Two years ago today, we lived the greatest day of our lives as Eagles fan. The pain and suffering of the prior 51 seasons was wiped away with one game. Sure does it still sting seeing Ronde Barber scoring a touchdown at the Vet or remembering that Jake Delhomme beat us to advance to a Super Bowl, of course it does. However, for one night our team didn’t let us down. They erased the demons of years past by beating the team that caused anguish for us all in 2005.
It’s still an amazing story to this day. The leading league MVP candidate goes down and in steps Nick Foles. In typical Philadelphia fashion, we needed the underdog mentality to put the finishing touches on our storybook ending. I can still put myself in the living room of the 800 square foot house that we rented for years. We jammed 9 people into a room made for four and nobody cared. We were captivated by the moment that was unfolding in front of us.
I was oddly calm during the game. Sure my insides were probably bleeding from the ulcer that my body produced from game stress, but for the most part I considered myself calm. When it comes to being calm, there was nobody that fit that billing more than Dougie P and Foles when they called the most legendary play in Philadelphia sports history.
I still think this play will be the last thing my brain flashes to me when I have my fatal heart attack in my mid 50s. The best part about this play is the rag tag bunch art of it. Clement (undrafted), tosses it back to Burton (undrafted) to Foles the backup QB. Just legendary big balls status by Foles and Peterson.
I will argue that the Brandon Graham strip sack might be the greatest moment of my life. There was still the overwhelming feeling that Brady was going to come down and win the game. Graham sucked the life out of the team by making quite possibly the only positive defensive play of the game. It is still Merrill Reese’s greatest call of his long career.
Jake Elliott comes out, tacks on three points and we were headed toward our first Lombardi Trophy ever. When the ball dropped in the endzone on the Hail Mary attempt, the entire city/fanbase had the same feeling of relief/joy/emotions at the same time. People remembered Eagles fans family members who weren’t around to see it, friendships formed over love of the team and the players who we loved that never got to win.
All in all, life has just been exponentially better when it comes to football. Even after two mediocre playoff seasons later, the joy of that night still lives on to this day. We never have to hear how many rings we don’t have anymore. We never have to guess what it would be like when they win. We can tell Dallas how many years it’s been since their last title. We can muster the strength of a thousand strong men to climb greased up poles. We can sumersault down Broad Street when we want to do so.
We can be the fan base that deserved that championship for some many years. February 4th will roll around every year. Each year I will take a minute to reflect upon the greatest moment in our franchise history and be happy that we were all apart of the ride. Go Birds.
Burbs of Philly 