I consider myself to be an Eagles fan – well a Philly fan all around really…….. except for basketball, I don’t watch that at all. Anyway, I don’t have a bunch of Eagles gear that I sport every Sunday along with face paint and a green wig. I don’t stand around an talk sport statistics at parties. I couldn’t even name all of the players on a team. But, I still consider myself an Eagles fan because I root for them even when they are down and out. They are the only team that I will actually sit and watch play on tv. And, I have never rooted for another team. Ok – I’m lying there. There was this boy in middle school that I had a crush on and in order to try and impress him, I jumped on the Bills bandwagon……. but that was short lived. Why am I an Eagles fan? Since I can remember my grandfather has watched the Eagles play so I grew up watching him cheer for them……… what can I say, I was at an impressionable age. My grandfather was from Philly and even though I live in MD now, I will always be a PA girl.
Ok – enough of that. Anyway so this past Sunday I went to the Eagles vs Bears game. Because I’m not an all out fan, there are some things that I have not seen or experienced when it comes to professional sports. I have been to Eagles games before even at the new Linc. – but until Sunday I had never before seen the whole “tail gaiting” scene. I have heard stories and there is always a blurb about the tail gaiting parties on the news on game day, but to actually see the whole scenario up close was…… well to me it was awesome. These fans go full out and make it more than just another excuse to party. I mean, if you had seen the line for the port-a-potties……. that’s commitment right there. I’m going to try and post a picture – yes, I am easily facinated. People standing in line for an hour to use a port-a-pottie!
Anyway, the seats that we had were 2nd row, 2nd seat – which were friggin awesome seats. They were on the visitors side though – not that I’m complaining. The Bears’ kicker – Gould – was right in front of us. Now, like I said before, I have been to games before but this game was unlike any other. I have never in my life heard such heckling. I mean, that kicker and the rest of the Bears team was getting insulted and heckled to the max. And, you know that they heard it….. I mean we were close enough to shoot a spit ball – they had to hear it. I never really thought about it before, but they must have to block all of this heckling out – or pretend that it doesn’t bother them. I say, kudos to any visiting team in Philly that has to hear the Philly fans heckle. I heard things that I wouldn’t even want to repeat to my dog, and yet a small part of me was proud. I have a hard time imagining that the Chigaco fans that were there, that chose to wear their Chicago gear, heard anything but insults and trash talk. Some of them walked away with pretzel mustard stains and “accidental” spilled drinks on them. We were actually behind 2 Chicago fans that were smart enough not to wear their jerseys – they made out ok.
So, wow…. you learn something new everyday. The game was a good one in a manner of speaking. It was a “field goal” game right up until the last quarter. And of course, as we all know, the Eagles did what they seem to do best these days – they choked in the last 2 minutes of the game. I mean, come on! 15 friggin seconds left in the game and they let Chicago score????? WTF???? I have never been so genuinely bummed by a loss as I was over this game. And, in true Philly fan style – the fans walked away from the stadium cussing the Eagles up and down, turning on the very team that hours before they had waited in line for a toilet for. But all will be well at the start of next weeks game and the fans will be happy and ready to do it all over again.
Good times – until the last 15 seconds – were had by all.
