Saturday, January 13, 2018

Fly, Eagles, Fly

Apparently I picked a bad season to get apathetic about American football, as my hometown Eagles decided to do well this year.

They were the top team in their conference.  They got home field throughout the playoffs.  And despite not having their Actual Quarterback (who watched the game in his street clothes, recovering from whatever surgery they inflicted on him after The Injury), they managed to win today.  This means they’re one game away from a Super Bowl appearance, an achievement that hasn’t happened since 2005 and only happened once before that.

They lost both times, but we’ll skip lightly over that for now.

It was actually a good game, much to my surprise – competitive, entertaining, and generally worth seeing if you like football.  None of the Experts thought the Eagles would win.  The Eagles made history as the first #1 seed playing at home to be an underdog to the visiting #6 seed.  To be honest I kind of agreed with that assessment – though how much of that was my analysis of the possibilities and how much of that was just Native Philadelphian Pessimism is something of an open question.  We’re not an optimistic bunch, we Philadelphia fans.  Having the teams we have will do that to you.

I’m glad the Eagles are winning these days.  It’s nice to see my team do well.  And given the teams left standing in the playoffs as I write this, it is entirely possible that in a couple of weeks there will be a championship game between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which I think would be fun even if it probably would give the NFL head office heart palpitations since nobody outside of Pennsylvania would care.

I’m also kind of glad that the Eagles didn’t do this last year.

My dad was a big Eagles fan.  That was his team, the way the Phillies were my grandfather’s team.  When I would call him during the season we’d always find some time to dissect the latest collapse or bizarrity inflicted by the Birds upon the game, and somehow we’d always keep cheering for them.

I don’t think I would have forgiven the Eagles if they’d waited until the very next season after he passed away to get good again.  I’m glad they weren’t anything special last year.  It’s okay for them to be good now.

I miss being able to pick over the games with my dad, but that’s how it is and what are you going to do about it is what I’d like to know.  I can probably reconstruct how the conversation would go, anyway – we certainly had enough of those discussions.  Perhaps I’ll do that later tonight, in my head. 

So I watch, and I remember.

And for now the Eagles are still playing for the championship, the final defeat hasn’t yet happened, and all things are still possible.

Go team.

9 comments:

LucyInDisguise said...

It would appear that my Vikings are performing on par with your Eagles.

Interesting.

I dare not watch. I might jinx them again.

Lucy

David said...

Wow. That was a hell of a game.

I was cheering for the Saints, solely because I thought the Eagles would have more of a chance at beating them. Next week will be ... fascinating.

Game on!

LucyInDisguise said...

Okay then.

Eagles by 3.

(I know, reverse psychology doesn't work. but I can hold out some faint semblance of hope, can't I?*)

Lucy

*Rhetorical question. The Vikings have always choked in the clutches:
Playoff Record: 20-28
Super Bowls Won: 0 (4 Appearances)

David said...

Yeah, yeah. Remember these are the Eagles here.

0-2 on Super Bowls.

1-4 on NFC Championship Games in this century (2-4 overall).

I'll see your pessimism and match it with my own.

Of course you know, statistically, one of those teams has to win this thing. It's just math.

I will raise a glass to you at kickoff, and we'll see how it goes!

LucyInDisguise said...

Well.

I give ya 3, ya take 31. Way to run up the score. (Of course, they made it pretty easy to do so ... so there is that.)

One game I can safely say, "I'm so glad I didn't watch".

Vikings. At least they're predictable.

Lucy

David said...

Yeah, I have to say I did not see that one coming.

On the plus side, my guess is that pretty much everyone outside of New England will be cheering for the Eagles on the "anyone but New England" ticket.

LucyInDisguise said...

They said on World News Tonight with David Whatshisface last night that the least expensive ticket they could find online for Supper Bowel LII was $4500.00.

It truly has become a rich man's sport, hasn't it?

(No. Those are not typos.)

Lucy

David said...

Like everything else these days, it's a rich man's game built on poor men's blood.

LucyInDisguise said...

Hear, hear.