable come-from-behind Monday night win at Lambeau Field, and a Biblical ass-kicking of the Dallas Satans, errrrr, Cowboys. (Sorry, my fingers slipped, six times.)
What lies ahead is anyone's guess, but my gut feeling is this: A team with so much talent on both sides of the ball that could've been written off at least three times this season has got enough grit to take out any of the teams competing in the NFC. As far as the monsters in the AFC go, my mouth is staying shut...
Is this the year the Eagles finally head back to the big game? I say it is. Do they win once they get there? Ask me later....
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