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.
Its the curse of Billy Penn
Yeah, but you all had the Celtics in the 80's, as well as teh Celts dynasty in the 60's. The Sox won it this year (perhaps the only thing close to the Eagles fans disappointment).
Well, for your sake I'm hoping for an Eagles win. I may even watch some of it if there isn't something good on TCM.
You might want to talk to Cubs fans
Yeah, but at least they have 3 SB Trophies from JJ. God, what I'd do just for one. Someone asked if I'd give up a body part. I said I'd give half of my pinky finger, and I think I would.
1 entry found for jabroni.
Main Entry: jabroni
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: in professional wrestling, a wrestler who loses in order to make another wrestler look good; also called jobber
Usage: slang
Yeah, we had the Celts in the 80s to tide us over, but still, I was never really into basketball much. Football and baseball were my faves, and I never got to see a championship team in either until recent years.
The Pats became the Patriots the year I was born, and my whole life, until I was 30, they never won the Super Bowl, so that's 30 years of not winning. At least the Eagles had actually won NFL League Titles in the past - the Pats never had...
Yeah, but they've had the Bulls dynasty and a Bears Super Bowl win in 85. So they get no sympathy from me.
Do you understand just how desparate we are for a champion in Philly?
Yeah, Jimmy Johnson, not Jerry Jones. Barry Switzer won with Johnsons's team.
Jones will keep the Cowboys roaming in the wilderness for some time.
No, but ask me that question again on Monday orning when I'm feeling giddy.
I happen to like Jones as an owner, so there's no misery in that for me.
I am from Philly and I agree with your wife. The hoopla over this is way overblown and nauseating. I hope they lose or there will be no end to it.
I heard the word jabroni on the streets long before that. A jabroni is really a slang term for a jacka$$, or someone you really don't like. The Pats fit that bill this week, even though I love watching them play, a great team, good D, well coached, classy, and everything done the right way. But these 2 weeks I have to hate them. It's the code.
Oh, so you're coming down to Philly. See ya there. But don't wear your Pats jersey. You might get killed.
Wow. I might get killed for wearing a Pats jersey? What a nice city you must live in ;0)
Yes, I live across the river. I'll give the fans credit, they keep coming back for more - no matter which team breaks their heart. Fog bowl, Kenny Linseman offside, Joe Carter and the Wild Thing, Rod Martin's 3 picks, Jim Plunkett, Ricky Manning Jr's 3 picks, Joe Juravicious (sp?), and last but not least, the Phillies blowing a 5 game lead with 6 games left in the season.
Yo, man hold on I'm on your side. I was at that Michael Irvin game, they were cheerin his injury at first, then yes, they booed Deion's idiocy.
As to the people arrested the ones I've seen were drunken Eagles fans, as well as some others. Some were downright hilarious. Plus, there's no more stadium court.
You're right about Eagles fans. Apparently there are about 40,000 in Jacksonville (they're calling it "Phillyville"). God how I wish I was 40,001, but I was at the Falcons game, something I'll never forget. And yes, Eagles fans travel like crazy. Many an away game you could hear the "DUUUUCCCE" chant every year before this year. there were about 20,000 at the Bears game this year.
A more passionate and knowledgable bunch of fans you will never find. I won't be able to sleep tonight.
Agreed. Sadly that's what its become. And for far too many fans, its a religion.
Yeah, I was at the Tampa game where Juevicious blew by Gardner and Blaine Bishop. That was horrid.
As to the PHils it was in 64. They blew a 6 1/2 game lead w/ 12 to play. My dad still talks about it. In fact when Joe Carter hit the dinger in the 93 WS I ran up to my dad, who had fell asleep. I told him what happened and he wakes from a dead sleep to say:
"What do you expect, they blew a 6 1/2 game lead with 12 to play in 1964". then when right back to sleep. That's how scarred he is.
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