It’s been difficult to come up with words to describe what
the last five days have been like since the Philadelphia Eagles became Super
Bowl champions. I grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, about 10 miles east of
the City of Brotherly Love and have been a huge Philadelphia sports fan ever
since I laid foot in Veterans Stadium. I followed all four professional teams
like it was my job. I fell in love with the city’s college basketball
tradition. But, it didn’t take long to know there was one team that mattered
more to everyone in the Delaware Valley. Even if football wasn’t your favorite
sport, you knew that team was the Eagles.
The North Jersey transplants that had migrated down the
turnpike were insufferable during the two Super Bowls the New York Giants won in
the 2007 and 2011 seasons. Of course, there’s annoying Cowboys fans everywhere.
So even when things were going well for
the Birds, and every diehard says Birds, not Eagles, all it took was one person
to say “Yeah, but the Eagles still have never won the Super Bowl.”
I remember where I was when St. Louis Rams safety Aeneas
Williams picked off Donovan McNabb ending an upset bid for the Eagles after a
strong 2001 regular season and big playoff wins over Tampa Bay and Chicago had
them in the NFC Championship game. They were ahead of schedule after three
years of the Andy Reid era. I also remember where I was the next year, when Tampa’s
Ronde Barber intercepted McNabb in the NFC title game in what was the final
football game at The Vet. It was a different defensive back the next year but same
story as Carolina’s Ricky Manning Jr. had three picks against the Birds, to
again deny them of a trip to the Super Bowl. Then, they finally got over the
hump. A victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the franchise’s fourth consecutive
trip to the NFC Championship game sent the Eagles to Jacksonville for Super
Bowl XXXIX. But, all that meant was the disappointment came two weeks later as
New England defeated the Eagles 24-21 for its third Super Bowl in four years. I
was 10 years old during Super Bowl XXXIX, so what I had been through was
nothing in comparison to the older generations of Philly fans. But, even at
that young age, I was already becoming numb to disappointment.
During my childhood, the other Philly teams weren’t even
good enough to disappoint you. Aside from a magical run by the Sixers to the
NBA Finals in 2001, when they never had a shot against the Lakers, the Sixers,
Phillies and Flyers were never even close to a title. Fortunately, I have no
recollection of the Flyers getting swept by Detroit in the 1997 Stanley Cup
Final, and was barely a thought when Joe Carter ended the 1993 World Series
against the Phillies.
It all changed in 2008 though. An up-and-coming Phillies
team stacked with homegrown talent ended a 14-year playoff drought in 2007 and
ended the city’s 25-year championship drought in 2008. Between the four teams,
Philadelphia fans that were old enough had gone through 100 seasons without a
championship. As a 14-year-old, I figured my waiting was over. This was the
beginning of a dynasty for the Phillies. Ryan Howard was the 2005 National League
Rookie of the Year and the 2006 NL Most Valuable Player. Jimmy Rollins won the
NL MVP award in 2007 and the team erased a seven-game deficit in the NL East
with 17 games left in the regular season to stun the hated New York Mets. The
Phillies were ready for a championship and they delivered in 2008. Bring on
2009, time to repeat. Not quite. They got back to the World Series, but the
Yankees halted their title defense. It’s no fun losing to the Yankees, but
surely, they’d be back. The team’s roster improved in 2010 and 2011, but they
exited the playoffs earlier each year and haven’t returned since. After tasting
one championship from my four teams, I figured they would start coming faster.
After all, during the Phillies’ run of five straight NL East titles from
2007-2011, the Eagles returned to the NFC Championship game after the 2008
season and the Flyers got to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010 and erased an 0-3 series
deficit earlier in the playoffs against the Boston Bruins. But, the World
Series title in 2008 was still the only thing I had to hitch my wagon to and I
learned that I didn’t enjoy it long enough.
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| Mitchell Leff/Getty Images |
Then, all the teams got bad again. From 2012 until a couple
weeks ago, Philadelphia professional sports teams had not advanced at least one
round in the playoffs. As a Temple student, Villanova’s men’s basketball team winning
the National Championship in 2016 wasn’t that much fun. Then, this Eagles
season happened. After a 7-9 season last year, the Eagles looked like the best
team in the NFL and were cruising right along. However, as the injuries piled
up, there was a sense of “Here we go again” amongst many Philly fans,
especially after quarterback Carson Wentz went down for the year with a knee
injury late in the regular season. But, this team was different. Several analysts,
media members and fans all looked past the Eagles once Nick Foles took over
under center. But, they embraced the underdog role in the postseason and
rallied behind the home crowds at Lincoln Financial Field to earn a trip to
Super Bowl LII. I’m now 23 and didn’t know many of my best friends when the
Birds were last in the Super Bowl. It was fitting that it was the same opponent
and even more fitting that it was a different result, given the way this team’s
season was unfolding.
Rather than discuss all the great stories involving the
Eagles this year, as many journalists have told them much better than I would,
I wanted to express some of my feelings. Getting calls and text messages on
Sunday night when it was over was just as good as the game itself. Working 1500
miles from Philly meant I couldn’t attend yesterday’s parade. But that wasn’t
minimizing my emotions at all. To so many people, myself included, the Eagles
are more than a football team. They’re family. Now, they’re Super Bowl champions
and nobody can ever say “Eagles have no Super Bowls” again.
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