GO EAGLES!!!!!

“so, take your british snobbiness and shove it to another thread...this will be my last post here until I'm back from my weekend trip...I'm going to the woods to practice being elite. See ya all on Sunday...

Go Eagles!!!!”

“ONE MORE DAY TIL THE EAGLES WIN IT ALLLLLL!”

“doubtful”

“I'da figured this thread was started by Walkindude. I think he is the only Eagles fan that I know that doesn't ridicule them when they lose.

SoooOOOOoooo then, he will likely be the only fan they will have on Monday after they LOSE to the Patriots!

And just so all you Eagles people out there usnderstand I am not a Pat's fan, never have been and never will be. I am an "anybody but the Eagles" fan. For I am a lowly NY Giants fan. Just remeber ole Joe won't be around to drop the ball this weekend!”

“So much has been said and written about Philadelphia fans that it almost seems senseless to try to sort out the cacophony, but I love challenges.

Do Philadelphia fans turn their backs on their teams? We prefer to think that the teams turn their backs on the fans. No sports fan wants to see his or her team lose. Athletics is not about losing, let's not kid ourselves on that score. Yes, you win some and you lose some, and losing comes with the turf. But you don't play the game to lose.

Yet, at times it seems as though Philadelphia franchises have accepted losing. The Eagles under Norman Braman stunk. The coaches stunk out loud. Rich Uptite stunk most of all, and any New York fan should realize that by now because he stunk up the Jets as badly as he stunk up the Eagles.

Jeffrey Lurie came on the heels of Norman Braman. At this point, Eagles fans had nearly given up on the team, but the fact is that they had not. When Eagles fans booed the selection of Donovan McNabb, it was because they thought that Rickie Williams was the best draft pick out there, and they damn sure wanted to see the team turn around. Okay, so we were wrong, but we're happy we were wrong.

Jeff Lurie built the team into a winner. He brought in Andy Reid (his name was not exactly a household word at the time) and Joe Banner, and things began to take shape.

At the very same time, we lost players like Reggie White, Hugh Douglas, and others We saw a trend of letting good players go by the wayside while the team struggled early on. In the past few seasons, we came to realize that the Eagles must know something. But still they could not win the decisive game and get to the Super Bowl.


Okay, the same patterns of mediocre teams, letting star players get away, and accepting losing seasons has been part and parcel of the Philadelphia experience long before my daddy was a gleam in his daddy's eyes. Both the Phillies and the A's stunk out loud in the 1920s after both teams had played in the World Series in the teens. They stunk until the A's produced a consistent winner starting in 1929. After Connie Mack took the A's to the World Series a few times, he broke up the team. Philly fans did not get a winner again until the Eagles began knocking down NFL titles in the late 40s, and the Phillies went to the World Series in 1950.

The Eagles won the NFL title again in 1960 - their last to date.

As a boy, I remember delivering the Philadelphia Bulletin and checking out the baseball standings on the way home. The Phillies had perennial basement teams in those years and I remember one day turning the paper upside down just to see the Phillies at the top of the standings. They brought up a guy named Pancho Herrera, who was going to break Babe Ruth's record. Well, he did break Babe Ruth's record - his strike out record. Nuff said.

In 1964, the Phillies blew what seemed like an insurmountable lead to end up in third place. People still have World Series tickets that were printed up. It would not be until the late 1970s that the Phillies would contend, and they took the Series in 1980 - nearly 100 years after the first Phillie suited up. Now what city has a team that did not win a title in 100 years? What fan has suffered for that long? Step right up folks. The Mets? The Cubs? The Red Sox? No! They all made a point about supporting losers, but they didn't go almost 100 years without a title.

We've seen greedy owners sell of star players, we've seen managers and coaches that did not have a single clue what the hell was going on, and we've seen teams that have not even bothered to go through the motions (Ricky Watters: "For who; for what?")

We've seen players whose egos far outstripped their batting averages or pass completion percentage. We've seen, and taken to heart, players who worked their tails off, but maybe came up short in spite of that.

I look at stadiums where teams are going through the same throes of mediocrity today. I see a lot of fans disguised as empty seats. But the Philly fans come out to the stadium, not in record numbers mind you, but they come out. They boo lousy play. They boo lack of effort. They boo stupidity on the field. If a team wants to hear cheers, there's a simple formula. Pick up players who bust their tails and put a team on the field that merits cheers.

Do fans do outrageous things in Philadelphia? Guess what? Fans do outrageous things everywhere. We're not so provincial that we would believe we're the only ones.

Philadelphia fans demand good play. Fans everywhere do, perhaps not as vocally. When we get it, we take the players into our hearts. Chuck Bednarek has grown old and bitter, turning his back on the current Eagles team. Sports reporters seem to get some kick out of shoving a microphone into his face and watching him embarass himself. But the fans who remember Chuck still love the old codger for the presence, heart, and effort he put in - the last player to regularly play both offense and defense. Chuck may die bitter, but never forgotten.

The negativity of Philadelphia fans comes from spending lifetimes watching teams accept losing. It comes from players who go through the motions. It comes from players taking millions in pay for five cents worth of effort, while the blue collar fan pays the freight.

The essence of being a fan is to pay to go through the turnstile, and Philly fans have this cockeyed notion that paying to go through the turnstile empowers them to get their money's worth, and Lord, we let that be known.

And when they win, they get a free ticket in this town forever - something the Flyers of the 70s, the 1980 Phillies, the 83 Sixers, and even the 1950 Phillies have learned.”

“After writing that, I found this:

Posted on Sat, Feb. 05, 2005

Sam Donnellon | We're bitter, with good reason

BUT DECADES OF PHILLY FRUSTRATION WOULD BE ERASED WITH A WIN


JACKSONVILLE - The sun broke through yesterday, just in time to greet arriving Eagles fans. The cold has still enveloped this place like a curse from Detroit, but it is supposed to warm up today, be absolutely gorgeous on Sunday.

Just in time for your time.

Down here, they want to know why you're so bitter. They want to know how you could do the things they have heard you do, booing this guy, tossing stuff at that guy, devouring your own team when another disappointment is heaped upon you. And I tell them, "You just don't understand."

They don't understand what you have been put through. Down here, they don't understand what it's like to cheer for a team owned by Norman Braman. A team owned by Harold Katz. To have your team's fortunes tied into the misadventures of one Leonard Tose. To have railings give way in your stadium on national television. To watch your favorite baseball team get handed off from one anachronistic ownership group to another, hunkering down always against the winds of change while leaving you out in the cold, year after disappointing year. To watch Eric Lindros lie on his back when he was needed most. To watch the Devils, or the Rangers, hoist the Stanley Cup.

The flawed players. The flawed coaches. They haven't a clue what it felt like to watch that horse last June take that final turn with a nice lead, then die like the '64 Phillies down the stretch.

The local paper here has bellyached all week about criticism tossed at Jacksonville this week. Well, suck it up, you big weenies. You have no idea what civic ridicule is.

Try being from Philadelphia. Try fending off the snobs from New York and the bureaucrats from Washington who treat your city, the birthplace of the country, like a rest stop. Try waiting for your time to come year after year after year, as your children are born, grow up, and move on to separate lives.

You have to go back to Connie Mack to find a dynasty in this town.

And what did he do? He sold off your team, that's what.

And the new owner moved it.

How's that for feeling slighted, Jacksonville?

They don't understand what's at stake for you tomorrow. No one does. They can say they understand in New England but they really

don't. Sure they have suffered through all those near-misses with the Red Sox, but they had that Celtic dynasty and now, they say, they are on the brink of another one, with their football team.

You'd take what they have right now. You'd take it and run with it, puff your chest out, chant E-A-G-L-E-S so loud it could be heard in Washington and New York.

You're practically doing that now.

This place has been completely overrun by Eagles fans. My friend Gerry Callahan, who writes for the Boston Herald and hosts a morning radio show, estimated last night that there are nine Eagles fans in town for every Patriots fan. Having been to New Orleans and Houston in 2 of the last 3 years, they were not enthralled with the idea of coming to the smallest market to ever host one of these things. Yep, another slight, Jacksonville.

But that's not us talking. We love it here. We walk your blue-lit bridges singing our Eagles anthem and our T.O. songs and think we're in heaven. We don't mind the cold. We've had some of our best days

in it.

And if the Eagles win tomorrow? If they score the upset against the would-be dynasty?

Then what?

"It will be great for the city of Philadelphia," Ike Reese said this week. "And it allows me to eat for free for the next 20 years."

Double that, Ike. Triple it, if you can live that long. There will be no more beloved creatures on the planet than an Eagles player in Philadelphia, should you pull it off. Not even in Disney World.

What an airport scene early Monday morning. What a massive sickout Tuesday for an out-of-your-mind parade, certain to top that

famous Flyers parade the old-timers still talk about.

And then comes the really cool part. Your owner stays put. Your coach does, too, and so do many of the players. You start to reload for next year.

It's your time, Philadelphia. Finally. The sun came out yesterday, finally, just in time for your arrival.

It's gotta be a sign.”

“Patriot fans don't understand
The end of their reign is at hand!

The Eagles are hungry!
Philly Fans are outrageous!!!
and New England just yawns clueless still...
The Eagles are loose
with the gameplan at hand
Jeremiah will be choppin' some wood!!!

Tens of Thousands of Philly Birds have flown South for the game
and Jacksonville is alive in Green!
While the Patriots hide away in their hotel all day long
No autographs for fans, please let us be

Number 5 will be alive!!!
and Westbrook will score!
T.O. will celebrate too!
and Idiot Man, oh yeah, he'll be there
to pick off Brady's ball from the air!

It's Philly's Time
and That ain't no jive
We're the city of Brotherly Love
No disrespect to a very fine Team
but the Patriot's time is about up!

We are One Team, and One City with One Dream we're together
It's an unstoppable destiny
That awaits for our Birds in less than 24 hours
When Philadelphia explodes in Fanfare!!!!

Trust in Andy Reid
he's taking us There
erase any doubt in your mind
The Super Bowl drought will finally be over
and a new Dynasty is about to be born!


You heard it here first!!!!!!


E-A-G-L-E-S

EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Bobo appears in the nick of time.”

“The NFC dominance of the Superbowl before the salary cap made me a lot of money in years past. Obviously not so much recently. Basically the AFC sucked, before the salary cap. I hope they suck forever.

GO EAGLES!!!”

“wow. bbw and i actually agree on something for once.”

“Good gawd, my heart (clutching chest).”

“tell me about it.



E-A-G-L-E-S,.. EAGLES!!!


FLY, EAGLES, FLY... ON THE ROAD TO VICTORY (TODAY!)”

“Nobody is flying anywhere until 6 p.m.

Why the late start is beyond me. They have the whole day with pre-game shows. I don't care to hear a lot of ex-jocks run at the mouth for six hours. Damn, the game doesn't last that long.”

“Geo, the late start is because most of the people in town for the game were out partying all night. Case in point, I went to the grocery to get cough medicine earlier, and a group stumbled in to get hangover medication; they hadn't even gone to bed yet. I recognized one of the guys in the group; some celebrity or other, I'll remember his name eventually.”

“go eagles!

go anybody thats playing the patriots!

(we have to keep this above the "go new england patriots" thread)
last edited: 2/06/05 8:42:15 AM”

“go eagles thread!

beat the new england thread!”

“BUMP!”

“we have more posts over here anyway”

“go anybody not the patriots!”

“To us this is a home game, because Jacksonville is now SOUTH PHILLY.

Cheese steaks, hoagies, Tastykake, Tony Luke's.”

“you forgot about cream cheese”

“florida is closer to philadelphia than boston is. defineite home advantage. go (home with no trophy) patriots! score zero points!”

“Florida is not closer to Philadelphia than to Boston!

Geez Scorch & Geo, you keep eatin' that crap and you'll die before game time!

Hail to the Radskins
Hail victory
Hail to the Radskins
FIGHT for old D.C.

Maybe some other year!!

We still have the best dang fans in D.C.
Win or lose they pack the stadium!

.......unlike the Baltimore Colts fans of yesteryear.
It's no wonder they sneaked out of town in the night.
Hoohoohahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!”

“What the hell, I love an underdog.
Go Eagles!”

“Couple of folks next door have a head start on things. I think they're likely to pass out by game time. Or end up in the slammer, whichever comes sooner.”

“Drankin' ??”

“I think they're inhalin.”

“puff, puff, give!!”

“crap!!!”

“great break!”

“Game off to a good start.”

“gO EAGLES!!!!”

“Go Eagles?

With 6:15 left in the game, I can safely say they have indeed gone.

The Pats can let Miami crawl back from 11 down and 3 minutes left in a meaningless game - but they won't let Philly score twice in 6.”

“Oh yeah.. and so do the Eagles. :-)”

“TOUCHDOWN! 24-20...it's gonna be tough with only 1:48 on the clock!”

“We lost the game, but they're still our team. Thanks for a great season of football! You made us believe. We came up short. It took three tries to get to the big dance. We'll be back!”

“LOL at Fartex. A true fan looking ahead to what really counts.

Baseball!


Too bad abou them EAGLES though perhaps tomorrow we can start a thread called "where are they now"

in search of the illusive Eagles fan.”

“I will be here and still an Eagles fan.”

“'Course, you would have known that if you had read my earlier post, but it's easier to shoot from the hip.”

“The Eagles played well. TO made a major statement and passed that gut check. McNab proved how dangerous he is on offense, once again.

There is no shame in losing a close one to the Pats.”

“You kidding? McNab had a horrible game. He knew it too. Normally he's smiling and having fun. I didn't see him smiling any last night. Dude got sacked and intercepted too many times.
The defence on both teams kicked ass last night. The offence on both sides looked over powered.

Eagles kept it a close game. I honestly figured they would have gotten beat worse than they did. I was just happy to see them in the Super Bowl again finally.
NFC Champs!!!”

“It certainly was a good game. Either team could have won this one.”

“it was a horrible game! the eagles played awfully as far as offense goes.

better luck next year!

"Too bad abou them EAGLES though perhaps tomorrow we can start a thread called "where are they now"
in search of the illusive Eagles fan.”

no way dude,.... i'm 100% fan.”

“The Patriots may have been a factor in why Donovan was off his game. Obviously, time management was the one factor the Eagles could have controlled at the end of the game. Andy Reid will work on that in the off season, be assured.

To go up against the steam roller Patsies will probably go down as a learning experience.

A word about this team. The players have heart. This was a fun season, not just because of the NFC championship, but to see a group of guys who obviously had fun all season long. They entertained on and off the field.

And, my man T.O. is THE man! He was a large reason why the Birds were in the big dance to start with. He played well, but not as well as if he had been 100 percent healthy.

This team will be back. This was not a one and done year.”

“Good game! Lousy commercials!

Better luck next time, Eagles fans.”

“McNab didn't have a such a good game WD - but he still showed how dangerous he can be and, he did far better against the Pats than the last two top QB's did.

You've gotta give the Pats defense credit: they shut down Manning and Roethlisberger and made McNab look mediocre.”

“There is no question that the Patsies threw Donovan and the Eagles off their game. That's what good teams do.

I can also add the point that the Patsies did not get rattled when the Eagles scored that first TD. I have seen good teams roll over and die when they give up the first TD. I was hoping the Patsies would, but they hung in there.

There are two things that I like about this game. The Eagles learned something from it, just as they learned something from the loss to the Pittsburglars. And they hung in there with a chance to win it in the final minutes. Poor time management and pressure undid them. They learned from that, too.

Rematch next year!!!”

“lot of you. Not one person (excepting fagtag) bashed the Eagles. You all are exceptional humans.”