« My Last First Day Of School | Main | Ads I Never See On MY Fantasy Page »

September 15, 2004

Yooooooooooooooooooo. This's TO.

Observations from a field trip to the Eagles opener

The call came Friday. 10 am. From Joey. Odd to get a call from
Joey at 10 am on a Friday. An e-mail maybe. But a call?
Hmmmm.

(Ringie ringie.)

“Hey.”

“Hey man, what’s shakin?”

“You have plans for where you’re watching the game Sunday?”

(This was an excellent sign. But I needed to play it cool. Go with
it. Don’t act too eager.)

“I dunno. Was thinking of watching it at the apartment. Could
maybe consider going downtown.”

(Here it comes.)

“What do you think about Section 225?”

“DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!”

And so it came to pass that I had secured admission to the 2004
Philadelphia Eagles season opener against the New York Giants,
Sunday September 12, 2004! A glorious day, by any account, and
not simply because of the final score, the multiple Terrell Owens
touchdowns, and the ample opportunities to sing along with FLY
EAGLES FLY:

Satellite Tailgates: Shame on me for actually being impressed by
the first tailgate I encountered with a satellite dish and generator
powering a large-screen TV. I actually thought this was something
of a novelty – something for only the most MacGyverish of Birds
fans. Then I saw two more satellite dishes in the next ten
minutes. And that’s when I remembered that as seriously as I
thought I took the Eagles experience, in the grand scheme of
things, I am a complete rookie.

Unique Co-Marketing Opportunities: big outreach from the
Eagles organization (no doubt encouraged by NFL HQ) to the
armed forces. Members of all branches of the service held the flag
during the national anthem (as noted by the PA, and applauded by
the crowd), a performance that was punctuated by a perfectly
timed high-speed flyover by four military planes. And boy were
they loud! It even appeared that one of the planes had bombs
attached to its underside. BOMBS! The connections between
America’s twin fascinations with militarism and pro football are well
documented, but allow me to agree that nothing goes together
quite like war machines and the NFL!

Giants Fans: not too many blue shirts in the crowd on Sunday.
And the few that did make it (including one in our group) took
their lumps. My my, aren’t those Eagles fans just a charming
bunch! Especially with the 4:15 start! Our guy, sporting a Tiki
Barber shirt, must have heard “Hey Tiki, don’t drop it” a minimum
of five times on the walk from the tailgate to the stadium. Still,
once the Birds were well in control of the game, the taunts
seemed to calm down – even the Eagles faithful know better than
to kick a fella when he’s down.

Why Only Opposing Fans Actually Get Donovan McNabb:
despite four straight trips to the Pro Bowl, a career winning
percentage of .677 (best among active QBs with 60 starts), and
three straight trips to the NFC Championship game, the fashionable
opinion among both the pro football punditry and frustrated Birds
fans (see: three straight NFC title game losses) is that McNabb is
actually overrated as a quarterback. They tell me that he’s not
the most accurate passer (57 percent career completion
percentage in a QB-friendly West Coast offense) and that this
cannot be ignored. Fair enough. We Birds enthusiasts would
surely prefer fewer one-hopped swing passes. But sitting next to
a Giants fan for the second touchdown pass explains just why this
guy is such a monster. After juking Michael Strahan (Run away!
Run away!) and sprinting towards the right sideline, he fired a
screamer across his body to a triple-covered TO in the endzone.
Touchdown. The Giants supporter sitting next to me (note: the
only one in the section sitting down at this point) just shook his
head and said, “Every time.” He’s right! And not just because
McNabb seems to pull this sort of nonsense very frequently against
the Giants. For all his shortcomings as a passer, McNabb (and his
250 pounds – not an accident) does things that other
quarterbacks simply cannot do – shakes tacklers, conjures up extra
time in the pocket, and makes plays. Incomplete five-yard outs in
the second quarter are surely ugly, but they’re more than
balanced by ridiculous superhuman plays for first downs and
scores. And this is why opposing fans understand McNabb –
because they know he regularly breaks their heart when it matters
most.

This’s T.O.: my my, three touchdowns in his Eagles debut. After
suffering through six months of hype, we got to see the goods on
Sunday, we liked what we saw. Quite a performance. As a Birds
fan, I think the most encouraging part of his performance was that
even though he scored three times, he really didn’t do anything
that was very T.O. That is, he didn’t (a) break a crazy deep play
or (b) catch a short ball and run someone over for some major
YAC. The first TD was all about McNabb’s pump fake (though TO
surely made a nice catch). The second TD was also about McNabb
(see above), though TO was clever to wiggle away from the three
confused-looking defenders loitering nearby. The third was an
inexplicable blown coverage by the Giants. All this means is that
although he had a great game in Week One, his best is probably
ahead of him. (And yes, I’m prepared to dodge lightning bolts for
that one.)

The Song! The Song!: the Birds, in general, do a top-shelf job
with the in-game experience, but the defining element of the trip
to the stadium (something you just don’t get on TV) is the
chance to sing the song after an Eagles score. Oh, the ritual and
ceremony of it all! By connecting Eagles on-field success to a
simple jingle, the Birds are building the sort of brand equity that
you just can’t buy. Sure, colleges have fight songs, but they’re
too overplayed to have the specific Pavlovian effect of the Eagles
song: score = happy times = Fly Eagles Fly. Talk about positive
emotional associations! Be careful with that one, Eagles
organization, it’s special.

Sartorial Evaluation: perhaps the only blemish on an otherwise
exceptional afternoon was the Birds’ sartorial choice. The white
shirt-green pants combo is undoubtedly the third-worst Eagles
uniform combination (the green pants are just too cartoonish with
the white shirts), though the black shoes are a good move for the
team. Reminds me of the early 90s Birds. And those are mostly
happy thoughts. In case you were wondering, the ranking of
Eagles sartorial combination and selection (from best to worst) is as
follows: (1) green shirts-white pants, (2) white shirts-white pants,
(3) black shirts-green pants, (4) white shirts-green pants, (5) black
shirts-white pants, (6) green shirts-green pants.

Right, There Were Other Games Too: so if Green Bay can run
over what is regarded as the best defensive line in the NFL like
they did on Monday, who won’t they be able to run over? Look
out for those guys. Also, although it was cool that Quentin Griffin
had a big game for the Broncos, I’m not sure that rushing yards
against the Chiefs should really count. Let’s wait a couple weeks
with the “Clinton who?” comments.

Posted by thatkid at September 15, 2004 11:34 AM under Sports

Comments

Post a comment

About ThatKid

Copyright (c) 2004-2007 thatkidinthecorner