Lament Of An Eagles Fan
Last night the Philadelphia Eagles lost 42 - 0, at home, to the Seattle Seahawks. The worst home loss in 43 years. With four games left in the season we can consider their playoff chances about as conceivable as badgers taking over the planet.
Being a fan of Philadelphia sports is aboutsuffering. It's not glory, constant victory, great teams, or championships that drive your loyal following of the four teams that call Philadelphia home. It's suffering. Communal suffering. If winning is what you're after you'll have to look elsewhere since the Philly Victory Shop closed their doors in 1983.
All my life I have had the montra of "maybe next season". I still have it. And today I find myself saying it again in regards to the Eagles. I guess one could have started saying it weeks ago, but as long as there was some glimmer of chance, and mathematical possibility, I still had hope that we would make the playoffs. I mean, we've been there for the last 5 years. But, that hope died in the snow at Lincoln Financial Field last night.
There is a certain attitude that comes from so many years of defeat. Especially defeat that could or should have been victory. Let it be the Eagles losing in the game that would have taken them to the Superbowl three years in a row, to finally getting there last season, for only the second time, and losing by three points to New England. It is an attitude that has turned into a reputation for bitterness, hate, denial, anger, love, loyalty, and for being the most passionate football fans in the league. It has also led to the Eagles being the only team in the league with a courtroom in their stadium. I'd say it's more of an addiction and a lifestlye than a reputation.
I didn't choose the Eagles. I didn't get a choice. I was given them based on geography. I grew up outside of Philadelphia, and with that came the teams that played there. There were those that abandoned them. Many in fact during the 80's and 90's when they couldn't win a coin toss let alone a game. We dubbed them the Feebles and still we watched the games stubbornly, knowing full well that playoffs were an impossibility from game one. But we had hope. And it died. And we were left with nothing while other people in Philadelphia watched their new teams like San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and god help us Dallas, still in the running. I would rather have nothing than convert to being a fan of a team in a city I'd never been to, let alone grew up in. That my friends is false pride.
But, then Andy Reid came to town. Like Clint Eastwood riding into a western town to save the poor townspeople. And he fixed things up and gave us something we could rely on. An Eagles team that could compete and win. An Eagles team that we could be proud of after so many years of misery. Philadelphia was back on the map as a contender...year after year...only to see it crumble away so close to what we want more than anything else: a championship. A trophy and a parade. Payoff at the end of a long and sordid trip of ups and downs and pain.
But, alas, that ray of light was not to be. It began to dim this season with the circus that was Terrell Owens, with salary issues, and contract issues. with losses that should have been victorys, and finally with losses that never could have been victorys.
Today we stand once again on the edge of uncertainty. What will become of the Eagles next season? What will they do to get back to their former quality and ability to make the playoffs? Who knows, but as long as there is a next season I'll dawn my whooly Eagles hat on Sundays and have hope until it's taken away from me.
K. Panda
