What’s harder, being a fan of a team that is consistently in the basement, or being a fan of a team that is consistently close to winning a championship, but always finds a way to let you down right at the end? It’s an age old question for sports fans and there probably is no real answer. My favorite sports team, the Philadelphia Eagles, was always a team that seemed to come close, especially while I was growing up in the early 2000’s, only to find a way to rip my heart our, cue Ronde Barber and Ricky Manning Jr. As every fan knows after a tough loss, it never quite seems like your team will be able to win. It never seems like they can finally burst through that wall and hoist the trophy. Personally, the loneliest moment of my year for a long time, up until this past February, was watching the confetti drop and see a new, or repeat, team hoist the Lombardi trophy. I’m a football first guy, I could deal with it for basketball, baseball and hockey, but when you live and die with a team, it’s hard not to get even a little bit jealous when you see another team winning a game that you so desperately want.
Now having said all that, here we are in August of 2018 and the Philadelphia Eagles sit as reigning Super Bowl Champions, something I never thought I would have the privilege of typing out. When Nick Foles raised that trophy, it was as if he was erasing the history of the organization, the playoff losses and heartbreak simply didn’t matter anymore. The tears of sorrow that I once spent on this team were now tears of sheer joy, something I’m sure was true for many Eagles fans that night. The Eagles were very similar to the Boston Red Sox, or Chicago Cubs. Yes, our droughts weren’t quite as long, but 57 years with no title isn’t nothing either. At the time in 2004, Boston was a baseball town, no doubt about it. The fans were simply hungrier than they are now, perhaps fueled by the previous years brutal Game 7 loss to the Yankees in the ALCS. When Keith Foulke finally tossed that last pitch and the Red Sox were World Series Champions, I’m sure many of their feelings were similar to those of Eagles fans the night of the Super Bowl.
I want the Eagles to win another, and another and another, but I can’t possibly imagine it feeling as good as the first one. Similar to Boston being a baseball town in 2004, Philadelphia, while having four professional teams in the four main US sports, iis unmistakably a football town. A Super Bowl in that city may have meant more to them than any other city winning. Even to this day, if I’m having a bad day, or just want to get a smile on my face, I’ll pull up a clip from the Super Bowl and relive the moment. There’s just something about winning the first one that is special. It’s not even truly about that game and that moment, it was about the journey it took to get there. The losses, the hope every year, the criticizing every move the team did in the offseason, the booing of McNabb at his draft, every single moment prior to that game seemed to be what made it so incredibly sweet.
My biggest problem, and hopefully not the teams, is what to do next. How do I go on being a fan this year. We are more than three games into the preseason and while I do feel the excitement building to that first game, I can’t help but notice that there does seem to be a lack of juice this year. If the Eagles don’t win the Super Bowl this year, will any fans in Philly actually care? Yeah, I’ll be upset in the moment for sure, but undoubtedly the fan base will say, “that’s okay, we won last year,” and I will probably be in that group of fans. That attitude is distinctly different for Philadelphians though. If it gets to the point that you don’t care much after a loss, how can you respect the wins as much? Similar to Boston in 2005, it just seems like there is a little something missing from the fan base this year. It will be loud and proud on opening night, but if Nick Foles stinks up the joint, will they boo him? I hope so. Living amongst Red Sox fans, I know they aren’t as intense today as they were in 2004. Eagles fans need to keep their edge. Keep being critical of the teams transactions, keep questioning Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson because that is, at least partly, what drives them. Most importantly, boo, boo loud and noticeably when the team is stinking it up. The players on the team last year will never buy a drink in Philly again, but when they step on that football field, let them know if their play is up to the Super Bowl level we saw last year. That age old question no longer exists for us, we are no longer marred in tough losses, we simply need to ask ourselves as fans, whats next?
By Peter Gumas
1204 Sports 