I am a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan.
Anyone who even halfway knows me, knows that. Many of y’all probably remember a few years back when I used to blog about every Philadelphia Eagles game. I called it the Happy Eagles/Sad Eagles Chronicles and I’d post a different photo along with the blog based upon whether we won or lost. I even had a regular late night call-in segment on WIP 610 in Philly…
But I had to stop doing that. Because I was so emotionally involved in their performance that a loss had the potential to ruin the next 3 or 4 days of my life. I bring all this up because I was scrolling thru some old posts and I found one from November 16, 2008 (the game where we tied the Bengals and McNabb didn’t know the overtime rules) where I wrote:
My mama always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say then I should say it loudly and enunciate. So here goes: I DON’T KNOW IF I’VE EVER BEEN THIS DISAPPOINTED IN AN EAGLES SEASON. And no, I’m not exaggerating. When we lost in the Superbowl, of course I was upset about that. But I didn’t feel that way all season. And during the seasons when McNabb was hurt, we knew early that it was gonna be a struggle to compete. I had no expectations. Anything good that happened was a pleasant surprise (i.e. Jeff Garcia). But this year with a healthy McNabb, the addition of Asante Samuel, the promise of DeSean Jackson… we had a 3-win streak a few weeks back and I was sooo excited about this team. But the manner in which we’ve lost the games we’ve lost this year has been hard to swallow. No shut-outs, no poundings… AND no 3rd down conversions… Just not doing the little things we need to do to get it done.
The radio show I was on Friday had a caller who was saying that Andy Reid should go because at some point, a team that’s not winning just stops hearing the coach. Perhaps that’s true. But I don’t think Andy Reid’s suspect play calling had anything to do with Donovan’s three interceptions and all those dropped passes. What we’re witnessing is a team losing faith in itself — not just their coach.
And it reminded me that at some point in every season I’ve felt exactly like I do now. But this year it feels a billion times worse because of all the big-name acquisitions we made and all the “Dream Team” hype (which I have ALWAYS believed is the kiss of death). This season it’s not just our losses that are blowing me — it’s how narrowly we’ve won the two games we won. After last week’s game Andy Reid’s usually brief presser was even briefer than normal. “We need to get better” is all he said. And at 1-4, it’s all he needed to say. Yes, we won this week, but you HAVE to get better, Iggles. ‘Cause my nerves can’t take this anymore. This is gonna be my final post about them for the season, but pray for me y’all.