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February 7, 2005

My Football Feelings Are Bruised

In which I reflect on the Thuper Bowl, and briefly consider that I have zero perspective in re: pro football

Ugh.

Ugh.

UGH.

I can comfortably divide my emotions into two broad categories. The first category is my normal set of human feelings -- you know, how I feel about my family, my friends, my aspirations, my successes, my failures, and whatnot. Those feelings are pretty standard, and are pretty in line with common expectations of a normal adult. The other category is my football feelings. These feelings aren't rational. They are tied to the fortunes of young millionaires whose weekly performances are broadcast on television. I don't know any of these people. They aren't my friends. I don't make any more money if they win. I don't eat any less if they lose. But my mood is actually impacted by what happens to the Eagles each Sunday. I can't give you a good answer for this -- I'm an otherwise rational, normal person, except when it comes to the Eagles. It's just how it is. Those are my football feelings.

And my football feelings are bruised today.

I really thought the Birds had a shot yesterday. They did. They were in the game! They were! Were it not for the surprise appearance of Evil Donovan McNabb (Taking sacks in the red zone? Throwing picks? What? WHAT???) and some absolutely inexplicable clock management in the second AND fourth quarter, they might have knocked the Patriots out.

Oh, but they didn't. The Pats won because they win close games. They were more composed than the Birds, and it made a difference. For all the joking and the clowning in the week leading up to the game, the Birds came out tight. Too tight. And they panicked. They panicked by not running the ball, by turning the ball over, and by being indecisive at the end of both halves. The Pats didn't panic; they absorbed the punches from the Birds, regrouped, and did enough to win.

I can't bear the thought of lengthy game analysis, but I would say that MAD PROPS have been earned by the Pats O-Line, TO, and Charlie Weis. TO, especially. Skip Bayless, Peter King, and all the other blathermonkeys need to eat a little crow. TO is welcome to play for my team as long as he likes. He earned it.

And now for the football offseason. Right now, I can't even consider thinking about the energy involved in following football for another season. I'm spent. Still, I also know that I'll have complicated opinions regarding Corey Simon's contract and how the Birds should approach the draft within 96 hours. But today, I get to be bummed.

Not that I can complain about too much. My favorite team's been good for a bunch of years now. They haven't won it all (yet), but all their key components are coming back and are on the young side -- they should be good for the next couple years as well. That part is great. And I freakin LOVED reading about how good they were from August through the first week of February. That part was great. I got to go to six games. That part was great. Also, I had a pretty good year with my sundry fantasy teams. That part was pretty cool. So, on balance, this was a good football year for me -- it just had something of a crap ending.

(Any time I get bummed about the Eagles, I think -- it could be worse. I could be a Cleveland Browns fan. I could have suffered through my team being inches from the Super Bowl for a couple years, watched as my coach from the early 90s moved to another team and became a "genius", AND THEN sat through the whole franchise getting moved to some lame-ass city where they wear weak-ass purple uniforms, assemble the best defense of the past 10 years, and win the Super Bowl. See? The Birds aren't so bad after all.)

But hey, at least they covered.

(Even the blood money doesn't help my football feelings. I'll grow up now. Or soon. Probably soon. We'll see. Fingers are crossed.)

Posted by thatkid at February 7, 2005 6:50 PM under Sports

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